Ace will be at ANC poll

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe yesterday swept away queries about the legitimacy of the party’s Free State provincial executive committee (PEC), led by Ace Magashule, insisting it would take part in the upcoming national elective conference.

The provincial leadership’s term came to an end in May and numerous attempts to elect new leaders failed. But Mantashe said the Free State provincial structure should not be put in the same category as “medicine that has reached its sell-by date”.

“The court order did not instruct the dissolution of the Free State PEC… it merely extends [its] term for it to hold a provincial conference. The PEC will come to the conference… it has not been dissolved.”

The Free State High Court ruled last week that the Free State’s ANC branch general meetings convened ahead of the national conference were unconstitutional, unlawful and irregular. The ruling also rendered the provincial general council (PGC) nomination of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma over the weekend as their preferred candidate null and void, as the decision emanated from irregularly constituted branches.

The provincial conference that was planned after the PGC over the weekend was also declared invalid unless the several irregularly constituted branches meetings were rerun.

Some party members have argued the PEC did not have the authority to take decisions and requested the ANC’s national executive committee appoint an interim team until the December conference. Over 100 delegates, mainly supporters of Cyril Ramaphosa, boycotted the PGC. – ANA