The Eastern Cape ANC’s court battle to appeal against the court judgment in March that interdicted the party’s provincial conference from sitting, has been thrown into limbo.
This as the party’s national office and its secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, on Wednesday withdrew from any participation in the provincial ANC’s appeal court proceedings.
Together with the provincial ANC and it’s provincial secretary, Lulama Ngcukayitobi, the two parties were among the four applicants in the appeal process lodged by three disgruntled party members.
The initial court case was initiated by members who challenged the validity of the conference amid unresolved branch meeting disputes.
The Dispatch has seen court papers, dated April 29, signed by the lawyers representing Mbalula and the national ANC, containing a notice of withdrawal by these two parties in the court proceedings in the Eastern Cape.
Mbalula, who did not respond to questions on Wednesday, in a statement later confirmed their withdrawal.
He said the decision was reached after advice from their legal team.
“The ANC confirms that the movement, together with [its] secretary-general, in their respective capacities as the second and third respondents, have today formally withdrawn the application for leave to appeal [against] the interim order of the honourable court.
“The notice of withdrawal has been duly served on all relevant parties and filed with the registrar of the East London circuit court of the Eastern Cape division.
“The withdrawal follows the receipt of the learned judge’s formal reasons for the interim order and was taken on the considered advice of our legal team,” Mbalula said.
He said the ANC was satisfied that the issues raised in this matter, “are more substantively addressed through the other procedural avenues available to us”, before being taken to court.
Mbalula said such avenues “will enable the ANC to demonstrate, on a full evidentiary footing, that the movement has adhered to the order of the court, and that the membership records and administrative processes of the ANC in the Eastern Cape are sound and consistent with the constitution of the ANC and the governing instruments of the movement”.
Though Mbalula did not respond to questions around the implications of the withdrawal, in the statement, he said the “convening of the [province’s] elective conference will be undertaken in accordance with the ANC constitution and consistent with the directions of our courts of law”.
While Ngcukayitobi could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, a cagey ANC provincial spokesperson Yanga Zicina said the party in the province was still forging ahead with plans to appeal against the court judgment.
“The less said about this process, the better. But I can tell you now that we are still forging ahead with the legal battle, but we are applying a different legal tactic or strategy,” Zicina said.
He said there was no court date yet for their appeal to be heard.
He confirmed the chances of hosting a provincial conference soon were slim.
The party had initially vowed to reconvene the conference before the end of April, pending a possible completion of the court matter, which now seems to be far from over.
The bone of contention now is the production of “raw membership data” used in the province ahead of the planned March conference, data some within the party say is unreliable.
The disgruntled members who took the party to court, led by Lwazi Rotya, had demanded that the party provide them with their membership records and verification reports which had been used in the build-up to the provincial conference.
While the provincial ANC had provided them with a chance to scrutinise the records, it refused to hand them over, saying that would be tantamount to selling off their organisation and compromising their members’ confidential information such as identity numbers.
However, a number of ANC insiders this week said the ANC’s membership system was so dysfunctional and in a shambles, to the extent that data contained was unreliable and could not be trusted.
They said, as a result, the court challenge could expose some serious shortcomings in the party’s entire membership data.
“This could lead to some regional conferences in the province, and beyond, being declared null and void due to the unreliability of the membership data that was used when they were convened,” one senior party insider said.
While the current legal battle in the provincial ANC now centered around the provision of raw membership data, a possibility of a provincial conference sitting anytime soon is very slim as such required data could not be relied upon
Those who spoke to the Dispatch on condition of anonymity, both in the province and nationally, are aligned to both the warring factions of the ANC in the province.
“While the current legal battle in the provincial ANC now centered around the provision of raw membership data, a possibility of a provincial conference sitting anytime soon is very slim as such required data could not be relied upon,” another senior party insider said.
They say if the court battle in the Eastern Cape is not dealt with politically, this could expose flaws in the party’s membership system, which is controlled at Mbalula’s office.
On Wednesday, they claimed that Mbalula and Luthuli House were pulling out of court proceedings, “fearing that such a process will expose challenges in our membership system, which is dysfunctional”.
They claim the data used towards many regional and provincial conferences in recent years, could be exposed to be flawed “as the membership system, and thus branch meeting verification reports used, cannot be trusted and would be exposed if they go through court scrutiny.”
“This is why Fikile Mbalula and Luthuli House are avoiding court scrutiny — it could expose serious flaws in the party’s membership system,” a PEC member said.
He said the party may settle the matter out of court to avoid destabilising its structures.
“A provincial conference is unlikely soon. When our term lapses in May, the PEC may be replaced by a task team, with a conference only possible after the local government elections,” he said.
An NEC member said the ANC was considering abandoning its appeal in favour of seeking a rescission of last month’s judgment.
“The appeal would take too long and risk further exposing the organisation,” he said, adding that talks were under way to retain the current provincial leadership.
Daily Dispatch
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