The ANC in Limpopo has won the first round in a court case involving its MP, Boy Mamabolo, who had taken the party to the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, accusing it of omitting or removing his name from the party’s candidate list.
The court ruled that the matter was not urgent and struck it off the roll on Tuesday, forcing him to file court papers on the normal roll.
The ANC, last month, submitted its regional, provincial and national lists to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) as per expectation for all political parties ahead of the May 29 elections.
However, much to Mamobolo’s dismay, his name was not on any of the lists.
He told The Star that he would be filling court papers late yesterday on the normal court roll.
Mambolo wants the ANC to produce records of how he was left out of its lists. He also wants the court to force the party to provide him with the full nominations list from the various branches, and the book of forms of the branches as uploaded onto the cloud, as well as an explanation or reasons for his removal and/or exclusion from the final list.
Furthermore, he wants access to a copy of his interview scorecard and/or minutes of his interviews, copies of his vetting and screening report and the minutes of the extended provincial executive committee (PEC) meetings for the provincial list confirming the adoption of the list.
Speaking to The Star yesterday after the disappointing court outcome, Mamabolo said he wanted to expose the “thuggery” taking place within the ANC, because he knew for sure there were branches that had voted for him.
“I was number 5 on the list with more than 150 votes, I was then moved to number 22 and now am not on the list.
“We will be filing today (Tuesday) to go on the normal court roll to try and expose the thuggery in the ANC. There is no way that I have not made that list,” he said.
Mamabolo, who is from the Peter Mokaba region, said that he had received a warning earlier in the year from a senior member of the ANC to align himself with a particular faction in the province.
“I was warned a few months ago to align myself with a particular faction and I did not see the reason to do so. But now I see what they meant by that. I’m hoping this matter will be solved before the elections so that we can bring it to conclusion.
“If I win this case they would have to put my name up on the list and if I lose it…would have to wait for another five years to feature on the list but I think it's unfair that I’m being treated this way,” he said.
Mamabolo said the ANC was his home, “ I’ll wait for another five years. I’m going nowhere but the ANC.”
Responding to allegations that he did not have a matric and that the ANC had asked to see his certificate, Mamabolo said he was a qualified paralegal and it would be impossible for him to have got that qualification without a matric.
ANC provincial spokesperson, Jimmy Machaka, said the party welcomed the outcome.
“The outcome vindicated the ANC that in everything that gets done relating to the list was above board. Comrade Boy has failed to produce a matric certificate as a guideline of the ANC,” Machaka said.
The Star