However, Judge Rishi Seegobin effectively ruled that PEC would remain dissolved, as per the previous judgment, until the appeal was filed.

This means that the PEC, which supports ANC presidential candidate Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, will lose its 27 voting rights allocated to each province for the ANC’s national elective conference.

They can however attend as observers or as branch delegates if elected by their branches to represent them at the conference.

Aggrieved KZN ANC members legally challenged the results of the party’s 2015 provincial conference and won.

The PEC opposed the judgment and launched an appeal.

Member Lawrence Dube and four others lodged the court case against the ANC in May 2016.

The members challenged the results of the conference that saw Zikalala replacing former premier Senzo Mchunu in the position of chairperson.

The high-profile case has seen thousands turn up to support warring factions.

The Moerane Commission on political killings has heard testimony from several experts, politicians and social activists that the factionalism had caused many deaths.

During the elective conference, Zikalala received 780 votes, while Mchunu received 675, in a process in which 1 459 delegates voted.

In the wake of the conference, and Mchunu’s ousting, disgruntled members, believed to be his supporters, launched appeals demanding that the conference be nullified, as they believed it had been rigged.

Respondents in the matter included Zikalala, his deputy Willies Mchunu, the ANC, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, and other top ANC figures. DM