High court action ‘threatening’ Ramaphosa presidency unlikely to succeed – expert

Attempts by the defeated ANC faction in the Eastern Cape to have the current party provincial executive committee nullified would be futile, according to a political analyst.

The disgruntled members were defeated during the so-called “festival of chairs” provincial elective conference (PEC), where supporters of then provincial chairperson Phumulo Masualle, who was aligned to Jacob Zuma, and followers of provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane, a Cyril Ramaphosa ally, exchanged blows.

Mabuyane won, but Masualle’s camp has now challenged the results.

Political analyst Zamikhaya Maseti said, despite the Ndebele Commission’s recommendation that the elections of the PEC be started afresh or the PEC be dissolved, it was impossible to change the decision of the national executive committee (NEC), which opted for a process of reconciliation to ensure political stability in the province.

Last December the high court in Grahamstown also dismissed a bid by the disgruntled members to have the outcome of the PEC declared null and void.

The NEC appointed Sbu Ndebele to head a task team to investigate the complaints by members opposed to the outcome of the October 2017 provincial elective conference.

It is said Ndebele, among others, recommended its nullification.

The Mail & Guardian reported yesterday that disgruntled ANC members were planning to lodge a challenge in the High Court in Johannesburg to have the provincial conference nullified, a move that would have the effect of nullifying last December’s ANC elective national conference at Nasrec.

This would mean President Cyril Ramaphosa would have to vacate the ANC presidency and Zuma return to the post.

Maseti dismissed this scenario as improbable. He said it would be foolhardy to expect the NEC to reverse its decision to reconcile the two sides.

“If they go ahead they would be undermining the NEC. The NEC did not depend on the Ndebele report, but it noted it and opted for a different resolution process. By going to court, the members are trying to force the NEC to abide by the commission recommendation as if it’s a constitutional structure,” he said.

The ANC recommended that there should be political stabilisation that involved reconciliation, he continued. This included a provincial cabinet reshuffle that would ensure some members of the new PEC were included in government.

Premier Masualle subsequently appointed ANC provincial chairperson Mabuyane as MEC for finance, economic development and tourism and other PEC members Helen Sauls-August as MEC for health, Mlungisi Mvoko for human settlements, Pemmy Majodina for public works and Xolile Nqatha for rural development and agrarian reform.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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