Court battle over ANC leadership in KZN postponed
23 November 2016
Pietermaritzburg - A court challenge pushing for the scrapping of the ANC's 8th provincial elective conference - which was held in 2015 - has been postponed.
The matter was heard before the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday.
Judge Esther Steyn postponed the matter after the respondents filed an interlocutory application earlier this week.
This fresh application is centred on documents in the case and the time needed to prepare the matter for trial.
A new date for proceedings is yet to be settled on.
The shock court bid to nullify the leadership of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal came just a week before the local government elections in May, and exposed thinly-veiled fault lines in the ruling party.
If successful, it could see the entire provincial leadership ousted.
The five applicants - Lawrence Dube, Sibahle Zikalala, Martin Mzangwa, Mzweni Ngcobo and Lindiwe Buthelezi - received a boost of support when 11 branches in Umlazi also swelled their ranks.
The 39 respondents include provincial ANC chairperson Sihle Zikalala, his deputy Willies Mchunu, the ANC itself, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, and other top ANC figures.
The applicants have asked for the costs of the application to be paid by the ANC.
Toing and froing in the matter began late in September, when the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal announced that the court case had been withdrawn.
But the case had in fact been removed from the roll so that the applicants and respondents could exchange documents.
It has since been placed back on the roll.
The elective conference in question saw Zikalala beat former premier Senzo Mchunu to become the provincial chairperson.
Zikalala received 780 votes, while Mchunu got 675 votes, in a process where 1 459 delegates voted.
Other leaders elected were deputy chairperson Willies Mchunu, secretary Super Zuma, deputy secretary Mluleki Ndobe and treasurer Nomusa Dube-Ncube.
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.
This article first appeared on News24, see here.
