Unhappy ANC members threaten legal action to nullify Tshwane elective conference results

Newly-elected chairperson Eugene ‘Bonzo’ Modise and regional secretary George Matjila. Picture: Supplied

Newly-elected chairperson Eugene ‘Bonzo’ Modise and regional secretary George Matjila. Picture: Supplied

Published Jun 10, 2022

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Pretoria - Disgruntled ANC members in Tshwane have threatened to approach the high court in a bid to nullify the results of the regional elective conference held at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways last weekend.

Members, represented by law firm Avela Nontso Attorneys, have questioned the lawfulness of the meeting on the basis that there were allegedly at least 32 branches from the region that did not qualify to participate in the conference. They have given the ANC until June 13 to declare the conference results invalid or face a legal challenge at the High Court on an urgent basis to set aside the outcome.

At least 260 delegates took part in the voting process, which resulted in the election of a new regional executive committee under chairperson Eugene “Bonzo” Modise.

The Pretoria News has seen a letter written to the ANC by Avela Nontso Attorneys, on behalf of three aggrieved ANC members, Nelson Lubisi, Lydia Morethe and Solomon Sedibeng.

The three claim to be ANC members in good standing in the Tshwane region.

The legal firm yesterday confirmed the authenticity of the letter dated June 8 regarding the imminent court challenge, but could not say whether it had reached its recipients. In the letter, the lawyers said they had received instructions from their clients “that there were 32 branches from the Tshwane region that did not qualify to participate in the Greater Tshwane 11th Regional Conference held from June 3 to 5, 2022, at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg”.

They claimed that the conference proceeded despite the fact that these branches did not qualify because their branch general meetings “were not properly constituted in terms of the adopted ANC guidelines for regional and provincial conferences”.

“We are further instructed that these 32 branches constituted roughly 80 delegates who attended the regional conference,” the law firm said.

According to the lawyers, numerous other branches were excluded from participating in the conference despite the fact that they had successfully appealed against their exclusion to the provincial dispute resolution committee.

“Accordingly, the exclusion of these branches and the participation of the 32 unlawfully constituted branches at the conference renders the 11th Greater Tshwane Regional Conference unlawful, irregular and invalid. Therefore, it falls to be set aside together with its outcomes,” the lawyers wrote.

The controversial conference was marred by protests and more threats of court interdicts by a group of party members. However, the disputes raised during the proceedings were resolved.

Gauteng ANC secretary Jacob Khawe said he had not received a letter with reference to the 32 branches that took part in the conference. He said the ANC’s last verification report indicated that “we never disqualified 32 branches”.

ANC regional secretary George ­Matjila said the letter would be dealt with by the party’s legal department as soon as it arrived.

He said: “There is no branch that participated in the conference without having gone through a verification process. All the branches that participated were verified and they are branches in good standing.”

Pretoria News