The National Democratic Convention’s (Nadeco) national executive committee has come out in support of a Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling last week that the party’s members should choose their leaders.
Last Friday, Judge Achmat Jappie ordered two camps within Nadeco to hold an inaugural federal congress to choose the party’s office bearers.
Lawyers for Assan Mbatha, a former African Christian Democratic Party member who defected to Nadeco, and Ziba Jiyane, Nadeco’s founding leader, said they hoped the congress would resolve a deadlock over who should replace John Aulsebrook in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature. Aulsebrook died in a motorcycle accident.
On Monday, Nadeco’s ”office bearers” said: ”The NEC [national executive committee] has resolved … to support this judgement with a view that it shall normalise the situation in the party.
”We also want to reconfirm that the daily management committee … shall continue with its operations until the federal conference in September, reporting to the NEC to ensure minimal confusions.
”As office bearers of the party there are also management issues which require proper attention for clean governance of the party.”
Monday’s statement came after the Nadeco NEC met in Durban to consider the judge’s ruling.
In his ruling, the judge reinstated the interim NEC to continue its functions as expected by the party’s members.
He said that all decisions made at a meeting by members of the Jiyane camp in Durban on July 28 were invalid because proper notice of the meeting had not been given. Delegates only found out what the agenda for the meeting was when they were inside the venue.
Mbatha said the meeting was an inaugural meeting to elect members of the party’s interim federal council. Nominations were not distributed through party structures and no notice of the fact that elections were to be held was given until the invitees attended the meeting.
The meeting was closed except to members invited.
Nadeco MP Vincent Ngema said that the constitution of the party made no provision for such a meeting or election. Armed guards were at the meeting. — Sapa