Staff Reporter
The secretary of the disbanded Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of the ANC in the Free State, Paseka Nompondo, last week told the lawyers who had filed a notice of appeal in the Constitutional Court against the nullification of the 2018 elective conference to drop the case.
The intended appeal follows last month’s ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) that the party’s provincial conference held from May 18-19, 2018 was unlawful and unconstitutional.
But in a surprising turn of events, Nompondo wrote to Moroka Attorneys instructing them not to proceed with the appeal as they sought to resolve the matter internally.
“The ANC national officials as well as the National Working Committee (NWC) have advised the PEC that this matter be resolved through political negotiations and organisational processes and not through legal process,” said Nompondo in the letter.
He said the political and organisational process is already underway.
Nompondo further advised the attorneys that only his office could give instructions on the matter and former provincial chairperson Sam Mashinini did not have the mandate of the province when he started the case.
“We also wish to confirm that the chairperson, Cde Sam Mashinini, did not have the authority or was not mandated to file an affidavit on behalf of the PEC,” he said.
“You are further advised that you must not take instructions from any person except the office of the provincial secretary in all matters of the ANC PEC as has always been the case.
“The provincial secretary has and would always act, in all material times, on the instructions of the PEC as provided for by the ANC constitution.”
The notice of motion filed with the Constitutional Court carried an affidavit signed by Mashinini and was supported by the party’s secretary general, Ace Magashule.
The embattled Magashule, whose deadline to step aside from his position in the ANC is today, submitted a confirmatory affidavit to the matter.
It’s however not clear how the two crafted the appeal without the blessing of the rest of the disbanded executive or the national office of the party.
The court appeal was largely seen as an act of defiance towards a decision by the party’s top officials and the NWC who had initially urged the feuding parties to find a political solution to their differences.
The SCA declared all decisions/resolutions and/or the outcome of the conference unlawful and unconstitutional.
It however ruled that the decisions made by the PEC before the delivery of the judgment on March 31, 2021 will not be affected.
The matter was brought to the appeal court by three disgruntled ANC members, Matshepo Ramakatsa, Themba Mvandaba and Shashapa Joshua Motaung.
The trio wanted the SCA to declare that the 2018 provincial conference for the ANC was held in violation of an earlier High Court order which instructed the party to finalise branch general meetings and audit all branches in the province before holding the provincial conference.