The three ANC members facing disciplinary action for taking the party to court in a bid to halt its provincial conference are set to challenge their impending suspension in court.
They also plan to open a criminal case against provincial task team co-ordinator Helen Sauls-August for alleged contempt of court.
The pushback comes after the newly formed Eastern Cape provincial task team (PTT) decided on June 1 to suspend deployees who had taken the party to court.
The ANC accused them of defying organisational decisions, warning that indiscipline within its ranks threatened both party unity and public confidence ahead of the local government elections.
ANC provincial spokesperson Yanga Zicina confirmed on Saturday that members who had taken the party to court had been issued with suspension letters.
The letters were served on Friday, with the recipients given 48 hours to respond.
They are Dr WB Rubusana members Lwazi Rotya, Sinethemba Mpande and Nompumelelo Mzotywa, who successfully interdicted the ANC’s 10th Eastern Cape elective conference in late March.
They subsequently filed another court application to declare the party’s newly appointed 40-member PTT unlawful.
Rotya and his co-applicants successfully obtained an urgent order in the high court in KuGompo City, halting the provincial elective conference while party delegates were doing their verification at the ICC.
In the application, they cited branch registration irregularities and issues with verification processes overseen by party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.
The legal stand-off extended into a dispute over the release of raw branch membership data, which the applicants demanded to verify branch outcomes.
On Sunday, Rotya said they were surprised by the party’s action and would challenge the suspensions in court.
“To our surprise, we got these letters to suspend us and we are going to respond to the letters. Our lawyers are pleased with that.
“They have studied the letters and there is a strong feeling from the lawyers, even ourselves, that the ANC is trying to defeat the hands of justice.
“The argument of exhaustion in the Rule 25 of the ANC constitution, that we have not exhausted all internal organisational disputes and resolution committees, was proven by the court that it’s a non-starter.
“It’s a non-starter because you can’t claim that while you are proceeding with a conference.
“We had no choice but to institute this court action and the trick in it is that there is no letter that we have not written to ANC structures internally.
“There are no dispute resolution committees that we have not attended before.
“The last letter we wrote to the president of the ANC was on September 9 last year.
“We have been attending dispute resolution committees since July 2025,” he said.
Rotya said the suspension letters sent by Sauls-August were in contempt of court.
“The South African justice system will deal with such issues. Because it’s beyond our hands.
“We still don’t understand, why would the court find an anomaly in the general operations of the ANC?
“If the ANC thinks that it’s above the constitution of the country, it remains to be seen.
“Because that’s what was being tested in court in the main case, that our organisation in general, in terms of the laws that govern this country, [must uphold]the constitution.
“We are not going to bend. We will continue fighting for what is just and what is right,” he said.
The trio’s legal representatives were drafting their response and it would be sent to the party by Sunday evening, Rotya said.
The party did not indicate how many of its members were implicated, however, it is understood that it includes members from the Alfred Nzo, BCM and Joe Gqabi districts.
Zicina said implicated members undermined the party’s internal processes.
“Once you undermine our internal processes and rush to court, that means you disregard our processes,” Zicina said.
Efforts to get hold of Sauls-August were unsuccessful by the time of publication.
Rotya said they would continue serving the party by campaigning ahead of the local government elections as they were still members of the organisation.
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