ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
The ANC in Gauteng is now suffering the same fate as its counterparts in KwaZulu Natal, Free State, North West and Limpopo, all of which have been taken to court either leading up to or after the December conference that saw Cyril Ramaphosa rise to become leader of the liberation party.
This time, it’s disgruntled members from at least four branches in the Sedibeng region who are seeking to challenge the outcomes of a June 30 regional conference, News24 has reported.
A notice of motion has been filed in the high court on Thursday, and will attempt to have the recent Gauteng conference declared null and void as well as have the newly elected regional executive committee dissolved.
This follows the postponement of the Gauteng conference for a week to avoid turmoil caused by internal disputes, as well as in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to avoid a court battle.
Disgruntled West Rand ANC members demonstrated to express their grievances at the recent national executive committee meeting.
Since then, regional conferences in all five regions of Gauteng have taken place.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, his deputy Jessie Duarte, Gauteng secretary Hope Papo and Sedibeng regional secretary Bheki Ngobese are among those targeted in the court action, which accuses them of orchestrating “political injustices”.
“Maladministration that took place in the regional conference concerning allegations of inconsistent signatures and lack of transparency by disqualifying some branches with unsigned addendums from the secretary general’s office,” is cited as one of the concerns in the court papers.
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David Miya cited in the court documents as the only person representing the aggrieved parties.
“Credentials were not duly adopted by the conference, i.e. they were adopted with standing objections and through the vote,” Miya complained.
“The list of grievances suffered by the applicants is endless and at the hands of the respondents,” he continued.
The ANC in the province confirmed that it was served with papers, and said its lawyers were currently looking into the matter.
ANC regional spokesperson Motaletale Modiba said the party would defend itself and its conferences.
“It’s important to point out, that on the side of the ANC we’ve done everything possible to follow guidelines and rules and to ensure that branches that qualify to patriciate get to participate,” he said.
He added the province had set up dispute mechanisms and that there was an appeals process led by NEC deployees.
“All those were put in place to make sure the process becomes transparent and fair. That’s why we are confident in terms of defending ourselves against anyone who wants to take us to court,” said Modiba.
He described people continuing to reject “internal processes” and instead opting to take the ANC to court as “unfortunate”, emphasising the ANC would push for awards with cost.
“We can no longer afford to have people taking the organisation to court knowing very well we have followed due process, have gone the extra mile to make sure every box that needs to be ticked is ticked,” concluded the ANC Gauteng spokesperson.
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