By More Matshediso
BLOEMFONTEIN - Six members of African National Congress (ANC) who recently failed in their bid to have the re-election of provincial supremo Ace Magashule to the helm of the ruling party in the Free Sate nullified, plan to approach the Constitutional Court for relief.
This follows the dismissal of their application in the High Court by Justice Mojalefa Rampai who last month stated that no court should be asked to resolve internal ANC squabbles.
Mpho Ramaka, one of the six applicants who filed for a court interdict to stop Magashule and his provincial executive committee (PEC) from working, told Public Eye that the judgment by Justice Rampai was political and not judicial.
The Six applicants; Mpho Ramakatsa, Tumisho Mbethe, Majoro Mpuru, Elisha Mbangula, Cecilia Chaka and Ntshiwa Morolloane had asked the court to interdict Magashule and the PEC from assuming office, and also for the ANC to dissolve the Free State PEC and appoint an interim management structure.
Ramakatsa and his team say the Judge had erred hence their decision to approach a higher court in a last ditch attempt to overturn his ruling and stop Magashule in his tracks.
“The judgement was very unfair because we had all the evidence, proving how the conference was rigged and we put it before the court,” Ramakatsa said.
Ramakatsa said the ANC should not portray itself as an organisation that has no qualms about expelling members from its ranks but as one that deals with members’ complaints constructively.
His statement was in reaction to claims made by provincial secretary, William Bulwane, that the Free State PEC would take disciplinary action against the six for trying to get the June provincial conference declared null and void. “We have taken this decision in Polokwane (in 2007) that if any member took the party to court they must be expelled,” Bulwane said.
He added that “this would be contradicting the ANC constitution, so we will follow the processes in the constitution, which encourages disciplinary action over expulsion.”
Majoro Mpuru, a member of the group now dubbed “Regime Change”, who is one of the six pplicants, said the resolution made in Limpopo did not stop members of the ANC from taking the leadership or anyone to court.
“The resolution only discourages members from taking organisational matters to court but does not absolutely forbid it. It states that this may happen if members have exhausted the internal processes,” said Mpuru.
He said internal processes were exhausted long before the Parys conference because they had been lodging complaints about Magashule’s leadership since last year without getting any relief.
In the contrast, Bulwane argued that the applicants did not exhaust all internal remedies as they should have done before going to court.
“They should have followed the right procedure. If they were not satisfied at provincial level, they should have submitted their issues to the National Executive Council (NEC) and then to the conference,” Bulwane added. Bulwane said that if the applicants were “as smart as they think they are, they should have taken advantage of the fact that the national conference will be held
in their own province in December to air their disgruntlement”.
The so-called Regime Change group is a splinter from the Magashule led faction and is fronted by ousted economic development MEC Mxolisi Dukwana.
Dukwana with the backing of former Mukhonto we Sizwe fighters broke ranks with Magashule when he decided to run against the ANC strongman who has held court in the party in the province since the dawn of democracy 18 years ago.
Magashule’s reaction to the threat on his hold onto the levers of power in this province of some 2,8 million people was swift as he ditched Dukwana from the Provincial Government on seemingly spurious grounds which opposition leaders and analysts were quick to pierce. The Dukwana faction, like its national backers in the so-called Anyone but Zuma group, now risk wallowing in political exile for the next four years unless President Jacob Zuma is removed from the helm of the ANC at the party’s national conference in Mangaung in December.
Dukwana recently refused to appear before the ANC’s provincial disciplinary committee for allegedly sowing divisions in the party, arguing that he did not recognize the Magashule executive. Dukwana is accused of bringing the ANC into disrepute after he boycotted the party’s provincial conference held in Parys in June citing irregularities in the selection of delegates to the elective meeting and other related issues.
The anti-Zuma camp is pushing for Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to take over as leader of the ANC.So if Motlanthe wins the party’s top seat, Dukwana is likely to bounce back and probably finally replace Magashule, a staunch Zuma supporter.