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The ANC leadership in KwaZulu-Natal say they want to appeal the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s ruling that nullified the legitimacy of the party’s 2015 provincial elective conference.
On Wednesday, they filed their intention to appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court of Appeal pending permission from national leadership.
KwaZulu-Natal has the biggest voting delegation at the ANC’s national conference, which includes those who support Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, those who support Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and pockets that could support Treasurer-General Zweli Mkhize.
Provincial spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli told News24 that, if the only issue was that the provincial executive committee had taken place six months too early, it did not warrant the conference being set aside.
READ: ANC leaders in KZN must leave office immediately - high court winners
The ANC members who support Ramaphosa and are sympathetic to ousted chairperson Senzo Mchunu took to court to challenge the outcome of the 2015 provincial conference, which resulted in Mchunu being removed in favour of then secretary Sihle Zikalala.
Ntuli said: “The provincial executive committee met last night and came to the conclusion that the irregularities that were pronounced by those aggrieved were of no material effect, and not substantive enough to warrant a decision to set the conference aside.”
Ntuli said they were consulting with national leadership to ask for permission to file their intention to appeal as soon as possible.
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Ntuli said the judges had not considered the fact that the ANC was a political party and that they had to take into account other factors other than the law.
“Judges used the law, circumstances and context of the case, completely disregarding the fact that the elections were around the corner. Conferences tend to be divisive and elections are also challenging, so we had to manage those things simultaneously, and that was an irrational expectation from the courts,” he said.
Ntuli said the conference was only held earlier so that they had enough time to campaign before the local government elections in August last year. – Additional reporting News24
