The applicants had argued the mandate of the provincial elective conference running this weekend’s conference had expired
The Johannesburg High Court has dismissed an urgent application by a group of disgruntled Limpopo ANC members who had hoped to interdict the province’s elective conference underway in Polokwane this weekend.
Judge Tintswalo Maluleke struck the matter off the roll, saying she did not believe it to be urgent.
“The order that I am going to give under the circumstances is that the matter is not urgent and consequently it is truck off the roll with costs,” Maluleke said.
The applicants had argued the mandate of the provincial elective conference (PEC) running this weekend’s conference had expired, threatening the legitimacy of the gathering.
Following the court’s decision to strike it off the roll for lack of urgency, legal representative for the unhappy group Tumi Mokwena said his clients still had the option of pursuing the matter on an urgent basis.
“Our clients have a strong case. I think the other side shied away from debating the merits of the case. The advise would be that they [the unhappy group] should go ahead and set the matter down [in a normal court],” Mokwena said.
“We are still of the view that the matter was urgent. From Monday they [disgruntled members] held a meeting with the ANC and only when it became clear that there would be no solution that they headed to the court,” he added.
While the court proceedings resumed in Johannesburg, in Polokwane where the Limpopo ANC is holding its elective conference, Premier Stanley Mathabata was re-elected provincial chairperson following an uncontested nomination.
Since the resumption of the conference programme on Saturday morning the ANC in the province has been firm on condemning the action of those who turned to courts to resolve a matter the party believes could have been handled internally.
Addressing the provincial conference earlier, ANC secretary general lashed out at ANC members who continued to take the party to court instead of exploring internal processes to resolve disputes. He suggested some leaders within the ANC were bankrolling the legal challenges as in most instances the applicants could hardly afford legal fees.