Bathabile Dlamini fights back after being disqualified from running for NEC

09 December 2022 - 15:23
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Former ANC Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini is disputing her disqualification from running for the ANC NEC. File photo.
Former ANC Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini is disputing her disqualification from running for the ANC NEC. File photo.
Image: MOELETSI MABE

Former ANC Women's League president Bathabile Dlamini is legally disputing her disqualification from running for the party's national executive committee (NEC) at next week's elective conference.

Dlamini's lawyers Tim Sukazi Inc, in a letter dated December 8, issued correspondence noting receipt of the disqualification notice and indicating her decision to take legal action.

“We advise that our client refutes the contents of your letter. To this end, our client intends to institute legal proceedings against yourselves in pursuance of its rights in law,” the letter reads.

Dlamini learnt of her disqualification on Wednesday in a letter sent to her by ANC electoral committee head Kgalema Motlanthe.

In the letter, Motlanthe said she had been disqualified during their vetting process which revealed she had been convicted of “a serious crime”. This relates to a court ruling earlier this year which found her guilty of perjury for lying under oath during a 2017 inquiry into the social grants debacle at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).

The court slapped Dlamini with a four-year prison sentence — two years of which were suspended — or the option of a fine.

“The vetting process as conducted by the agency of the electoral committee known as Elexions has revealed information which negatively affects your eligibility to stand for nomination as a candidate for NEC positions during the 55th national conference,” Motlanthe said in the letter dated December 7.

“The vetting information at our disposal reveals you have a historical record of being found guilty of a serious crime in a court for which the prison sentence had been more than six months.”

Motlanthe said Dlamini was disqualified in terms of the conference rules approved by the NEC. Those rules state that no-one may contest leadership positions if they have been found guilty by a court on charges of unethical or immoral conduct, serious crime or corruption.

Dlamini was one of the front-runners in the race for NEC positions, making it to number 15 on the list released by the committee last week, having received 856 branch nominations.

She became the first casualty of the vetting process that is expected to eliminate several other ANC leaders.

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