The conference has started!
Zuma opened the conference with a speech that talked about everything from corruption to Marikana to factionalism in the ANC to rhino poaching. The speech went for a total of 90 minutes. Here's a Wordle map of Zuma's speech, courtesy of SABC:
Long speeches seem to be the order of the day, actually. ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe gave a 3 hour long speech to the conference, which put people to sleep:
At one point, Mantashe actually had to interrupt his speech to say:
Zuma, on the other hand, chose to liven up the speech with some good old Apartheid era chants and songs, as well as showing off his dance moves:
The two sides have adopted competing hand gestures, with the pro-Zuma faction using a Churchillian V-for-victory sign:
...and the Motlanthe supporters using the football sign for substitution, rolling fingers over each other.
All this aside, there hasn't been much actual news from the conference as of yet. The biggest story so far is that Cyril Ramaphosa has apparently decided to accept the nominations he has received for Deputy President, setting him up for a fight against Motlanthe:
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-16-ramaphosa-throws-hat-into-the-ring
If you're interested in following things as they happen, the Mail & Guardian has a great liveblog of the event:
http://liveblog.mg.co.za/2012/12/15/mangaung-anc-national-electoral-conference/Also Twitter coverage is very up-to-date. Search for #Manguang or #ANC2012.