ANC councillor wins case to stand in local elections

26/07/2016 ANC Councillor for Ward 89 in Soshanguve,Lucas Ngobeni, celebrate with his supporters outside the high court in Pretoria. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi

26/07/2016 ANC Councillor for Ward 89 in Soshanguve,Lucas Ngobeni, celebrate with his supporters outside the high court in Pretoria. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi

Published Jul 27, 2016

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Pretoria - A lone Tshwane ANC councillor took on the ruling party in court on Tuesday - and won.

He will now be eligible to be voted back into office on August 3, with his replacement losing out.

On Tuesday Lucas Ngobeni sneaked back into contention for another term when the high court in Pretoria ruled he was the legitimate candidate for his ward.

Ngobeni will replace Maria Skhosana in Ward 89 in Soshanguve in accordance with the ruling following his mysterious removal, allegedly by the ANC national executive committee (NEC).

However, it is too late to replace the picture of Skhosana’s face on the ballot papers as they have already been printed. The community will be informed ahead of the elections that Skhosana has been replaced by Ngobeni as candidate for Ward 89 in Soshanguve.

The community will thus fully know they are voting for their chosen candidate - Ngobeni - although the ballot paper may still reflect Skhosana’s picture, advocate Pieter Venter told Judge Natvarlal Ranchod.

Ngobeni turned to court to obtain an urgent order that he replace Skhosana.

He said the matter was extremely urgent in light of the elections next week.

While the Independent Electoral Commission issued the court with an affidavit in which it said it would abide by the court’s ruling, the ANC simply did not reply to the application nor attend the proceedings.

Venter assured Judge Ranchod that the party and its members cited in the application knew full well about the urgent application. Skhosana also did not fight the fact that she was no longer candidate in the ward, nor was she in court.

Ngobeni is sitting councillor for the ward. He was originally nominated for a second term.

He said in an affidavit that he was nominated in February and was awaiting a meeting during which the screening process of the candidates was to take place as stipulated in the ANC constitution.

“I asked members of the screening committee when this would occur. “They said they were waiting for the regional office of the ANC to give the go ahead for the screening... This meeting never took place.”

Ngobeni said at that point he was aware the nominees in the other wards had been screened.

The ANC volunteers for Ward 89 wrote a letter to the NEC, addressed to deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, in which they made it clear they would elect a candidate of their choice and not the one imposed by a faction group. Ngobeni said he was informed in May by the provincial office that the NEC had called for a rerun of the nomination process. This was done and Ngobeni was again elected as candidate.

He was instructed to go to Luthuli House on June 2 to ensure the IEC deadline was met.

“This was the first time when, much to my surprise, I was informed by Gwen Ramokgopa, a member of the provincial executive committee, that Ward 89 had a different nominee named Maria Skhosana.”

He was told the NEC would investigate how this came about, before the final nominee was endorsed. According to Ngobeni, he was informed by some ANC members that various other wards had similar problems.

Nothing came of his complaints, nor was there an investigation. This was, Ngobeni said, in spite of objections and even a petition by his community members, who insisted on him as their candidate.

Ngobeni blamed political manoeuvring for the fact that his name was replaced by another.

He said the only reason forthcoming from the office of regional chairman and outgoing mayor Kgosientso Ramakgopa for the appointment of Skhosana was that she was a woman and been switched with him to give effect to gender balance.

Ngobeni outside court hailed the order as a big victory for both him and the community. “I am all for service delivery and my community wants me to stand for a second term,” he told the Pretoria News.

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Pretoria News

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