ANC Free State conference on hold after court ruling

The ANC Free State provincial conference will seemingly not be able to take place this weekend after the Free State High Court (Bloemfontein) ordered that the conference not be held until branch general meetings which have been declared unlawful and irregular by the court are held in a lawful manner. According to a TimesLIVE report, 29 branch general meetings have been declared unlawful and irregular. Hanno Bekker‚ attorney for the 26 ANC members who brought the case‚ said there had to be seven days’ notice given before a branch general meeting could be held. There was thus not enough time to convene these meetings before the scheduled provincial conference‚ Bekker said. This comes a day after the Free State provincial general council (PGC) was held in Parys‚ where Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was nominated as the province’s presidential candidate. The Free State provincial executive committee’s term ended in May this year. The provincial conference was recently ordered by the court to take place this coming weekend.

Meanwhile, Free State branches have threatened to go to court again if necessary, this time to nullify the PGC that nominated Dlamini-Zuma. According to a News24 report, at least two letters addressed to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, have labelled the ‘surprise’ PGC illegal and claimed that processes leading to the council held in Parys on Tuesday were flawed. They have also questioned the timing of the PGC, which was held while the verification process of branch general meetings, which nominated leaders, was still under way. ‘It was a sham,’ deputy chair of the province, Thabo Manyoni, said. However, he said he was not aware that branches had written to Luthuli House. A branch member from the Lejweleputswa region, Shima Mohohlo, accused the longstanding Free State chair, Ace Magashule, of manipulating the process ahead of the elective conference that was due to get under way on Friday until a court judgment stopped it. ‘We believe that he (Magashule) knew that the provincial elective conference is illegal and has no political legitimacy and his suspicion was that it would not sit. So, that is why he forced the PGC before the verification process is completed,’ Mohohlo said.

There may be a last-minute attempt to go ahead with the conference, according to a Volksblad report. There are apparently feverish attempts to conclude new branch meetings. Thabo Malgas, the attorney for the ANC and Free State provincial executive committee, is quoted as saying his clients are considering an urgent application to the SCA for leave to appeal the judgment. Bekker says although it is technically possible to cure the errors of branch meetings in order to proceed with the conference, his clients doubt whether this is possible before the weekend.

A ruling on a similar matter is expected in the North West High Court next month. However, the court’s decision to delay the hearing on the outcome of a regional conference will not have an impact on the ANC national conference, the party in North West said yesterday, according to a report in The Citizen. The court is to reconvene on the 13 December to hear arguments and is expected to give a ruling before 15 December, said provincial secretary Dakota Legoete. He said the outcome would have no bearing on the ANC national elective conference in Johannesburg, scheduled from 16-20 December. The case arose after former ANC Bojanala regional secretary Tokyo Mataboge and 39 others applied to the court to nullify the outcome of the Bojnala regional conference. The parties agreed to postpone the matter to 13 December for the applicant to file their supplementary affidavits. Disgruntled members of the Bojanala region approached the court over allegations that at least 40 branches were not constitutionally launched.