Legal threat over Free State ANC PEC legitimacy

04 October 2017 - 07:03 By Neo Goba
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Free State premier and ANC provincial chairperson Ace Magashule. File photo.
Free State premier and ANC provincial chairperson Ace Magashule. File photo.
Image: SIMPHIWE NKWALI

A disgruntled ANC member in the Free State has given the party structure until the end of the week to disband the provincial executive committee‚ failing which he will approach the High Court.

Lefa Mifi has sent a letter to current provincial chairperson Ace Magashule‚ calling the PEC an illegitimate structure and vowing to take legal action if the PEC has not been disbanded by Sunday‚ October 8.

In a letter drafted on September 28 through Bekker Attorneys‚ Mifi states that the current term of the PEC should have lapsed on August 11.

"Considering the 90-day grace period that is allowed‚ it should have been held by no later than 11 August 2017. However‚ as at the date of the writing of this letter‚ it has not yet been held‚" the letter reads.

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The August deadline follows three months after the PEC's term in office expired at the end of May.

"Bearing in mind that the instructions came down from the NEC (national executive committee) for all provincial conferences to be concluded by 30 September 2017 and considering the required notice period that has to be given for the convening of the provincial conferences‚ there is no reasonable way in which the provincial conference can be held in a constitutional manner‚" the letter adds.

On September 5‚ ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe‚ in a memo to provincial and league secretaries‚ announced that all regional and provincial congresses be held by September 30 to ensure that preparations for the upcoming December elective conference proceed smoothly.

However‚ ANC Free State spokesperson Thabo Meeko told TimesLIVE that it was not the PEC's fault that the conference had not yet been held and therefore could not be immediately disbanded.

"We were delayed because of the audit process [and] all those processes have now been completed and they are giving us the go-ahead to proceed to the provincial conference. Our resolution is that our conference must sit in November [so] we have requested national to exempt us because our term is due and we are confident that national will grant us‚" said Meeko.

However‚ Mifi argues that the PEC's stance on proceeding with the conference was purely delaying tactics.

"To argue that the audit process caused the delay while knowing fully well that you (the PEC) had a fixed date by which the conference had to be held is in our client's view merely an excuse to remain in power‚ despite the constitution stating otherwise‚" his lawyer's letter states.

"It is therefore our client's view that the current PEC is not constitutionally mandated to proceed with representing our province. It is therefore our client's request that the current PEC be disbanded and that a Provincial Task Team (PTT) be appointed by the NEC to assist in convening the branch general meetings."

ANC communications manager Khusela Sangoni said the provincial conference would go ahead as planned.

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