Members of the troubled Free State ANC provincial structure are openly defying the party’s national leadership after they appealed against their disbanding and the declaration of their election as invalid by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
The SCA late last month declared the 2018 ANC provincial elective conference unconstitutional and unlawful due to irregularities that had taken place in the build-up, including manipulation of processes in branches.
Last week, the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) announced that the party had resolved that it would not appeal against the SCA ruling but would seek to find a political solution among warring factions in the province in a bid to bring lasting peace.
Sowetan understands that the NWC had selected former president Kgalema Motlanthe to lead the peace process and that he was set to meet stakeholders in the province this week.
The provincial structure, however, filed papers with the Constitutional Court on Wednesday in a bid to reverse the SCA decision.
In court papers, provincial chair Sam Mashinini said the SCA had erred by finding that the holding of the 2018 conference was in violation of the ANC constitution and in breach of the rights of the party’s members who had challenged its outcomes.
“Declaring invalid and unlawful the PEC [provincial executive committee] that was lawfully elected by lawfully elected delegates at a lawfully convened provincial conference of 18 and 19 May 2018, is a direct infringement of the constitutional rights of the majority members of the ANC in the Free State, who complied with ANC guidelines and constitution by electing delegates to the provincial conference,” Mashinini said.
Mashinini said the court application had been authorised by embattled ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule.
He said the provincial conference had adopted credentials of delegates before the conference got under way and disqualified questionable branches to avoid tainting outcomes of the conference.
Mashinini argued that the SCA was wrong in finding that there was a dispute in the outcomes of 28 branch general meetings (BGMs) convened in preparation for the provincial conference.
“The finding of the SCA that all the 28 BGMs were impugned is made despite the fact that the respondents have abandoned this argument in the high court when leave to appeal was argued,” he said.
In December 2017, an initial provincial conference in which Magashule was re-elected as provincial chair was declared invalid and illegal, before the disputed conference was convened.
Dexter Selepe, lawyer for ANC members Matshepo Ramakatsa, Themba Mvandaba and Shashapa Motaung, who had challenged the outcomes of the conference, had not responded to questions by the time of publication.
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