Disgruntled members threaten ANC with court
DISGRUNTLED ANC members intend taking legal steps to prevent outstanding branch general meetings (BGMs) and regional conferences from taking place in the Northern Cape and will challenge the outcome of the provincial elective conference in court.
This follows after ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe informed all provincial secretaries and league secretaries that these meetings should not take place after September 30, so as to prevent any disruptions to the national elective conference that will take place in December. However, the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) last week indicated that Mantashe had, upon a special request, agreed to allow the Northern Cape to convene “long overdue” outstanding BGMs and regional conferences, which will be held during October and November.
In lawyer’s letters from Mabuza Attorneys, which were sent to the ANC provincial and national structures on Friday, some ANC members in the Northern Cape claimed that the PEC was an “unlawful structure”.
“The PEC does not have the legal authority to take any decision relating to the affairs of the ANC in the Province, including convening the scheduled BGMs and regional conferences.”
The members believe that the BGMs and regional conferences will be used to prejudice them and exclude them from participating in the national elective conference in December.
The letter advised that written complaints, which were addressed to Mantashe, regarding apparent irregularities that occurred in the process leading up to, as well as appeals to postpone, the provincial elective conference had fallen on “deaf ears”.
“Our clients do not understand why the PEC would seek to ignore the clear and unambiguous instruction from the national leadership of the ANC. They are especially concerned about the conduct of the ANC provincial chairperson, Zamani Saul, in light of the recent court judgment which nullified the results of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial conference on similar grounds contended for them.”
It further stated that the PEC would be given until October 4 to respond, failing which the aggrieved ANC members would approach the court to interdict the convening of any BGMs and regional conferences as well as to set aside the outcome of the provincial elective conference.
Speaking on behalf of these ANC members, Eric Khotseng questioned why the Northern Cape was being given “preferential treatment” by Mantashe.
“As far as we know, the Northern Cape is the only province that was granted an extension to convene its outstanding meetings. We have also not seen anything in writing to confirm that this has been permitted. A different set of rules is being applied here, ” said Khotseng.
He complained that those who challenged the legitimacy of the PEC were not being recognised by the national structures.
Exhausted
“There are up to 5 000 members who are co-signatories to the court application. All internal processes have been exhausted and now we are turning to the courts.”
ANC provincial secretary Deshi Ngxanga stated that members would not be excluded from the national conference .
“If they are in good standing, any member of the ANC is welcome to participate in processes of the ANC,” said Ngxanga.
He added that the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) had agreed that structures that would lapse in October and November 2017, were compelled to postpone their conferences to 2018.
“We (the ANC in the Northern Cape) could not convene conferences due to the provincial conference that became due before the regional conferences. The then PEC decided to postpone the regional conferences further due to the 2016 local government election.”
Ngxanga insisted that it was impossible to manipulate the upcoming BGMs.
“The complainants did not explain this to us in their letter. They predict problems even before we arrive at the BGMs”
He added that they were ready to defend the PEC in court should legal action be instituted against it.
“These actions are as a result of hangovers from the provincial conference.”
Ngxanga pointed out that the letter from the Office of the Secretary General, which restricted the hosting of regional or provincial conferences after September 30, served as “mere administrative advice” to PECs.
“The Special National Executive Committee accepted and affirmed that the restriction on hosting regional or provincial conferences is only applicable to regions and provinces that are due to hold their conferences during the months of October, November and December. These regions will still be within their three-month grace period after the national elective conference. The NEC has expressly made it clear that the September 30 deadline for conferences is not applicable to regional or provincial conferences that are long overdue.”
Ngxanga added that the term of office for the Frances Baard, Pixley ka Seme, John Taolo Gaetsewe and ZF Mgcawu regions had come to an end in 2016. “This renders the administrative advice by the Office of the Secretary General not applicable and regional conferences will go ahead.
“The PEC will not be intimidated. If there are any complaints or discomforts from members about the processes leading up to the regional conferences, there are internal organisational mechanisms at their disposal that they can utilise. Failure by these members to first use and exhaust internal organisational processes, as prescribed by the ANC constitution and policies, is a form of misconduct.”
Media enquiries directed to the ANC national office went unanswered.