What is expected to be a boisterous ANC policy conference is off to a quiet start as delegates slowly make their way into the conference venue at Nasrec expo centre‚ near Soweto‚ Johannesburg.

Only about 20 national executive committee (NEC) members are seated on the stage in the main conference hall.

Familiar faces‚ among them SA Revenue Services Commissioner Tom Moyane‚ are mingling with fellow guests and delegates‚ including Mpumalanga ANC secretary Mandla Ndlovu‚ his counterpart in KwaZulu-Natal‚ Super Zuma‚ and the Gauteng secretary Hope Papo.

Bonds lose ground as ANC policy conference beginsSouth African bonds were weaker on Friday morning‚ as market focus shifts to the ANC policy conference. 

The policy conference will see about 2500 mostly ANC branch delegates discuss crucial policy issues‚ including adopting radical socioeconomic transformation that should see black participate meaningfully in the economy.

Included the rallying cry for radical economic transformation are pleas for expropriation of land without compensation.

The conference begins today and ends next Wednesday.