By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The High Court in Johannesburg has dismissed a bid by disgruntled members to force the ANC to release the raw data of all NEC branch nominations.
The application was dismissed with costs.
Disgruntled branch members have questioned the criteria used.
Judge Shanaaz Mia on Friday found that the matter is not urgent.
“It is evident that the applicant had the information on the 1st of December. I am not satisfied that the application has been made out of urgency and the matter is struck off the roll,” said Judge Mia.
The judge said the ANC members could still take part in the ANC’s elective congress in Nasrec and members could still be nominated from the floor.
The nine ANC members – under the banner of ‘The Kgalema disputed NEC list’ – wanted the raw data of all NEC branch nominations to be released by the party’s electoral committee.
The group had concerns over the criteria used to disqualify some members in order to achieve gender parity.
Reacting to the group’s objection to the nomination list, the ANC Electoral Committee said the disgruntled members had misunderstood the ANC’s constitution.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe reiterated that point, saying the members don’t understand the rules governing the nomination process.
“If these cadres wanted to understand this principle, they should have engaged with the ANC for it to be clarified. Our appeal to members of the ANC is that the first discipline they must carry is to submit themselves to organisational processes,” he said.
The ANC’s 55th national elective conference starts on Friday.
Leading up to the conference, more than 4 000 branches across the country nominated candidates for the top six positions in the ANC as well as 200 NEC members.
Meanwhile the ANC top six leadership structure has instituted disciplinary process against Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
This, after Dlamini -Zuma defied a directive from the ANC national executive committee (NEC) for all ANC MPs to vote against a report by an independent panel recommending that Parliament should consider instituting impeachment processes against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In a letter dated December 14, ANC Acting secretary general, Paul Mashatile, told Dlamini-Zuma that the “ANC officials” resolved that she should face internal charges after they had received a report from ANC parliamentary chief whip, Pemmy Majodina.