Youth Council vote may be legally invalid

EC election may contravene interdict

THE South African Youth Council’s (SAYC) Eastern Cape branch elected new leadership at the weekend, but the exercise may have been futile as it was in contempt of a court order.

The provincial leadership, who were removed at the weekend gathering, obtained a court interdict last week to halt the congress from convening.

Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, the recently ousted provincial treasury Tebogo Noludwe said the weekend gathering at Komani’s Roydon Private Game Reserve was a complete “waste of taxpayers’s money as all decisions taken will not stand as they were taken against a court order preventing the sitting of such provincial assembly”.

The SAYC is located in the office of premier Phumulo Masualle, which is responsible for their budget and day-today operations.

Noludwe said an amount of R162 850 was spent on accommodation for delegates to the weekend assembly, while R82 500 was paid for catering and R46 875 to hire a venue. He described such expenditure as fruitless “as all stakeholders involved were aware that the gathering was interdicted by court and was thus illegal”.

Noludwe’s provincial leadership collective, chaired by Sicelo Mleve, was disbanded by their mother body in May.

They were replaced by a provincial task team (PTT) that assisted in preparations for the weekend elective assembly where a new provincial leadership was elected.

Noludwe said they were earlier granted an interdict by the King William’s Town Magistrate’s Court in May preventing the PTT from operating until the ousted leadership was given valid reasons for their dismissal.

“However that was ignored,” he said.

They again returned to court in Komani last Wednesday to stop the congress and was granted an interdict.

He said they will return to court on August 10 to challenge the violation of the interdict.

Mleve yesterday described the weekend gathering as “an illegal party or a get-together of factional friends who are purely desperate to lead the council”.

The PTT’s former coordinator Siphelele Gavu was elected provincial secretary while Vuyiseka Mboxela was elected as the chair.

Mboxela yesterday refused to comment on the issue of the weekend assembly being interdicted, saying that had nothing to do with their newly-elected provincial executive.

“As the new PEC, we feel we cannot comment on that because we are not involved in that court process. People who were cited as respondents in that interdict are the youth council’s national office represented by secretary-general Thembinkosi Josopu, and the outgoing PTT.”

She then referred queries to Josopu, who also refused to comment, saying the matter was still sub-judice.

“I am not going to discuss this matter in public now as it is being dealt with by lawyers from both sides.”

Noludwe and Mleve made headlines in March after they were accused by other members of the provincial executive of embezzling a R500 000 allocation given to the council by Masualle’s office.

At the time it was reported that the pair were accused of spending some of the money on luxuries while money was also said to have been withdrawn from the council’s bank account, allegations they have since denied.

The matter is due to go to court later next month. Earlier this month their legal team wrote to Masualle’s office urging them not to recognise the PTT, as they claimed it was illegally constituted. However, Noludwe said, such pleas fell on deaf ears. —