The ANC in Eastern Cape and its Dr WB Rubusana region are heading to court to lodge an application for rescission of the court judgment that raised questions about the legitimacy of its leadership.
This following the participation of party branches that had been declared null and void by the East London High Court.
The Dr WB Rubusana region was taken to the high court by some of its members to challenge some of the branch biennial general meetings (BBGM) and branch general meetings (BGM) that took place between February and March. These meeting were convened in the build-up to the ANC regional and provincial conferences.
Led by Ondela Sokomani, the aggrieved party members argued that some of the BBGMs and BGMs were fraudulently constituted and manipulated in that some of the deceased and imprisoned ANC members participated, according to the register, while others said they were registered as having attended meetings that they did not attend.
The party members also argued that the meetings even failed to meet the ruling party’s constitutional requirements.
East London High Court judge Igna Stretch in April ordered the rerun of all the BBGMs and BGMs convened between February and March, but the ANC in the region only reconvened the meetings that were flagged by the party’s national office of the secretary-general.
To make matters worse, the regional leadership chose not to participate in the court process when its detractors continued with the legal action, arguing that the reconvened meetings did not comply with the earlier court order.
On Tuesday, Stretch ruled again that all the BBGMs and BGMs convened between February and March were unlawful and that the decisions taken at those meetings are null and void.
The judgment has ripple effects on the outcomes of the ANC Eastern Cape provincial conference and the ANC Dr WB Rubusana regional conference which were conducted with the participation of these branches.
Although the region claims that the meetings had been reconvened, Sokomani maintains that they failed to meet the requirements of the initial court order.
In the wake of the court judgment, the ANC in the province said it is going to lodge its own application for its rescission.
The party’s provincial spokesperson, Gift Ngqondi, said the arguments put before the court by the applicants are flawed and the judge erred in making the ruling and the order.
“It is the ANC’s considered view that the court order was obtained by irregular means in circumstances where the matter is fully opposed and there were two pending applications emanating from the main application, which remained unresolved,” said Ngqondi.
“The court erred in granting a final order against some respondents that were not joined as parties in the matter.”
He said the ANC is not going to dissolve the leadership of Dr WB Rubusana until it has exhausted all available legal avenues.
To read more political news and views, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
