The start to the much-contested Eastern Cape ANC provincial conference on Friday has been delayed as the party is still battling to deal with internal disputes that have seen its meeting interdicted by the High Court in KuGompo City.
The party was scheduled this morning to have another provincial executive committee meeting to deal with its legal challenges.
On Thursday, disgruntled ANC members won an interim court order at the High Court in KuGompo, barring the party from going ahead with the elective conference which will see ANC chairperson Oscar Mabuyane challenged by his former ally Lulama Ngcukayitobi.
But the party is appealing against the ruling and, following an urgent PEC meeting, decided that it will continue with the conference, a decision lawyers of the members who went to court said would be in contempt of court.
Daily Dispatch understands that the party will give a report back to the PEC on the progress about the internal dispute resolutions and the court challenges going forward.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was scheduled to officially open the conference this morning, but it is unclear whether that will still happen.
Eastern Cape spokesperson Yanga Zicina confirmed that the PEC will be holding a meeting this morning and that the start of their conference will be delayed.
Zicina said the party had resolved all the internal disputes lodged by branches, a key factor that got the party dragged to court.
He said the PEC meeting would be updated on the development and the way forward.
“Our programme will most definitely continue, but we must satisfy all the legal requirements … and therefore map out an appropriate course of action,” he said.
He said it was important to update the PEC on where the legal dispute stands since the party’s afternoon urgent meeting where they told members that they were appealing the dispute.
Zicina confirmed that the party’s leadership will address the delegates, who were registered for the conference, at “plenary” after the meeting.
Daily Dispatch
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