The Bloemfontein High Court on Thursday postponed an urgent court interdict sought by four African National Congress (ANC) members to suspend the election of new office bearers at a northern Free State ANC regional conference.
The matter was suspended to March 29 for consideration by the court.
However, Judge Corne van Zyl set specific dates for the parties in the matter to file their respective affidavits, as the ”urgent” matter had been dragging on for almost a month.
The application follows a complaint by four ANC branch members who alleged that the regional conference was in contravention of the ANC’s constitution. Accusations of abuse of power and dereliction of duty were also made.
The respondents in the matter are Free State ANC leader Ace Mageshule, provincial secretary Charlotte Lobe and three regional leaders at Fezile Dabi.
Papers filed in court by the respondents targeted the four ANC members who applied for the interdict, saying they were not ”members in good standing”, and questioning whether they were, in fact, party members.
Legal counsel for the respondents told Van Zyl that correspondence to find out where, when and how the four applicants had applied for their ANC membership had delivered nothing.
During the morning’s proceedings, a large group of ANC members gathered at the court. The group was carrying placards, some of which read: ”The ANC is united in the Free State” and ”Who are you to take the ANC to court?”.
The high court earlier granted a temporary interdict suspending all decisions taken at the ANC conference at Oranjeville during the weekend of February 11.
In terms of the interdict, all resolutions taken at Oranjeville were suspended and the current office bearers in the Fezile Dabi region had to stay in their positions. — Sapa