ANC gets advice on appeal
The ANC will announce on Tuesday whether it will appeal against the High Court in Pietermaritzburg judgment that nullified the 2015 KwaZuluNatal provincial elective conference.
The ANC will announce on Tuesday whether it will appeal against the Pietermaritzburg judgment that nullified the 2015 KwaZulu-Natal provincial elective conference, spokesman Zizi Kodwa says.
After a special meeting of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) last week, the ANC said that although it had full confidence in the judiciary and accepted the judgment of the full bench of the high court nullifying the provincial conference, it still felt there was a need for further consultation with legal counsel to gain greater clarity on the decision of the court — especially as the decision dealt with rule 17(2)(1) of the ANC constitution, which dealt with how the provincial conference should be constituted and when it must take place.
Kodwa said on Monday that the legal advice obtained would give direction on whether the party would appeal against the court ruling or not.
If it was advised not to appeal, a provincial task team would be appointed, Kodwa said. If the legal advice indicated that an appeal was not likely to succeed, the NEC had mandated the national working committee to establish “a strong, inclusive and unifying provincial task team” that would be tasked with preparing for a provincial conference in KwaZulu-Natal.
Sthembiso Mshengu, a spokesman for the pro-Senzo Mchunu group in the province, said the stalemate could lead to chaos and a provincial task team should be appointed to take the province forward.
Political analyst Sifiso Kunene said the delay in deciding on the fate of the elective conference was causing uneasiness in ANC structures in the province.
“The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is at the crossroads. On the one hand, the court has dealt a big blow to the provincial executive committee, and on the other hand, their opponents are waiting impatiently for the NEC to kick the committee out of office. This creates a vacuum and a state of unease, which is very bad for the ANC.
THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS FOR THOSE WHO ARE CAMPAIGNING FOR NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA
“One thing for sure, this is not good news for those who are campaigning for NDZ to succeed President Jacob Zuma,” Kunene said, referring to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
“If the task team is made out of both factions, it will be difficult for it to give blanket endorsement to NDZ and, therefore, she will get less and less [of a] platform to campaign and her campaign will be weakened as a result,” Kunene said.