By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Disgruntled African National Congress (ANC) members in North West, had their hopes dashed after North West High Court in Mahikeng dismissed their bid to overturn last year’s provincial elective conference.
ANC provincial spokesperson Tumelo Maruping welcomed the high court judgment dismissing the members’ legal challenge.
“We are happy that the matter has come to its finality but we anticipated the outcome because we have been very firm before that the merits of this case lack basis and we want to encourage our comrades that in future they exhaust internal protocols of the organisation processes as provided in the constitution of the ANC,” said Maruping.
The Constitutional Court denied the group of five members direct access to their appeal and sent them to the lower courts. The group had lodged two court cases to challenge the legitimacy of the conference and the newly elected ANC leadership before the conference was concluded in August 2022.
Lebogang Medupi, Lesego Serapelwane, Puso Moeng, Sello Molefe and Itumeleng Moswane lodged a high court case to challenge the election of the top five members in the province and lodged an urgent case with the Constitutional Court, but their case was declined as they had not followed procedure.
While the group was the applicant in the case, the ANC was cited as the first respondent and the provincial chairperson, Nono Maloyi, as the second. The rest of the top five were also respondents in the case.
The group wanted the provincial conference to be declared unlawful, invalid and of no force and effect.
According to the court papers, the group was praying that the court would declare that the ANC’s decision of August 13 2022, to usurp the powers and functions of the ANC’s ninth provincial conference, after the court had declared on August 12 2022 that the term of the interim provincial committee of North West had lapsed, was in violation of the ANC constitution and unlawful and should be set aside.