By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula announced it will seek leave to appeal the Makhanda High Court ruling that dissolved the party’s Eastern Cape Provincial Task Team (PTT).
Mbalula briefed the media on Thursday, on the outcomes of the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting, including developments relating to the Phala Phala impeachment committee, the party’s election campaign preparations and the mayoral nomination processes.
The temporary body was appointed last month to oversee the ANC’s affairs in the Eastern Cape following the expiry of the Provincial Executive Committee’s (PEC) term.
The ANC previously failed to hold its provincial elective conference.
Disgruntled members approached the courts over allegations of branch irregularities and membership manipulation.
Judge Vuyokazi Pamella Noncembu ordered all decisions taken by the forty-fourth respondents are declared unlawful, invalid, and of no force or effect.
Mbalula said, he is going to report certain high court judges in the Eastern Cape division to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and will request a full bench in the appeal stage.
“The ANC constitution prescribes what happens when a structure’s term has collapsed. A judge sits there and decides that there must be a vacuum.”
“Our judges cannot be allowed to treat the ANC like this and collapse the organization completely. I submitted an affidavit (in the EC PTT matter), and it is not even recognised, but I am the secretary-general, the boss, and I explain and give minutes on what we did to dissolve the structure, and I am told that my affidavit is an afterthought by a person behind the bench, something that was in public.”
Judges encroaching on ANC affairs.
“Encroaching on the affairs of the organisation. Judges have never done that. Most of the time judges would refer matters and say ‘go resolve your issues’ and that is it. You are interdicted from holding a conference, your structure collapses, and using your constitution you establish a task team, but a judge says ‘you cannot do that’. That is why we are appealing that decision.”
Migration
Mbalula has called for a comprehensive legal response to counter unauthorised mobilisation against undocumented migrants, warning that such actions could lead to vigilantism.
Mbalula accused those calling for illegal immigrants to leave of stoking hatred against fellow Africans.
He said: “In stoking hatred for the African foreigner, you have turned your back on the very same Freedom Charter you claim to honour. The Charter that declares the country belongs to all those who live in it.”
This call for calm comes as several organisations intensify their campaigns, urging illegal immigrants to self-deport before a looming deadline of June 30.
Phala Phala
Mbalula also sought to explain the ANC’s decision to withdraw its notice indicating an intention to intervene in president Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent court application aimed at halting the impeachment proceedings pending a judicial review of the Section 89 independent panel report.
“The ANC will come in only as a friend of the court, confined strictly to questions of process and sequencing and taking no position whatsoever on the merits, the earlier notice that served its purpose was withdrawn,” he said.
Mbalula accused some opposition parties of seeking to fast-track the president’s political downfall while ignoring legal processes.
He said criticism directed at National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza was misplaced, maintaining that the Speaker had acted impartially and in accordance with her constitutional obligations.
“The institution of the National Assembly must remain neutral, and the Speaker is properly preserving that neutrality by filing a notice to abide by the decision of the court.”
He said Didiza had acted “correctly, constitutionally, and with complete propriety throughout” and warned against attempts to drag the Speaker into what is ultimately a legal and procedural dispute.
FIFA World Cup
Mbalula expressed gratitude after Bafana Bafana made history by advancing to the World Cup knockout stage for the first time.
Bafana Bafana will face Canada next, after finishing second in the Group on four points. Mexico topped Group A with nine points after beating Czechia 3-0 in their final match.
The South Africans were seeking qualification from a World Cup group stage for the first time in their history, as South Korea targeted reaching the knockout phase in successive editions for the first time.
Meanwhile Dada Morero was left out of the party’s regional shortlist for mayoral candidates ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
The region submitted the names of newly elected regional chairperson and recently appointed deputy executive mayor Loyiso Masuku, former deputy finance minister Jabu Moleketi and regional secretary Makhosazana Ndlela.
The ANC is still finalising naming its candidate for Johannesburg while rival parties have already begun campaigning in the hotly contested metro.