/ 16 December 2017

No voting status for all the ANC structures nullified by courts, NEC announces

'The start of the conference on Saturday was delayed by an urgent meeting of the NEC in the morning
'The start of the conference on Saturday was delayed by an urgent meeting of the NEC in the morning

The national executive committee (NEC) of the ANC has resolved that all party structures nullified by courts will not have voting status at its national elective conference so as not to “contaminate” the gathering.

The start of the conference on Saturday was delayed by an urgent meeting of the NEC in the morning, to deliberate on the effect of three court judgments affecting structures in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Bojanala in the North West.

Yesterday the Free State High Court barred 14 Free State branches and the 27-member Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) from voting at national conference due to irregularities at branch general meetings (BGM).

The North West High Court set aside the outcomes of the Bojanala regional conference and the BGM outcomes of 40 branches after finding that the branches had been unconstitutionally convened.

The KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg granted an enforcement order to bring into immediate effect its September decision to dissolve the 27-member KwaZulu-Natal PEC, which was found to have been irregularly elected at the province’s 2015 conference.

“The decision we’ve taken is that in the Free State, KZN and Bojanala, all the structures that have been nullified will not be voting delegates of conference,” secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on the NEC decision.

“Other issues will be discussed by the various provinces beyond this conference. That includes matters of looking into judgements, studying them properly, is there any room for appeal,” he added.

The decision is seen as a blow to the Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma faction as the affected structures were expected to give her their vote once the party started its election process.

Earlier this week members of the KwaZulu-Natal PEC had announced their intention to attend conference as ordinary branch members rather than provincial leaders, in an effort to pre-empt a court ruling against their favour.

However, the decision by the NEC means while they will still be allowed to attend the conference, they will not be able to vote either for a new leadership or policies, even under the guise of being branch members. Instead they will also be expected to take a status as non-voting delegates.