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As the national ANC officially inaugurated the party’s Eastern Cape provincial task team (PTT) at the City Hall in KuGompo City late on Thursday, fresh warnings of legal action against the troubled party again emerged.Unsurprisingly such warnings are again coming from disgruntled party members who had previously warned and went on to successfully interdict the party’s provincial elective conference, over alleged branch meeting irregularities, ahead of the aborted March conference. This time the three disgruntled party members threatened to go to court as soon as next Tuesday if party bosses do not reverse their decision to appoint a now 40-member interim structure, which was officially announced late on Thursday. This was a day after a letter from ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula to the province, containing the list of all those appointed, started circulating and was publicised early on Wednesday.Initially Mbalula’s correspondence contained 39 names, with that of social development MEC Bukiwe Fanta missing. It was later amended and she made the list, taking the total number of PTT members to 40.The provincial ANC structure was dissolved by the party’s national executive committee (NEC) last week after its four-year term lapsed earlier this month.On Thursday outgoing provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane was officially unveiled as the PTT’s convener, and former provincial deputy secretary Helen Sauls-August was announced as provincial co-ordinator. PTT ‘illegal and unconstitutional’: attorneysWhile hundreds of jovial party members from across the province had gathered in song at the city hall, patiently waiting for an address by Mbalula, and to witness the official unveiling of the PTT, a letter from lawyers representing the disgruntled three members emerged.Addressed to Mbalula, the letter instructed Luthuli House to reverse its move to appoint an interim structure in the province, or face prospects of having to defend such party decisions in court.The “threatening” letter from Sinawo Makangela of Makangela Mtungani Inc, attorneys representing Lwazi Rotya, Sinethemba Mpande and Nompumelelo Mzothwa, stated the three will have no option but to go back to court if the decision to appoint this PTT is not reversed. “As you are aware, our clients were the applicants in the matter in which the Eastern Cape provincial conference was interdicted,” states the letter.“Pursuant to that application, two further applications in which our clients remain the applicants are being pursued, being the application for contempt of court against Mr Fikile Mbalula, Ms Mammoloko Kubayi and Mr Oscar Mabuyane, and the application to compel the production of further documentation for the hearing of the final relief application. The PEC may not be dissolved without reason and without a fair and lawful process being followed. We are not aware of any reason for a dissolution or any procedure followed before any dissolution decision could be taken— Attorneys Makangela Mtungani Inc“Both applications remain uncompleted because of the failure of the respondents to file their answering affidavits, except for Ms Kubayi, in the contempt of court application. “While your clients remain in default of their obligations in the litigation, it is apparent to our clients that they have continued to disregard the law in other important respects that infringe our clients’ rights under section 19 of the Constitution and the constitution of the ANC.“It has come to our clients’ attention that a document purporting to have been written by the secretary-general has been widely shared and reported in the media containing names of persons alleged to have been appointed into the ‘provincial task team’ of the ANC in the Eastern Cape.”Their gripe, they wrote, was that “no decision has been communicated, to our clients’ knowledge, to any of the members of the existing provincial executive committee (PEC) that a decision has been taken to dissolve the structure or to appoint an interim structure under the aegis of the so-called PTT.”The trio asked Mbalula to confirm by no later than Friday if the PTT has been appointed, and whether such was the party’s NEC decision. They argued it was “illegal and unconstitutional for anyone to appoint a PTT without dissolving the PEC”.“The PEC may not be dissolved without reason and without a fair and lawful process being followed. We are not aware of any reason for a dissolution or any procedure followed before any dissolution decision could be taken. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula greets party members at the City Hall in KuGompo City on Thursday night with provincial task team convener Oscar Mabuyane and other officials. (THABANG MASEKO) “The mere fact that the PEC’s term of office has lapsed does not mean that it must be dissolved. As a matter of law, it is entitled to remain in office until the election of a new PEC, unless lawfully dissolved, after a fair and proper process has been followed.“The NEC has the final say in both the decision to dissolve a PEC and the appointment of a PTT, including the identification of the persons to constitute the structure, but we are not aware that any decisions were taken by the NEC regarding these matters.”The ANC was ordered to reverse its decision to appoint the PTT before 5pm next Tuesday or face court action.“Each individual member of the PTT will be cited and cost orders will be sought against anyone opposing the application. “Our clients do not wish to litigate against their own organisation unnecessarily. But they are compelled to bring the application because it is plain to them Mr Mbalula’s brazen and reckless attacks to the constitution of the country, the constitution of the ANC and the values of the ANC cannot be contained through internal mechanisms, but only through the legal system.”The trio said any final decision to bring an application to court, would be caused by the ANC’s own failure to respect its constitution and the rights of the members”.“We trust the intended legal action can be avoided, but we make it clear that our clients will approach a court of law if their concerns are dismissed and ridiculed, as it has become customary for Mr Mbalula to do.”Makangela could not be contacted late on Thursday.No disunity in the province: MbalulaSpeaking to the media, Mbalula poured cold water on the legal action threats, saying the party was within its rights to dissolve the provincial executive and to replace it with a task team.He said he had seen Makangela’s letter and the party was applying its mind to it.The appointment of the task team was an “operational mandate” from the party’s NEC, he said.“Most of these comrades in the PTT come from the old PEC and have led this province towards a provincial conference and beyond. We did not broaden the scope other than to focus on the people who had been leading the province for quite some time,” Mbalula said.Everything we have done in relation to the processes we have followed are permissible in terms of the ANC constitution— Mbalula“We are delighted such work has been delivered. It’s all hands on deck. They have a clear task they will have to perform to consolidate the work of the organisation and prepare our structures.”Asked about the latest court threat, Mbalula said: “I’ve seen that letter so we will deal with it as it comes. We will have to deal with it in the context of the law. We are capable of defending ourselves, and that is what we will do.“Things that are brought to court for one reason or another, we are there to defend ourselves. There is no court that has ruled against the ANC in terms of its processes. What the court had ordered the ANC to do, the ANC has looked into that, and the legal advice we got, we will settle the matters in court.“It is very clear to us, and we know where all this is coming from. It is something we are dealing with and are seized with. Everything we have done in relation to the processes we have followed are permissible in terms of the ANC constitution.”The party’s planned March conference was marred by a marathon court process leading to it being interdicted and later aborted and placed in “abeyance” on the third day of its schedule, and while thousands of delegates were around the conference venue.Mbalula said the conference was “stopped legally because the writing was on the wall”.“There is no such thing as disunity or divisions in this province. Structures here are united. There is no problem of disunity in the Eastern Cape. It is being manufactured. We do not have a crisis in this province.”He later said he did not want to comment any further about matters before court.Click here to join the Daily Dispatch’s WhatsApp channel and get the latest news delivered straight to your phoneDaily Dispatch
