Durban - Disgruntled EFF members in KwaZulu-Natal want the party’s recent provincial conference nullified.
The aggrieved members have brought legal action against the party in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. The case is expected to come before the court early next year.
They also want the Ugu regional conference on the South Coast nullified because branches from Ugu “not in good standing” participated.
The members claimed that Ugu had sent about 82 branches to the provincial conference, and about 76 of those were not in good standing as they had not paid membership fees.
They alleged that bank receipts were forged to make it look as though those branches had paid their fees.
Each branch, they said, sent two delegates and therefore about 152 delegates had participated, which had a material influence in the outcome of the provincial conference.
In October this year, the party elected its provincial leadership after the positions were vacant for almost three years.
It was reported that the previous provincial leadership was disbanded in 2016 due to infighting among party members.
During the provincial conference in Pietermaritzburg, the party caucus leader in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, Vusi Khoza, was elected provincial chairperson.
“One of the people central to the fraud has since had a falling-out with his co-conspirators and is now revealing how this conference was rigged and giving us the evidence,” said Bheki Khuse, spokesperson for the disgruntled group. “We had written emails long before the conference convened to inform both the provincial and national leadership not to allow branches from Ugu to participate in the provincial conference because they had problems.
"We are calling for the leadership in Ugu and the province to be nullified.”
Another source said, “One of the key issues is that the constitution of the EFF says that for branches to sit, 90% of the branches must be ready.
"Considering that 76 were bogus, that threshold would not have been reached, therefore the conference should not have been allowed to sit.”
Asked for comment, Khoza said they were aware of the legal challenge but were treating it as rumours as nothing official had been given to them.