As the ANC in the Eastern Cape awaits a date to fight in court to overturn an interim interdict blocking its 10th elective conference, the absence of provincial secretary (PS) Lulama Ngcukayitobi is raising questions.
Ngcukayitobi has been notably absent from press briefings and provincial executive committee (PEC) meetings as the party grapples with court challenges.
As the secretary, he is meant to attend.
Insiders also say the PEC has been largely sidelined, often being told decisions rather than debating them, as national leaders steer the legal strategy and conference planning.
A PEC member, speaking anonymously, said in a virtual PEC meeting after Thursday’s court ruling, ANC secretary-general (SG) Fikile Mbalula suggested Ngcukayitobi step back from certain conference activities.
According to the insider, Mbalula referenced Ngcukayitobi’s letter to ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa last week, in which he complained that party processes were being sidelined.
Ngcukayitobi wrote to Ramaphosa, complaining about branch manipulation and the inconsistent application of the step-aside rule.
In his complaint also to the ANC’s top seven, Ngcukayitobi accused Mbalula of trivialising issues.
This also included the ANC’s contemptuous step-aside policy not being adhered to.
“At the PEC meeting on Thursday, the virtual one right after the court verdict, the SG raised the point that the PS’s letter to the president and some of the points raised were contained in the affidavits of the litigants who took the ANC to court and won,” said the insider.
“Now, some comrades took this to mean that the PS should be put on temporary suspension.
“However, [ANC national executive committee member and convenor of deployees to the province, Mmamoloko] Kubayi stopped that discussion from going any further,” the insider said.
The insider said the meeting should have debated what they would do about the court challenge.
“However, we were told that the ANC is appealing. There was no discussion about it.”
At the centre of the contest in the Eastern Cape are outgoing provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane and Ngcukayitobi, whose political relationship has come full circle, from allies to rivals battling for control of the party in the province.
Mabuyane is contesting a third term.
The conference would see the Ngcukayitobi faction, aligned to the “Thina Bantu” grouping, squaring off against Mabuyane’s “Thina Masebe” faction.
It is understood that Mabuyane is eyeing a third term to bolster his national political ambitions, with his name circulating as a potential ANC deputy president on Mbalula’s slate.
Earlier this week, three ANC members in the Buffalo City municipality approached the court to stop the conference.
Led by ANC member Lwazi Rotya, they sought to overturn Mbalula’s verification report, which confirmed that the province had met the required 70% branch threshold to proceed with the conference.
On Thursday, acting judge Babalo Metu directed the ANC and PEC to adhere to the party’s governance instruments, including its constitution and conference guidelines.
The order specifically barred the party from holding the conference this weekend.
The court granted leave for parties to file supplementary papers before a final determination and ordered the ANC, its PEC and Mbalula to pay costs.
However, the ANC applied for leave to appeal against the decision, saying the court had erred in entertaining the application in circumstances in which “it lacked territorial jurisdiction to do so”.
Interim court orders usually cannot be appealed, stopping disputes from dragging out cases — but they can be challenged if they cause serious or irreversible harm.
The ANC has been granted leave to appeal, but no date for the hearing has been set.
However, Metu summoned the parties to chambers to set timelines for proceedings.
A separate contempt of court application against several top ANC heavyweights is set for Saturday at 11am.
While the ANC had continued registering members throughout Thursday, on Friday, Kubayi announced that the conference had been held in “abeyance” after a written instruction from Mbalula saying to wait for all court processes to be concluded.
“We have received communication after we’ve been in engagement with the national and other structures that we had to have a PEC meeting to inform them that Mbalula has decided 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 still believes it has a case that can be won in court.
“We still believe, as the ANC, the decision was unfairly done, as we’ve indicated, but we’ve got people waiting indefinitely and have structures waiting on whether we will continue, and it’s important to communicate a decision.
Kubayi said the party’s leadership wanted to consult structures carefully and work with lawyers to ensure all issues were addressed, giving them space to focus on the court battle.
Managing the ongoing legal matters alongside preparations for the conference, she said, had stretched the provincial leadership.
“We want to focus on one and finish it, and then come and focus on the politics.
“We never slept, and so there’s no way we can focus on the conference.
“We would end up making mistakes on the other side. It’s purely a political decision.
Before the briefing, the ANC convened a PEC meeting after the postponement of the conference was announced.
Another PEC member said they were not shown or read letters but were told how it would work.
“This letter was not presented at the meeting, but we’re seeing it being flighted on social media.
The letter referred to was from Mbalula to Ngcukayitobi, saying the conference would not convene.
“We were simply told it’s being written. Kubayi made the announcement.”
“There is no discussion in PEC meetings. We are addressed.”
On Friday, Rotya said the ANC’s internal dispute processes have been weaponised against members who disagree with party leadership.
“Every time you lay a complaint about those committees, the answer is always the same.
“Some of the verdicts being issued by those committees are copied and pasted. We’re going to show the court. We’ve lost faith in those internal dispute mechanisms, which is why we’re in court.”
Another insider said the group that took the ANC to court was aligned with Ngcukayitobi, adding that they saw they would not win the conference.
“They decided to frustrate the conference process by not convening their branches with the hopes that the 70% threshold would not be reached.
“Unfortunately, 70% was reached, and those are branches supporting Mabuyane. There’s no way they would want the conference to continue because if it did, it would’ve been a bloodbath.”
Defending Ngcukayitobi, another member said, “There wouldn’t have been a contest because of the manipulation. It would have been a bloodbath facilitated by manipulation.”
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