The ANC has walked into another possible courtroom battle in the Eastern Cape after secretary-general Fikile Mbalula submitted a councillor list that Lwazi Rotya, the member who has defeated the party in court three times, had warned him not to lodge.
The litigation-prone ANC member is threatening to bring the government election councillor list to a standstill after Mbalula submitted it to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Friday.
Rotya is not happy that the party submitted a list he has been disputing.
He has warned that the ANC might find itself under scrutiny at either the electoral court or the high court soon.
On Monday, he wrote to Mbalula, alleging that the councillor selection process in the province was riddled with irregularities and manipulations. He called on Mbalula to either correct the situation or face legal action.
Rotya said the selection process was presided over by an unlawful provincial task team, as per a court ruling that had invalidated the structure.
On Saturday, Rotya told Sunday World that he was shocked that Mbalula had decided to submit the list despite his protest.
Even the ANC Veterans League’s attempt to find a political solution to the saga was done “in bad faith”, a livid Rotya said.
He said he had been left with no choice but to drag Mbalula to court to enforce ANC rules.
Rotya said he was unfazed by attempts to brand him as disruptive in his spirited offensive to get the ANC to follow its constitution.
He bloodied the ANC’s nose in the interdicted provincial conference in March and, recently, in the invalidated appointment of a provincial task team by the ANC’s head office, Luthuli House.
Rotya said he was weighing his options on which court to approach.
“The SG [Mbalula] submitted to the IEC yesterday [Friday] despite all the problems we have raised that were never resolved,” Rotya said. “Consequently, we are looking at our options to bring about justice but I can tell you that we are going the direction of the courts.”
He said Veterans League leaders in the province, mandated by their president nationally, Snuki Zikalala, had reached out to him but that had fuelled the hostilities rather than defused them. “It was in bad faith. It was never a genuine political solution. But the veterans spoke with us and they told us they will discuss it in their NEC [national executive committee] but on Thursday, they said their attempts were futile because of the arrogance in the SGO.”
Rotya said he had always been willing to find a political solution in his year-long battle with the party if it was within the constitution and the law of the land. However, ANC administration chief Mbalula was not interested in finding a solution outside the courts even though the party had lost every time that terrain had been used on the battlefield.
“We will seek to review the decision to submit the unlawful list and if we win, that will set aside the whole process and, at worst, it will say corrections must be made,” Rotya said.
“What came out of community meetings must be respected. We cannot allow manipulations to go on unabated because people are the dominant faction.”
In Rotya’s view, everything done that had culminated in the list submitted to the IEC on Friday had been against the ANC’s rules, norms and guidelines.
“No one knows who is who on the list. That is wrong and unprecedented in the ANC’s history. We are aware that in certain regions, what RECs submitted was manipulated at the provincial level and we note the tactical manoeuvre by the SGO to seek to bring back the PEC to rubber-stamp endorse the nonsensical list that was submitted.”
Rotya said the litigation against the ANC he had initiated “is not going to go away” if the powers that be circumvented the required processes.
“We want to show South Africans that it was never about councillor candidates; it was about the ANC following its rules, regardless of people’s own ambitions.”
On Thursday, ANC spokesperson Hlengiwe Bhengu said the ANC was considering various options, including a political solution with Rotya.
- The ANC has walked into another possible courtroom battle in the Eastern Cape after secretary-general Fikile Mbalula submitted a councillor list that Lwazi Rotya, the member who has defeated the party in court three times, had warned him not to lodge.
- The litigation-prone ANC member is threatening to bring the government election councillor list to a standstill after Mbalula submitted it to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Friday.
- Rotya is not happy that the party submitted a list he has been disputing.
- He has warned that the ANC might find itself under scrutiny at either the electoral court or the high court soon.
- On Monday, he wrote to Mbalula, alleging that the councillor selection process in the province was riddled with irregularities and manipulations.
Rotya is not happy that the party submitted a list he has been disputing.
He has warned that the ANC might find itself under scrutiny at either the electoral court or the high court soon.
On
Rotya said the selection process was presided over by an unlawful provincial task team, as per a court ruling that had invalidated the structure.
On Saturday, Rotya told
Even the ANC Veterans League’s attempt to find a political solution to the saga was done “in bad faith”, a livid Rotya said.
He said he had been left with no choice but to drag
Rotya said he was unfazed by attempts to brand him as disruptive in his spirited offensive to get the ANC to follow its constitution.
He bloodied the ANC’s nose in the interdicted provincial conference in March and, recently, in the invalidated appointment of a provincial task team by the ANC’s head office,
Rotya said he was weighing his options on which court to approach.
“
He said Veterans League leaders in the province, mandated by their president nationally, Snuki Zikalala, had reached out to him but that had fuelled the hostilities rather than defused them. “It was in bad faith. It was never a genuine political solution. But the veterans spoke with us and they told us they will discuss it in their NEC [national executive committee] but on
Rotya said he had always been willing to find a political solution in his year-long battle with the party if it was within the constitution and the law of the land. However, ANC administration chief
“We will seek to review the decision to submit the unlawful list and if we win, that will set aside the whole process and, at worst, it will say corrections must be made,” Rotya said.
“What came out of community meetings must be respected. We cannot allow manipulations to go on unabated because people are the dominant faction.”
In Rotya’s view, everything done that had culminated in the list submitted to the IEC on Friday had been against the ANC’s rules, norms and guidelines.
“No one knows who is who on the list.
Rotya said the litigation against the ANC he had initiated “is not going to go away” if the powers that be circumvented the required processes.
“We want to show
On
