Johannesburg – The newly appointed member of parliament (MP) and Limpopo ANC member Ponani Makhubele has succeeded in compelling the governing party to pay her damages.
On Wednesday, judge AJ Nyathi from the Joburg High Court ordered the party to pay Makhubele over R1-million in damages for the 18 months during which they failed to comply with a court order, granted on May 21 2019, to include her as an MP after her name was controversially left out of the ANC’s list of its deployees to parliament.
According to the court papers, Makhubele’s lawyers issued a court application in October 2020 to compel the party to deploy her to parliament, pay her damages and legal costs.
“The first respondent [ANC] shall pay damages to the applicant [Makhubele] in the amount of R1 106 940 within 30 days of this order.
“The first respondent shall bear the costs of this application on an attorney and own client scale including the cost of counsel,” reads the revised order. Makhubele and the ANC’s legal battle started in April 2019 when she filed an urgent court application to challenge the mysterious removal of her name from the party’s list of its parliamentary candidates.
Speaking to Sunday World, Makhubele said that she was not fighting with the ANC, but fighting against organisational injustices and oppression.
“I am not fighting the ANC; I just want what is rightfully mine and also to regain my financial freedom because the whole case has left me broke. I tried to resolve the matter with the party internally, but unfortunately we failed,” she said.
“I survived on handouts because of the delays caused by the party in taking me to parliament. Now I can say I am happy and I hope the movement can do the right thing so that I continue to serve it with diligence.”
Advocate Thando Manentsa from Adams & Adams Attorneys welcomed the court ruling and said should the ANC fail to pay, they would then execute the court order through the sheriff.
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