Court nullifies Free State provincial conference
The High Court in Bloemfontein has nullified the African National Congress' (ANC) Free State provincial conference.
The High Court in Bloemfontein has nullified the African National Congress' (ANC) Free State provincial conference.
The court also ruled that 14 branches will not be allowed to vote during this weekend’s national conference.
Delegates from branches whose meetings were not in dispute will be allowed to attend the conference, which kicks off in Nasrec on Saturday.
Handing down her judgement, Judge Magale Masomela drew a parallel between this case, and the case brought ahead of the previous ANC national conference in 2012, during which the election of provincial chair Ace Magashule and the Free State PEC were also found to have been irregular.
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Masomela said the irregularities in several branches have not been sufficiently explained by the respondents and that the branches failed to provide proof that the branch meetings did in fact take place.
An application to have Magashule arrested for ignoring a court order to rerun branch meetings was not granted.
The run-up to the ANC’s national conference has been marred by court battles in most provinces. On Friday the North West High Court barred delegates from the ANC Bojanala region from attending the party's national elective conference.