South Africa
ConCourt slams ANC Free State, but clears delegates for participation in Mangaung
In a judgment released on Tuesday morning, the Constitutional Court found that there were irregularities in the lead-up to the ANC’s Free State provincial conference. Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke said the irregularities violated ANC members’ rights to participate in the party according to its constitution. By GREG NICOLSON/NewsFire.
However, this will not affect the participation of Free State’s 324 delegates at the ANC’s Mangaung national conference, said Moseneke.
Six ANC Free State members took the party to court to contest the provincial conference, which they said featured delegates who should not have attended. Despite their claims, the conference received the blessing of the ANC leadership.
The Free State applicants may now seek an urgent interdict to halt the participation of members from the province, but the judgment is likely to confirm the decision of the ANC’s NEC. It chose to halt the participation of the Free State provincial executive committee, but let other delegates vote in the ANC’s elective conference Mangaung.
As a cautionary measure, the Free State delegates at the conference voted on different-coloured ballots in case the court’s judgment on Tuesday invalidated their participation. DM
Photo: ANC Free State Chairman Ace Magashule (Greg Marinovich) and the the MK veteran Mpho Ramakatsa (Greg Marinovich / Newsfire)
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