Mzwandile Masina was elected leader at the anarchist ANC’s regional conference in May 2022, which has been set aside by the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
- The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg declared the ANC’s Ekurholeni regional conference illegal.
- Mizwandel Masina was elected leader in the conference which conducted dIt was also marred by allegations of fraud and alleged unfair disqualification of affiliates.
- First Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonian said she would speak to the party’s lawyer about how to proceed.
The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has set aside the ANC’s chaotic Ekurholeni regional conference in May 2022 at which Mzwandel Masina was elected leader.
Justice Denise Fisher ruled on Monday that “the 8th Ekurholeni District Regional Conference of the ANC, held at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways from 27-29 May 2022, all resolutions, resolutions and election results emanating from the conference are set aside.” .
The ruling means that the conference will have to be held again.
A group of disaffected ANC members took the case to court last year after the ANC was marred by allegations of fraud and unfair exclusion of branches.
In Monday’s ruling, Fischer said the ANC’s constitution had not been adhered to by TK Nciza, who oversaw preparations for the conference at the time. Nsiza was elected regional secretary at the conference.
The judge also said that Nsiza and ANC First Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonian had unilaterally decided to exclude certain branches from participating in the conference.
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“In order to comply with the constitutional rules of fairness and equity, decisions must be made according to an enabling rule and must be procedurally fair. If the decision to qualify a branch member is not made in a procedurally and substantively fair manner and this has a material impact on the rights of applicants, applicants are entitled to receive compensation.”
The judge found that it was evident that the proceedings in the period leading up to and after the conference were not based on law.
“Undoubtedly, the processes leading to the exclusion of the branches had no basis in the guidelines or the Constitution. Mokonian’s decision to exclude these branches based on Nsiza’s alleged complaint is illegal and void.”
The judge added that the fact that the ANC National Organizing Committee concluded that the results of the conference should be quarantined showed that there was a problem with fairness and adherence to the rules.
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The ANC National Executive Committee has also been criticized for not taking a decision on what action to take regarding the irregularities that have been raised.
The NEC decided to refer the matter regarding ineligible branches and isolated votes to the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) after marathon meetings that lasted until the early morning.
The ANC Gauteng Committee decided shortly after its July conference that the question of the regional conference had been settled.
The judge said:
In this case, the slowdown in the entire process was so awful as to show a complete disregard for the application of fair procedures on the part of the NOC.
“The NEC followed this up by abdicating its responsibility to the conflicting PEC, led by the very actor whose conduct was under scrutiny. In my opinion, in doing so, it acted contrary to its duties under its Constitution and denied applicants rights.”
Ekurhuleni’s ANC was supposed to convene a special regional council in June to replace Masina as leader and Nciza.
Masina resigned as councilor in November 2022 after a bitter disagreement with the Gauteng ANC over alliance strategy. He was elected as a member of the African National Congress at the ANC’s electoral national conference in December.
Mokonian said on Monday that she believed the ANC’s Gauteng leadership election would not be affected by the court’s decision.
Speaking to News24 on the sidelines of a wreath-laying ceremony for predecessor, Jesse Duarte, Mokonian said she has not yet heard of the ruling, and will speak to the party’s lawyer about how to proceed.
“But I don’t think so [the court judgment] Will affect the PEC in the ANC. It is the branch delegates who attend the conference, not just the regional leadership. Lawyers will think about that. This is my immediate response. Translation [the judgment] And fully understanding it is important. We’ll go to the office now [and] “We will hear from the lawyers,” Mokonian said.