ANC conference to go ahead despite ongoing legal wrangle

The long-anticipated Buffalo City Metro’s Dr WB Rubusana ANC regional elective conference scheduled for this weekend faces another hurdle, with threats of legal action if it does sit and elect new leadership.

Despite an interim court interdict already hovering over the BCM’s elective conference, the region’s interim leadership is forging ahead with plans to have the conference this weekend, before the matter is even back in court on May 31.

The Daily Dispatch can reveal that plans to have the region’s fourth elective conference, between May 21 and 22, are at an advanced stage.

An interim leadership’s closed-door meeting over the weekend is understood to have taken a decision to have the conference this weekend, despite the interim court order interdicting its sitting, yet to be finalised in court.

The newspaper has also seen a letter from the region’s co-ordinator Antonio Carels, dated May 15, where he reveals that the decision was taken at a regional task team meeting on Sunday.

In his letter to branches, Carels said registration for the weekend conference would take place on Saturday morning at 10am.

The conference is expected to commence immediately afterwards.

“Branches will be informed about the venue of conference and the venue of registration during the course of the week as that is yet to be finalised,” Carels wrote.

An interim interdict barring the region from hosting its conference which was scheduled to sit between April 8-10, until all branch meeting disputes had been addressed, was issued by the court on April 7.

The matter was back in court again on May 3, but has since been postponed to May 31.

The conference was interdicted in early March by a group of five disgruntled party members, a few hours before it sat, amid disputes in a number of branch meetings.

The matter was postponed on May 3 after advocate Zimasa Mashiya, a legal representative of the five BCM ANC members who had made an application for the conference to be interdicted, told high court judge Nozuko Mjali that not all lodged disputes had been adequately dealt with by the ANC provincial and national bosses.

In court papers filed by party members Ondela Sokomani, Anelisa Sogqumase, Fundiswa Sizani, Lusapho Coto and Xolani Lobese, the group wanted all branch general meetings and branch biennial general meetings that took place between February and March in the region declared null and void.

This was amid claims that the branch meetings had been conducted in an “unconstitutional and unlawful manner”.

Contacted on Friday about the alleged plans to host the conference this weekend, Carels refused to comment, saying he could only do so after obtaining legal advice from their lawyers.

However, yesterday he confirmed the conference would sit despite the interdict.

He could not comment more as he was locked in an ANC PEC meeting in East London.

One of the disgruntled party members who went to court in April, Sokomani, however was adamant that the weekend conference would not sit.

“That thing will not sit because doing so would be in contempt of court.

“There is an existing court order which prohibits Rubusana from convening a conference.

“The question is, have they satisfied court with regards to what led to the interim order?

“Have they presented to the satisfaction of court as to why they ought to be granted permission to sit?

“And my answer is that they haven’t.”

Sokomani said the region should go to court and satisfy it that they had addressed all the concerns, if they wished to convene the conference this weekend.

He said if they insisted, another legal battle would ensue. —