CHRISTOPHER MOTABOGI
The parties involved in a challenge of the election of the ANC Free State’s provincial executive committee have been ordered by the Constitutional Court to prepare for a hearing next Thursday. Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng today ordered that all the respondents opposed to the matter in the High Court must file opposing papers by Monday November 26. Replying papers must be filed by November 27. The court heard an urgent appeal yesterday by six Free State ANC members who claimed that the provincial executive committee [PEC] was not properly elected. They wanted the court to declare null and void the provincial elective conference held in June. The six, among them Mpho Ramakatsa, had asked the Free State High Court to grant an order to stop provincial ANC leader Ace Magashule and the PEC from working. However, the high court refused to hear the merits of the case and dismissed the application with costs.
Meanwhile, Ramakatsa says their court challenge has absolutely nothing to do with the ANC Elective Conference in Mangaung in December.
“This matter was supposed to have been long concluded. The respondents really wanted to buy time so that Mangaung passes. Our course is not about Mangaung; Mangaung is just an event in the history-making of the ANC. Our course is about saving the soul of the ANC and ensuring that its integrity is restored,” concluded Ramakatsa.
