Court action against Free State ANC delegates

A group of ANC Free State supporters of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is approaching the Free State High Court (Bloemfontein) in a bid to stop the province’s 409 delegates attending the national elective conference, says a Business Day report. The move comes after the leadership, under Free State Premier Ace Magashule, went ahead with its provincial elective conference in Parys. If the group succeeds in its application, the ANC’s fifth-biggest province, which is supporting Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, will not be represented at Nasrec when the conference starts on Saturday. Lawyer for the group, Hanno Bekker, said the application would be lodged today. The group is asking for the matter to be heard on Thursday just two days before the national elective conference gets under way in Nasrec, Soweto. It also wants the court to nullify the outcomes of the Free State conference, which was expected to end yesterday. ‘The plan of action is to bring a court application to nullify the conference along with the PGC (provincial general council) and then also a contempt of court order,’ Bekker said. About a third of the Free State branches claimed that their branch general meetings did not follow procedure as dictated by protocol, he said.