Court bid to oust ANC leadership in KZN

27 July 2016 - 19:12 By Nivashni Nair And Nompumelelo Magwaza

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is unaware of the motive behind a last-ditch court bid brought just before the local government elections to nullify its provincial leadership. The party's provincial secretary Super Zuma on Wednesday said the party was aware of the court application brought by Lawrence Dube‚ Sibahle Zikalala‚ Martin Mzangwa‚ Mzweni Ngcobo and Lindiwe Buthelezi on July 22 to scrap the ANC's 8th provincial elective conference results‚ a move which could effectively oust the provincial leadership.The elective conference in question saw Zikalala beat former Premier Senzo Mchunu to become the provincial chairperson.Following the conference‚ ANC supporters and members believed to be sympathetic to Mchunu marched twice to the provincial ANC headquarters demanding a rerun of the conference. They claimed that the new leadership intended to fire Mchunu and several of his MECs from the executive council.Zuma said: "At this stage‚ we don't know why they left this so late‚ especially with the election so close. They had plenty of time to do so because the conference happened in November. But we don't have a problem with the application. We will answer to it."He said the party would not be calling a special meeting to discuss the court application.No EFF coalition with ANC: Malema"We don’t want anything to make us lose focus. We are focussed on elections. We can deal with this application afterwards‚" he said.News24 on Wednesday reported that a notice of motion was filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court dated July 22.The applicants have asked the court to rule that the decisions‚ resolutions and elections are declared unlawful and invalid and be set aside‚ and that any recognition of the conference by the ANC also be declared invalid.The 39 respondents including provincial ANC chairperson Sihle Zikalala‚ his deputy Willies Mchunu‚ the ANC itself‚ and the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa have until September to file their responding papers.Exactly a fortnight after Senzo Mchunu announced that he had resigned as premier at the provincial leadership's behest in May this year four MECs were axed.KwaZulu-Natal IEC spokesman Thabani Ngwira said the court application against the ANC in the province would not have any effects on next week's local government elections."This is an internal matter and the election will go on as normal‚ unless the IEC is a respondent in the matter‚" Ngwira said. - TMG Digital/The Times..

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