/ 16 December 2012

Free State PEC threatens to interdict Mangaung conference

Free State Premier Ace Magashule.
Free State Premier Ace Magashule.

The City Press on Sunday reported that some Free State branch members who did not support Jacob Zuma for a second term as ANC president wanted to approach the courts to prevent the 53rd national conference from happening if their representatives were not allowed to vote at the conference.

This was after the party's national executive committee banned the province's executive committee from taking part in the conference due to a Constitutional Court that declared the province's newly elected PEC and its decisions null and void.

Free State Premier Ace Magashule was to attend the conference in his capacity of national executive council member and not as a member of the PEC.

Mpho Ramakatsa, one of the successful appellants to the Constitutional Court, on Saturday night told the City Press that the disgruntled Free State ANC members would be writing a letter to the conference itself to "advise that conference that it is in contempt of court".

He confirmed that the group would be meeting with lawyers on Sunday to consider the possibility of interdicts or a subsequent court review of the entire outcome of the Mangaung conference. There has been no confirmation of that meeting yet.

Ramakatsa said the NEC did not consult with the group about the Constitutional Court order at all and said there were people in the party who thought they were "gods of this world".

"[They] think they are above the ANC constitution, that they own the ANC and can do as they please."

The City Press quoted a source close to the legal team representing the disgruntled Free State PEC members as saying it was "very likely" there could be an application for an interdict preventing the whole Free State delegation, including Magashule, from taking part in the conference, or asking the court to stop it.