Johannesburg - The SACP and Cosatu in the North West have called on the ANC to take action against members who take the ruling party to court, including former premier Supra Mahumapelo.
The ANC’s alliance partners labelled the latest court action to challenge the authority of Job Mokgoro’s ANC provincial task team as sabotage.
This was after Mahumapelo, a former ANC provincial chairperson, made another failed bid in the high court in Joburg to halt a provincial list conference ahead.
SACP provincial chairperson Smuts Mathe said: “All these are intended to disrupt the election campaign of the ANC alliance.” Cosatu provincial secretary Job Bliso and Sanco provincial chairperson Paul Sebegoe shared the sentiments.
On Tuesday Judge Colin Lamont dismissed Mahumapelo’s application on the grounds that the matter was not urgent. Lamont’s decision came just less than a month after a similar judgment was made in the same court, in which Judge Seun Moshidi dismissed another urgent application by Mahumapelo to declare Mokgoro’s executive illegal.
In the initial challenge, Mahumapelo argued that the decision of the ANC national executive committee to disband Mahumapelo’s executive in September was “a breach of the ANC constitution and unlawful”.
Judge Moshidi, however, dismissed the matter on the grounds that Mahumapelo and his co-applicants had failed to prove urgency.
In yesterday’s application Mahumapelo and his co-applicants also wanted the court to prevent Mokgoro’s task team from overseeing the provincial list processes. The task team is expected to hold various branch general meetings to consolidate their nominations for candidates ahead of the provincial list conference.
A date has been set for January to argue the main application.
Sebegoe said yesterday’s decision was a step in the right direction. “It is exposing what is happening in the province, especially the level of desperation and disregard for the organisation.
“It is clear that the stakes are high, therefore all parties involved must ensure that the ANC is not going to be exposed to further litigation,” he said.