Mahumapelo berates ANC brass after court rules for his reinstatement
FORMER North West premier Supra Mahumapelo has called on the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) to take its political work more seriously.
Mahumapelo was speaking yesterday at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, where he won his legal battle for the reinstatement of the provincial executive committee (PEC) he chaired, which was disbanded by the NEC late last year.
The disbandment followed violent protests and allegations of corruption and misgovernance in the provincial administration under Mahumapelo – which also saw him being kicked out as premier.
Mahumapelo and his allies took the party’s NEC to court in a bid to challenge the disbandment, including the appointment of the provincial task team (PTT) led by Premier Job Mokgoro.
Yesterday, Judge Fayeeza Kathree-Setiloane declared the disbandment unlawful and set it aside, saying the ANC had failed to first consult its lower structures in the North West before it took the decision.
Mahumapelo said he had no other choice but to drag the party’s leader- ship to court as it refused to listen to them.
“We are not happy because when you elect an NEC, it must take its political work seriously. The NEC must make sure that, before you arrive at such serious decisions, you pause, you take time, you reflect on the possible political implications of your decisions and you look at many other options before you take such a draconian decision,” Mahumapelo said.
Judge Kathree-Setiloane also set aside the appointment of the PTT and ordered that the PEC be reinstated by Friday. The ruling could plunge the ANC into bruising internal infighting ahead of the general elections as some of those aligned to the PEC are unhappy with the composition of the elections list for the provincial legislature, accusing the PTT of having manipulated the process.
In a statement, the ANC said it would first study the ruling before making a decision on whether to appeal against it.
An elated Mahumapelo called on the ANC top brass to admit its mistakes and to respect the ruling.
“We are an organisation that abides by the rule of law in South Africa. I don’t expect the national leadership of the ANC to do something that is against the Constitution of the Republic.
“I hope that our leadership will be candid and humble enough to say ‘we may have thought we took the right decision but procedural fairness was fundamental for us to have arrived at that decision’,” Mahumapelo said.
Mahumapelo slammed the PTT which replaced his leadership collective, accusing it of hunger for positions, laziness and divisiveness.
“The extent of the instability now in the province is shocking. Some of them in the NEC are now admitting privately that the decision was not the best decision under the circumstances,” he said.
Judge Kathree-Setiloane said the ANC also failed to state tangible reasons for disbanding Mahumapelo’s PEC, except through a press statement which said it was in order to “strengthen the organisation and enhance its capacity”.
“If the reasons for dissolving the PEC were its disfunctionality and its ineffectiveness, or the violence and torching in April and May, then those reasons should appear in the press statement, which in the ANC’s version are the reasons for the dissolution,” she said. The ANC NEC has also been ordered to pay the costs.