Northern Cape ANC in turmoil

Camps threaten court action over audit reports

ANC members in the Northern Cape have threatened to interdict the upcoming provincial conference should it not be postponed.

Last week, their attorneys wrote a letter to the ANC demanding a postponement of the conference scheduled for May 11 to May 15 this year .

Those making demands are Richard Nxamashe, Eric Tshepo Khotseng, Andrew Ivan Samson and Angela Nombulelo Modise.

“At a special sitting of the PEC (provincial executive committee) on February 24 an objection was raised against the two audit reports which were signed off by the secretary-general of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, on January 19, which purports to confirm the verification of the ANC Northern Cape membership,” reads a letter.

“The two audit reports are fundamentally flawed and contradictory of each other in relation to the total provincial membership.

“One report records the membership as 29 926 whilst the other records it at 27 200, and this leaves a discrepancy of 2 726 members,” the letter says.

Their attorneys have given the ANC until today to accede to their clients’ request or face an interdict of the conference.

The conference pits the Northern Cape premier Sylvia Lucas, who is in the President Jacob Zuma camp, against the provincial secretary Zamani Saul, who has thrown his weight behind Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Saul confirmed the ANC has received the letter.

“We have received their letter and all the issues have been attended to and were resolved,” Saul said.

He said the ANC would oppose any postponement of the conference. Mantashe could not be reached for comment.