KZN starts conference after court bid fails

An eleventh hour bid to halt the ANC Kwa-Zulu-Natal conference from going ahead on Thursday failed after the High Court in Pietermaritzburg dismissed an application by six disgruntled party members.

The six claimed that not enough time was given before holding the conference and that their grievances had not been attended to.

The group approached the court on Thursday afternoon as delegates were converging in Durban for the long-awaited conference. The group was believed to be from the Moses Mabhida region, which is the province’s third-biggest region.

This is the second time in two months that the provincial elective conference has faced a court challenge. The ANC has been battling to keep its members from approaching the courts to deal with internal party matters and prevent provincial conferences from going ahead.

Five of the ANC’s provinces have faced court challenges in recent months. Provinces have been given until the end of July to conclude elective conferences so that the ANC can start focusing on its campaign ahead of the 2019 general election.

Gauteng is expected to hold its elective conference this weekend after a court challenge on Wednesday was dismissed by the High Court in Johannesburg. Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Thoba Poyo-Dlwati struck Thursday’s application for an urgent interdict off the roll, allowing the Kwa-Zulu-Natal conference to start in Durban.

In June an interim interdict was granted to another group of disgruntled members from the Moses Mabhida‚ Lower South Coast and Harry Gwala regions, who approached the court to stop the conference. This after the provincial executive committee was declared unlawful in 2017 by the court after irregularities at the 2015 conference were challenged by the losers.

The ANC has since reached an out of court settlement with the members who successfully interdicted the conference in June.