The ANC's Eastern Cape provincial conference will go ahead on Sunday, after a failed court bid to bar some voting delegates from participating in the elective meeting.
Premier Oscar Mabuyane, a staunch supporter of Ramaphosa, is seeking re-election as ANC provincial chair, and is facing a strong challenge from public works MEC Babalo Madikizela, who has joined forces with legislature deputy speaker Mlibo Qoboshiyane.
An urgent court application by Eastern Cape ANC member Ondela Sokomani, who supports Madikizela’s campaign to become the next provincial chair, was dismissed by the East London High Court on Saturday night.
Judge Justin Gregory Alexander Laing ruled that the applicant failed to satisfy the court why the application was urgent, that the relief sought was “far from clear”, and left the court to second-guess it.
Sokomani, through his legal representative, advocate Dumisani Skoti, wanted the court to stop delegates from the Dr WB Rubusana region from participating in the provincial conference to elect a new party leadership for the province, arguing that branch general meetings held in the region during February and March were conducted unlawfully.
In his judgment, Laing said if the applicants were indeed of the belief that attendance of branch delegates from the region would be unlawful, then there was nothing preventing them from taking the conference under review at a later stage.
“Crucially they failed to demonstrate why they would not be afforded substantial redress in due course. The applicants have not indicated the basis on which this court can be approached on an urgent basis for the relief sought,” the judge said.
“In the circumstances, the court is not prepared to deal with the matter any further. Consequently, the after order is made: the application is struck from the roll.”
Advocate Apla Bodlani, representing the ANC, had earlier called for the application to be struck off the court roll, saying: “This is a hopeless case, it was hopeless from the beginning.”
Dr WB Rubusana, which has about 152 voting delegates at the conference, is among regions supporting Mabuyane's campaign for re-election.
While there had been several allegations of manipulation of membership in several branches, the ANC moved to assure delegates earlier on Saturday that the conference could go ahead after national signed off on the final verification report.
In a media briefing earlier on Saturday, home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who is convener of the party’s national executive committee deployees to the province, said they had tried to do “everything by the book” to prevent the conference from being challenged in court.
“But if somebody rushes to court we will respond accordingly. And we expect it to happen any time because ... SA is a litigious country. People run to court at the slightest provocation,” Motsoaledi said during the media briefing.
The party said votes from branches affected by discrepancies would be “quarantined” or put aside, but if they had the potential to influence the outcome of the conference, a decision would have to be made on the disputes.
Meanwhile, the provincial conference — which was supposed to end on Sunday — has been extended by a day and will now end on Monday, with Ramaphosa expected to deliver a closing address on the same day.
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