Warring African National Congress (ANC) KwaZulu-Natal factions are gearing up for the highly-anticipated eighth provincial conference that will take place from Thursday to Saturday at Durban University of Technology's sports centre.

The conference, which was meant to take place last month in Empangeni, was derailed when disgruntled branches filed an interdict application in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg at the last minute.

The same court ruled that the results of the November 2015 elective conference were unlawful, and the provincial executive committee led by Sihle Zikalala was swiftly disbanded in 2017.

Zikalala then became leader of an interim leadership structure called the provincial task team (PTT) along with Mike Mabuyakhulu. The PTT was tasked with ensuring that the conference took place in the volatile province.

Zikalala previously told News24 that in the past few weeks, the PTT met regularly with members from the disgruntled branches who took the party to court "and finally agreed on an out-of-court settlement".

"We engaged on different issues that were a stumbling block to the progress of the movement. The issues were resolved to pave the way for the conference. While there may have been certain areas of different interpretation of certain events, which is normal for a living organism like the ANC, we are united as ANC cadres in building a strong and united organisation," said Zikalala.

Five key leadership positions are now up for grabs in the troubled province.