Courts deal NDZ a triple blow

Yesterday’s three separate court rulings against Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s supporters in KwaZulu-Natal, North West and the Free State could throw the ANC national conference into disarray as affected provincial delegates might try to make the gathering “ungovernable”.

The ruling by the Pietermaritzburg High Court to declare the 2015 KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial conference null and void and leadership elected there as invalid, was even more devastating for Dlamini-Zuma, who relied heavily on their support to win the presidential race.

The situation was exacerbated when the North West and Free State high courts imposed similar judgments within hours of each other.

With the rulings, it means both KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State technically have no leaderships.

Traditionally, in such circumstances, the head office is supposed to appoint interim task teams for the two provinces to run the provincial affairs, while preparing to elect new PECs.

The real blow to Dlamini-Zuma is the fact that the KZN and Free State rulings had blocked the 27 members of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee and their Free State counterparts, who were all her vocal supporters, from participating in this weekend’s ANC national conference.

The Free State High Court in Bloemfontein declared the recent ANC elective provincial conference and its resolutions as null and void.

The PEC in that province would be unable to attend, just as their counterparts in KwaZulu-Natal. The court also barred several branches from the province from attending the national conference.

KZN recently declared their preference for the former African Union Commission chairperson to succeed President Jacob Zuma and so did the Free State, North West and arguably Mpumalanga.

On the other hand, Ramaphosa is preferred in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Northern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng and is leading in the nomination numbers. KZN back all the policy proposals espoused by Dlamini-Zuma, including the so-called Radical Economic Transformation and land expropriation without compensation.

Ramaphosa touts a new economic deal among all social partners including business, labour and civil society.

However, the KZN province’s branches would attend and vote at the conference, but not their provincial leaders.

As the PECs were also expected to vote for the candidates, it means that Dlamini-Zuma has already lost 27 votes from KZN and an equivalent number from Free State.

In all the cases in the three proDlamini-Zuma provinces, branch members known to support deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa were systematically excluded during the branch general meetings, provincial general councils and PEC elections. In the case of KwaZulu-Natal, pro-Ramaphosa branches were disbanded in order to prevent them from attending the national elective conference.

The disgraced KZN PECs vowed to appeal the ruling.

Provincial spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli said they welcomed the ruling but he expressed deep dissatisfaction and disappointment saying it would have huge ramifications for the ANC constitution and the party functionality entirely.

In the North West and Free State, the provincial ANC suffered similar fates as KZN. Bojanala regional conference and the regional executive committee (REC) elected there were nullified by the North West High Court yesterday.

However, according to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, the province’s vote would not be affected by the ruling as the REC had no voting rights but observer status at national conferences.

But some disagreed saying the decision would effectively reduce the North West delegation to the national conference.

Mantashe said they had no choice but to re-run the Bojanala regional conference and elect a new leadership after the court ruling.

The nullification of the KZN PEC means the province technically has no leadership and that it would hold a fresh elective conference to elect new leaders.

In the meantime it has to be led by an interim provincial task team. Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni said the rulings may have an impact on the ANC’s reputation as they called into question the integrity of its internal processes.

He said the rulings may also heighten tension over delegate credentials.

Court rulings yesterday:

• The KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg granted the provincial executive committee (PEC) the right to appeal a ruling disbanding the committee, but ruled the PEC’s members could not cast their votes at the conference, denying the province 27 votes.
• In the North West, the Bojanala regional conference was set aside. The court further ruled that the branch general meetings of 38 branches, held between October and November for the election of delegates to attend the conference, were irregular, invalid and unconstitutional. The majority of these votes were expected to go to Dlamini-Zuma.
• In the Free State, last week’s controversial elective conference was set aside, meaning that the PEC there will also lose its 27 votes and another potential 14 votes from branches barred from attending the elective conference

– ericn@citizen.co.za

//