The role President Jacob Zuma and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe played in the disputed outcome of the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal conference featured prominently at the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday.
This was when lawyers representing opposing factions of the ANC in the province pulled no punches before three judges over the 2015 provincial conference, which divided the party in the province.
The bone of contention was the legitimacy of the Pietermaritzburg conference, in which provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala defeated his predecessor, Senzo Mchunu.
Mchunu’s side was represented by advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi and senior advocate Griffiths Madonsela. Arguing for Zikalala was senior counsel Gregory Harpur.
Ngcukaitobi told judges Koen, Balton and Chetty that his clients had brought the matter to court after finding no joy in the way Zuma had handled their complaint over the preparations and outcome of the conference.
He said that on December 12, 2015, about a month after the conference, Zuma had promised the aggrieved party that he would respond to their concerns in five days.
“He (Zuma) never did that. He did not respond to their concerns within five days. When he gave this undertaking, the applicants had taken him seriously.
“They did not assume that President Zuma would not fulfil his undertaking,” said Ngcukaitobi.
The ANC provincial leadership accused the applicants, Lawrence Dube, Sibahle Zikalala, Martin Mzangwa, Mzweni Ngcobo and Lindiwe Buthelezi, of bringing the party into disrepute by taking it to court with regard to the conference.
However, Ngcukaitobi said the applicants had tried to resolve the matter within the structures of the ANC but were unsuccessful, “particularly with the NEC”.
“For five months, he (Zuma) did nothing until the applicants, through their attorney, approached the secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe."
Mchunu’s lawyers told the judges that the conference should be declared null and void, citing various reasons for this.
Among the reasons was that the conference, in November 2015, was held earlier than its scheduled date of May 2016.
They also brought in an issue of a Twitter message that had “predicted” the result while voting for the position of provincial chairperson had not yet been completed.
Another bone of contention was the issue of branch credentials, which the complainants alleged had not been properly verified by the branches.
Madonsela said a large number of branches had complained about being sidelined from the conference through gatekeeping.
However, Harpur requested the judges to reject the application, saying the applicants had no mandate to challenge the conference as individuals. This, he said, was the responsibility of the branches.
“These complainants do not even belong to those branches. You cannot have a branch complaining on behalf of another branch,” he said.
Outside the court, hundreds of ANC members from both camps sang Struggle songs while waiting to be briefed about what was happening inside.
Zikalala attacked his detractors for using Ngcukaitobi, who he associated with the EFF, as their representative.
“There is nothing worse than when family members bring enemies to fight family disputes. It is very disheartening that some of the comrades will go to the extent of inviting lawyers who always represent the EFF to represent them today."
Speaking on behalf of Mchunu, former ANC eThekwini councillor Thabani Nyawose said the complainants had followed the country’s constitution, which was above the ANC’s constitution, to bring the matter to the court.