Judge shoots down Supra's case against ANC

Judge Collen Lamont on Tuesday dismissed an urgent application by former North West ANC provincial executive committee members to interdict the party's provincial task team (PTT) from running the party's list conference.

The group is aligned to former North West premier and ex-provincial chairman Supra Mahumapelo, who was removed from his post in May this year.

The last attempt to have the same court nullify the ANC national executive committee's decision and install a new PTT was denied and struck off the roll for lack of urgency.

The matter is set to be heard in January next year.

In his judgement, judge Lamont found that the issues raised by the applicants on Tuesday regarding the alleged illegality of the PTT was identical to the main application in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

The applicants, represented by advocate Dali Mpofu, had argued that the matter was urgent after they heard last week that the PTT was going to hold the list conference this weekend - but Lamont disagreed with this point.

"The fact that the lists were discovered during November 2018, on the 11th, and during November 2018, the 13th, is incidental to the primary objection to the current set of appointments and the current steps taken by the first respondent (PTT)," said Lamont.

Aaron Motswana, the first applicant in the matter, cautioned that the ANC stood to lose the North West should the court not find in their favour. He said that by the time the matter was concluded it might be too late to start a new list process, meaning opposition parties could win the province uncontested by the ANC.