Litigation by disgruntled ANC members seeking to interdict the party’s upcoming Eastern Cape provincial elective conference has been dismissed by senior leaders as “frivolous and manufactured”, with secretary-general Fikile Mbalula insisting that “only a tsunami will stop the conference from sitting”.
The conference, scheduled to begin on Friday, comes amid escalating internal tensions and a last-minute legal challenge that could shape the ANC’s leadership in the province ahead of the 2026 elections.
By Tuesday, the conference remained on track to proceed, with no court order yet halting it.
Speaking after a PEC meeting in KuGompo City on Tuesday, Mbalula, provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane and NEC convener of deployees, Mmamoloko Kubayi, said the conference would go ahead despite the legal challenge.
Mbalula described contestation as part of normal ANC processes.
“People must not have palpitations when they see contestation.
“It’s normal … the most important thing is the policy consolidation we are looking forward to — what we are going to do to serve the people of the Eastern Cape better.
“We must govern and govern better … We must fix local government as we go forward.
“So the centre holds … There are tensions … but the heat is easing down.
“Our task as leadership is to give guidance, to unite comrades … and not to entertain disruptions … because once we retreat to cocoons of factions, we lose very important people,” he said.
He said disputes raised in court had been dealt with internally and that the ANC was ready to defend its processes.
“The matters of litigants and litigations we’re dealing with … we are ready to prove to the court or to anyone how incorrect they are. So we are ready for the conference.”
Mbalula also addressed a letter by provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi raising concerns about processes.
“We will deal with that letter … but the matters that the secretary has raised … are matters that he himself … should have dealt with and handled together with us.
“That’s not good for the ANC … internal matters must remain internal matters … it changed from being a genuine letter to a mobilising letter, which is problematic.
“But it does not mean that he had no right to write a letter.”
Ngcukayitobi was not present at the briefing and was said to have gone to a doctor’s appointment.
He is set to contest Mabuyane for the position of provincial chair.
Kubayi said national deployees and the PEC had closely monitored preparations.
“The NEC deployees went through the issues raised … and many were resolved.
“In terms of the disputes … we only had 17 disputes … including those that are in court.
“But despite that, they have been dealt with … So there’s thorough processing … there’s no shortcutting.
“The province is ready to [sit] its conference … 100%, everything is in place,” Kubayi said.
Mabuyane said some disputes were politically motivated.
“There are some people who continuously generate these frivolous disputes simply because we must clean the table.
“We are managing this process very closely … but we want the ANC to remain.
“We can be combative, but we must make sure that the ANC remains as ANC … We can’t hold the ANC at ransom.
“It can’t be that if we are not happy, everything must collapse … but the ANC must prevail.”
However, some members argue internal processes failed to address their concerns.
Outside the PEC meeting, disgruntled members protested; singing and carrying placards.
One of the litigants, Lwazi Rotya, said internal processes had failed.
“It’s not about who must be elected or not. The branches of the ANC are going to speak on that.
“On the ninth of September last year … we were complaining about meetings that did not sit … but an audit report is saying that this meeting had been set.
“In our case, no meeting was called … a meeting that was called did not meet the required quorum …
“It tells you the kind of system that we are complaining against.
“We’ve written to the top seven… we’ve gone as far as the NDCRA … to a point where we could say this thing is factionalised.
“It’s factionalised to a point that if you’ve got a dissenting view against the establishment, then you will not be listened to.”
He said the court was a last resort but they would remain ANC members regardless of the outcome.
Meanwhile, a war of words has erupted within party structures.
A statement from eight regions condemned “in the harshest terms the reckless and baseless allegations made by the provincial secretary Ngcukayitobi and his cohorts”.
“Their actions are a travesty, a shameless display of self-serving ambition, and a betrayal of the trust reposed in them by the ANC members.”
A counter statement backing Ngcukayitobi said the regional response was “nothing more than a co-ordinated act of political desperation”.
“This is not a statement grounded in principle. It is a shield for corruption. Let us not insult the intelligence of ANC members.”
The competing statements reflect deepening divisions within the party as it heads into a crucial provincial conference.
Daily Dispatch
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