Phosa takes Mpumalanga ANC to court over Unity
Mpumalanga ANC secretary, Mandla Ndlovu, says they only found out about Phosa's intentions through the media and are ready to defend the ANC at any time
MBOMBELA – ANC presidential hopeful, Dr Mathews Phosa, does not trust the Mpumalanga courts. His campaign applied yesterday to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to have the results of Friday’s Mpumalanga provincial general council (PGC) set aside.
Mpumalanga’s branches announced their preferred leadership candidates during the PGC at Mbombela Stadium ahead of the ANC elective conference scheduled in Johannesburg in two weeks’ time.
“We don’t trust the court in Mpumalanga, hence we are making our application in Pretoria,” said Phosa’s campaign coordinator, Ronnie Malomane.
“You can not trust someone from Mpumalanga, because some of them are captured by DD (provincial chairman David Mabuza). We do not want our case undermined, whereas we take it seriously. We want to be free.”
The application also calls for the province’s executive committee (PEC) to be dissolved. The application is in light of the PGC’s nomination for “Unity” on Friday. “Unity” received more than 300 nominations, after delegates wrote it down on ballot papers in place of abstentions or candidates’ names and surnames.
Mabuza received 185 nominations for position of deputy president. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma got 123 nomination for president. Gwede Mantashe got 87 nominations for national chairman, Senzo Mchunu got 81 nominations for secretary general, Jessie Duarte got 40 nominations for deputy secretary general and Paul Mashatile received 84 nominations for treasurer general.
“We have noted with regret the gross and malicious violation of the nominations as the dictates of the nomination guidelines and ANC constitution,” Malomane told Lowvelder. Mpumalanga’s 736 votes at the party’s elective conference is the second highest number of delegates for a province – only KwaZulu-Natal, which held its PGC yesterday, has more.
When asked who or what “Unity” is after the meeting, Mabuza said, “It is the bedrock of the ANC. Unless you are searching for something else you want to hear. “The province has fought hard for unity, and the branches have listened,” he added.
ANC provincial secretary, Mandla Ndlovu said they were not aware of Phosa’s intentions until hearing of them from the media. “I guess we will hear from him,” said Ndlovu. “Until such a time, we will defend the ANC.”
