The North West ANC’s elective conference was forced to be delayed following another application in the North West High Court to interdict the provincial conference.
The latest application came after disaffected party members from Matlosana, led by Tshepo Bosman, successfully interdicted members of the Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) from voting.
Commenting on the outcome of the High Court on Friday, ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Obed Bapela confirmed that another court challenge was pending saying they would also defend it in the High Court in Mahikeng.
The provincial ANC NEC deployee to North West said they would honour the ruling barring IPC members from voting.
“The court did not dissolve the IPC. It only decided that 20 of them should not vote during the conference. We therefore decided to honour the court decision and declare all of the non-voting delegates. They will, however, be allowed to stand for nomination as they met the threshold to be elected,” Bapela said.
On Friday, Judge Frances Snyman ruled in favour of Bosman and ordered the ANC and the IPC to pay his legal costs. While Bosman only sought an application against the IPC’s participation in the voting process, the new applicants want to interdict the conference itself. This after proceedings started in Rustenburg late yesterday following three postponements.
The 20 affected IPC members included five of the seven candidates for the powerful position of provincial chairperson. They are premier Bushy Maape, IPC coordinator Hlomani Chauke, Human Settlements MEC Nono Maloyi, Economic Development MEC Kenetswe Mosenogi and Finance MEC Motlalepula Rosho. The other contenders are former provincial chairperson and premier Supra Mahumapelo and former Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality mayor Themba Gwabeni.
Addressing the media, Bapela was adamant that the five, despite the adverse court ruling, do qualify to stand as candidates as they were duly elected by ANC branches and had met the party’s requirements.
Bapela, however, said he would table a letter to a closed session of the provincial ANC conference from acting secretary general, Paul Mashatile, on how to deal with future legal challenges against the governing party.
At the heart of the issues was that the ANC had two other provincial structures, Free State and Western Cape, which were also controlled by IPCs. The ANC expressed concern that the two provinces were likely to face similar litigations in the future.
The second legal challenge against the North West ANC delayed Deputy President David Mabuza’s opening address to the 9th provincial elective conference at the Rustenburg Civic Centre. Mabuza was initially scheduled to address at 9am but the conference had not yet started after lunch. The delay was also caused by the slow registration of delegates at the Olympia Stadium.