Eastern Cape public works MEC Babalo Madikizela, who lost the contest for provincial ANC chair in May, has distanced himself from a fresh bid to have the newly elected leadership nullified.
This comes after Buffalo City ANC member Ondela Sokomani wrote to acting ANC secretary-general Paul Mashatile asking that the outcomes of May’s conference be nullified, citing irregularities in the lead-up to the congress.
Madikizela had become the face of a grouping that wanted to topple premier Oscar Mabuyane from his position as chair of the ANC.
Speaking to DispatchLIVE on Friday, Madikizela said he had no knowledge of the letter written by Sokomani.
“I just saw it on social media. I am not part of it, I was surprised by it.
“There has not been anyone who has spoken to me about it. I don’t have any knowledge about it,” said Madikizela.
He said his post-conference stance had not changed despite his public statements that he was going to leave government following his loss.
Madikizela surprised many when he publicly stated that he was in talks with Mabuyane about his intention to resign from the cabinet after his loss at the conference.
“We must support the elected leadership, give it a chance to lead properly and unite the province for December and get ready for the national elections,” said Madikizela.
Gwen Ramokgopa, the ANC national executive committee member deployed at the office of the secretary-general, said the matter was with the party’s lawyers.
“The matter is with the legal team awaiting their advice. We are not aware of any grounds for a successful legal challenge,” she said.
Eastern Cape provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukaitobi could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Sokomani is part of a group that successfully challenged and interdicted the elective conference of the Buffalo City region in April.
It only sat late in May after the provincial conference.
Leading up to the conference he was known as a strong supporter of Madikizela’s candidacy.
In his letter, he gave the ANC 10 days to nullify the outcomes of the conference, failing which he would go ahead with court action.
Part of his demands are that the elected ANC provincial executive committee should conduct itself as a duly elected leadership of the province.
He further demanded that the party should hold a fresh elective conference for the province.
Sokomani argued that the pre-conference processes in the province were mired in serious irregularities and disregarded guidelines adopted by the party’s national executive committee in 2019.
The irregularities included the exclusion of some branch delegates from some regions.
“More than 14 branches of the OR Tambo region whose legitimate delegates were elected in their branch general meetings were unceremoniously changed at the conference registration venue.
“When they brought that to the attention of the [national dispute resolution committee], nothing was done about it and their participation in the conference was prohibited,” he said.
He argued that legitimate members of his region, which is officially called WB Rubusana, were barred from participating in the conference because of their chaotic branch general meetings.
“The ANC unlawfully allowed the Rubusana delegates elected from questionable branch general meetings to participate in the eighth provincial conference so as to contaminate it,” he said.
He said even the Chris Hani district had disputed delegations whose matter was being handled by the ANC NDRC but were allowed to participate.
DispatchLIVE
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