ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the August 24-25 conference would be a continuation of the adjourned conference.

"There will be no new credentials or delegates and no new steering committee. Everything will continue where it stopped. Conference delegates fought for four days and they adopted the credentials," he said.

The ruling party's top six leaders also decided that the steering committee set up to run the conference would have to investigate the four ghost delegates who voted but could not be accounted for.

"Determination must be made about the disparity of votes and the outcome must be announced at the full plenary," Mantashe said.

The national officials also found there was no question of the regional executive committee being disbanded by the provincial executive committee (PEC), as it had already been dissolved by conference.

Last week the regional leadership wrote to Mantashe to seek intervention.

The PEC, which is believed to be in favour of the current ANC leadership, was alleged to have been at the centre of the chaotic gathering two weeks ago, after dissolving the conference without announcing the results.

A faction supporting President Jacob Zuma's second term lost to another supporting his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe. Votes tallied showed four votes more than the number of registered delegates.

There were claims that the PEC halted proceedings after realising that a faction supporting Zuma lost, a claim that was dismissed.

The ANC's Eastern Cape provincial spokesman Mlibo Qoboshiyane welcomed the decisions, saying that the credibility of any congress was paramount.