KZN ANC rebels vow to remove province’s ‘illegitimate’ executive

17 September 2017 - 14:58 By Bongani Mthethwa
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An elated Lawrence Dube, right, leaves the Pietermaritzburg High Court following the outcome of the court case on Tuesday.
An elated Lawrence Dube, right, leaves the Pietermaritzburg High Court following the outcome of the court case on Tuesday.
Image: Khaya Ngwenya

The so-called ANC rebels in KwaZulu-Natal have vowed to remove the party's provincial executive committee (PEC) which they have described as illegitimate after the court ruling which declared the 2015 elective conference unlawful.

This was revealed by Vryheid councillor Lawrence Dube during his report back on the outcome of the court judgment on Tuesday last week.

Dube led the application which also involved four other ANC members representing 43 branches.

The court ruling by Judge Jerome Mnguni came after complaints by a faction supporting ousted chairman and KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu‚ who lost to Sihle Zikalala in a bitter internal battle.

They went to court in July last year asking for a rerun‚ citing various irregularities.

Dube told ANC members who gathered at Durban's Olive Convention Centre on Sunday that the "unlawful‚ illegitimate and questionable PEC must pack their stuff and go".

"If they do not do that we will and remove them. They must go and leave in peace‚" he said.

"As applicants I want to state it categorically clear that there is no PEC."

He said the PEC continued to take decisions and had no right to run the ANC branch general meetings.

"Should they appeal‚ and I call that hypocritical‚ and go back to office pending the finalisation of the high court‚ we will be back to square one because the prospects of them succeeding in their appeal are nil‚" he said.

Dube also lashed out at the ANC national executive committee (NEC)‚ saying if they had acted correctly "we wouldn't be here".

"We are expecting them to decide on the matter. We want them to be principled."

The ANC members‚ who were clad in black T-shirts on which was emblazoned CR17 #Siyavuma‚ sang pro Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa songs and declared their support for him to become the party's president during the December elective conference.

Ramaphosa is expected to go head to head with former African Union chairwoman and President Jacob Zuma's ex-wife‚ Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma‚ who is favoured by the current KwaZulu-Natal PEC.

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