The "unity conference" of the African National Congress's (ANC's) uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) has been pushed back by a month and is expected to be held in April.

The disbanded MKMVA's preparatory committee has been told that the ANC national executive committee (NEC) will have to sign off on the conference before it takes place.

The conference was expected to take place from Thursday to Sunday.

The MKMVA was disbanded by the ANC and was divided mainly along factional lines. The conference was expected to unify the ANC's military veteran structure.

More than 700 delegates were expected at the conference. The MKMVA has been busy with an ongoing vetting process for all its military veterans.

The process has been conducted alongside the government's verification of military veterans across the country.

That verification would enable them to access state support.

Gregory Nthatisi, a member of the MKMVA preparatory committee, said verifying uMkhonto we Sizwe veterans was crucial for the conference and beyond.

Nthatisi told News24 on Thursday that the preparatory committee, appointed by the ANC, had concluded the vetting process in all nine provinces for attending delegations.

"We have done all the necessary preparations related to the conference. We have completed all the provinces, but we still need to refine the final credentials to ensure the right people attend the conference," he said.

He said the ANC was worried about the form that the conference would take. A report has been submitted to the ANC.

ANC conference uncertainty

There remains much uncertainty about whether the ANC will be able to successfully hold conferences for some of its crucial structures ahead of the national conference in December.

Several ANC structures have had to postpone conferences. The ANC NEC had said all regional and provincial conferences should be finalised by March.

However, crucial conferences have been delayed by weeks and months.

The ANC's dispute with its workers over salaries and delayed branch meetings have been blamed for the conference debacles faced by the party in a packed political year.

The Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga ANC were expected to hold conferences this month.

The Eastern Cape will hold its conference at the end of April, while Mpumalanga has yet to provide a precise date. Both provinces are run by interim provincial structures appointed by the ANC NEC.