Aggrieved ANC members successfully challenged the appointment of an interim leadership structure, arguing it violated the party’s constitution.
Another devastating legal blow was dealt to the ANC and its secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, when the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda yesterday declared the appointment of the interim ANC provincial task team (PTT) invalid and set it aside.
Technically, the order meant the party’s Eastern Cape branch has become leaderless because Luthuli House last month dissolved the previous provincial executive committee (PEC) in favour of the now-nullified PTT.
Leadership vacuum emerges
The party’s action was widely seen as an attempt to circumvent an earlier high court order barring the controversial 10th provincial conference, scheduled to start on 27 March, which was hastily convened to elect a new PEC after it was legally challenged by dissatisfied members.
Due to the interim order, the conference was postponed indefinitely, pending the finalisation of the court process.
But the ANC, without waiting for the court process to run its course, abandoned the conference plan and installed the PTT, claiming the PEC’s term of office had expired.
Members challenge ANC decision
However, the move was challenged by three aggrieved members – Lwazi Rotya, a Ward 24 branch member in the Dr WB Rubusana region, and two other branch colleagues from other regions.
Rotya said the PTT appointment violates the ANC’s constitution and infringes on their contractual rights as members in good standing.
The Makhanda court yesterday declared Rotya’s application urgent and granted the interim interdict suspending the PTT appointment decision pending the final court determination.
Judge questions ANC conduct
The court said the ANC’s behaviour “strongly suggests a lack of bona fides on their part”.
“The issues that arose in this matter could have been easily resolved between the parties without the costly litigation involved had the ANC been upfront with its members,” Judge Vuyokazi Pamella Noncembu said.
The judge also criticised a resolution on the issue, belatedly presented before the court, and the ANC’s “contradictory version” it presented to oppose the matter.
“Such callous conduct, in my view, warrants the censure of this court,” he said.