The ANC’s Eastern Cape elective conference has been postponed to allow all legal challenges to unfold in court.
At a media briefing at the East London ICC on Friday, ANC national executive member Mmamoloko Kubayi announced that the conference was “put in abeyance”.
Thursday marked a day of high drama with an interim interdict granted by the high court in KuGompo City, casting uncertainty over whether the conference would proceed at the weekend.
Earlier this week, three ANC members in the Buffalo City municipality approached the court to stop the conference. They sought to overturn ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula‘s verification report, which confirmed that the province had met the required 70% branch threshold to proceed with the conference.
Acting judge Babalo Metu directed the ANC, its provincial executive committee (PEC), Mbalula, and provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi to adhere to the party’s governance instruments, including its constitution and conference guidelines.
Though the ANC had filed an appeal, there was still no clarity on whether the event — or party president Cyril Ramaphosa’s anticipated address — would go ahead.
At the media briefing, Kubayi said: “We have received communication, after we’ve been in engagement with national and all the structures, that we had to have a PEC meeting to inform them that Mbalula has decided that he will put the conference in abeyance until matters before the court are concluded and all issues that need to be concluded are concluded.”
Kubayi said the ANC’s leave to appeal against the interim interdict had been granted and would be heard at 2pm on Friday.
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