Election Injects New Blood Into ANC Hierarchy : South Africa: Balloting for policy-making body sees many older leaders ousted. Winnie Mandela wins a seat.

DURBAN, South Africa —  The African National Congress elected a new slate of 50 members to its national executive committee early today, shedding more than half the older leaders who guided the movement during three decades in exile and bringing in a younger mix of former prisoners and township leaders.

The 2,000 conference delegates cheered, sang and danced in the convention hall draped in colorful banners as the election results were announced. Each new member climbed onto the stage to embrace Nelson Mandela, the new ANC president.

Among those elected for the first time to the executive committee was Mandela’s wife, Winnie, the 55-year-old head of the ANC’s department of social welfare. Winnie Mandela, who was convicted in May of assault after the fact and kidnaping in the beating of four youngsters at her home in 1988, received votes from slightly more than half the delegates.

Earlier, in one of many resolutions passed by the conference, delegates directed their leaders to extend their suspension of constitutional talks with the government until President Frederik W. de Klerk takes steps to end township bloodshed.

The resolution, approved in closed session, reflected deepening distrust of the white government’s sincerity about reform and growing concern in ANC ranks about alleged government involvement in the violence. More than 3,000 blacks have died in the 17 months since the ANC was legalized.

The ANC halted preliminary constitutional talks in May, a month after giving De Klerk an ultimatum to stop the black factional violence or risk suspension of the talks. However, ANC-government talks on all other matters have continued.

Mandela closed the historic five-day conference, the first of its kind in South Africa in more than 30 years, shortly before dawn today.

The election brought many new faces onto the policy-making executive committee, including 18 internal anti-apartheid activists, a dozen former exiles and five of Mandela’s co-defendants in their 1964 treason trial, who were released from jail two years ago.

Of the 50 chosen today to the executive committee, seven were white, eight Indian and the remainder black or mixed-race Colored. Delegates had earlier defeated a proposal, after fierce debate, that would have set aside 15 of the seats for women. Only six women collected enough votes to join the committee.

Military chief of staff Chris Hani, foreign affairs chief Thabo Mbeki and Communist Party general secretary Joe Slovo drew the most votes and joined 11 other former national committee members who were reelected. Newcomers included Patrick Lekota and Popo Molefe, key figures who were imprisoned for several years for their role in the United Democratic Front anti-apartheid coalition.

Except for Mandela and Walter Sisulu, the new deputy president, who were appointed to the committee last year, the previous 37-member panel was composed entirely of exiles elected while the movement was banned and operating outside South Africa.

Under the ANC’s new constitution, adopted at this week’s conference in Durban, the executive committee grew to 90 members, 50 of whom are elected. The remaining 40 seats will be occupied by leaders of regional ANC offices, presidential appointees and the heads of subsidiary organizations, such as the ANC’s youth and women’s leagues.

Violence in South African townships was the subject of lengthy debate during the ANC conference, and delegates agreed it was one of the largest hurdles to opening formal negotiations with the government on a new constitution.

In resolutions adopted Saturday, delegates addressed the issue by urging ANC leaders to participate in fledgling church-sponsored peace talks and step up efforts to help black neighborhoods form “self-defense units.”

The violence has primarily pitted supporters of the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party against supporters of the ANC. The wife, daughter and grandson of one ANC delegate were slain by Zulu hostel dwellers in a township near Johannesburg last week.

De Klerk issued a statement Saturday deploring the killing of the ANC leader’s family members and promising to take all steps necessary to catch the attackers.

Other ANC resolutions urged stepped-up efforts to persuade the international community to maintain diplomatic pressure on Pretoria, including sanctions, and to improve the organization of mass protests against the government.