ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the party in the Eastern Cape is ready and raring to go to conference — but only if the courts allow it.
With the 10th provincial conference halted by an interim interdict, Mbalula insisted they ticked every constitutional box and are now stuck in a political holding cell not of their own making. He said branches were “boiling” and ready to go.
Mbalula was speaking at a media briefing in Gqeberha on Monday night.
On March 25, acting judge Babalo Metu granted an interim order preventing the ANC provincial conference from sitting.
Three Buffalo City members approached the court to stop the conference on the eve of its sitting. Led by Lwazi Rotya, they sought to overturn Mbalula’s verification report, which stated that the province had met the required 70% branch threshold to proceed with the conference.
ANC provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane, who is seeking a third term, was elected on May 9 2022, which means his term ends on Saturday.
We don’t want the ANC to be held at ransom by the court, but the ANC must respect the court. The ANC must respect its constitution and guidelines, which is what we have done
— Fikile Mbalula, ANC secretary-general
Asked if the ANC would install a provincial task team (PTT) now that the term of the provincial executive committee was coming to an end, Mbalula skirted around the issue. He said the provincial conference had been put in abeyance to respond to the court interdict.
“The term of the province would have been addressed if we were not interdicted, so we are on track about that. I don’t know the concept of a PTT. The ANC constitution guides us. When the term of the structure is ended, they go to a conference, which is what the Eastern Cape has done.
“The Eastern Cape is ready for the conference. They must release us so we can move past this. Had we not been interdicted, we would be here. We held the conference well ahead of the term ending,” he said.
Previously Mbalula said the only thing that would stop the ANC Eastern Cape conference would be a tsunami. On Monday he said a tsunami indeed stopped the conference.
“Branches are boiling and eager to go to the conference. Who wants to be disbanded when they’re ready for conference. If ever they were not ready, they could talk of a PTT,” he said
The conference would have seen the Ngcukayitobi faction, aligned to the “Thina Bantu” grouping, squaring off against Mabuyane’s “Thina Masebe” faction
“We’ve gone to the judge to say, ‘Release us, sir. We’ve given you everything you had asked for, so leave us to run our organisation.’
“We don’t want the ANC to be held at ransom by the court, but the ANC must respect the court. The ANC must respect its constitution and guidelines, which is what we have done, and we’re not going to argue with anyone in the streets. We are in court, and we are attending to it.
“Unfortunately our conference was interdicted; we’ve gone back and forth in relation to that. We have done that. Now today I’m speaking to you; I’ve filed papers, and I’ve responded to the judge. Let’s hear what the other side says. Our hands are currently tied, but we are ready for the conference.”
The interdict halted Mabuyane’s ambitions of contesting a third term against former ally, provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi, who is looking at unseating Mabuyane.
The conference would have seen the Ngcukayitobi faction, aligned to the “Thina Bantu” grouping, squaring off against Mabuyane’s “Thina Masebe” faction.
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