While the ANC managed to remove a member in the Western Cape Legislature, it was slapped with an interim court order barring it from submitting the names of two candidates in the City of Cape Town.
The ANC in the Boland region on Thursday named Pat Marran as the replacement of ANC MPL and SACP provincial secretary Benson Ngqentsu.
Marran was sworn-in as the new ANC MPL after the organisation wrote to the Speaker of the Legislature. Marran took the position held by Ngqentsu, who was among ANC councillors who were expelled after they chose to contest the local government elections for the SACP or defected to other political parties.
“The ANC Boland welcomes comrade Pat’s return to the provincial legislature and is confident that he will bring his extensive political experience, institutional knowledge and commitment to public service to this responsibility,” read a statement.
However, the Western Cape High Court ruled in favour of ANC members Siphelo Mpetsha and Siphelele Bobozayo, who challenged their non-inclusion on the City of Cape Town candidate list submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission on August 28.
Mpetsha and Bobozayo were granted the default judgment after the ANC did not oppose the urgent application contesting the submission of the names of candidates for wards 33 and 88 in Phillipi, Lungisa Somdaka and Mncedi Mdludla, to the IEC.
The four-page court order stated that the IEC was restrained from certifying, finalising, publishing and giving effect to the candidature of Somdaka and Mdludla.
The court also stopped the ANC from submitting their names to the IEC.
The court also directed the ANC to withdraw the names of the disputed candidates from the list of candidates.
The default judgment comes amid yet another application reportedly to be heard in the Western Cape High Court that has been brought by ANC member Anele Gabuza, who challenged the nomination of Yanga Mjingwana as Khayelitsha’s Ward 98 candidate.
ANC provincial spokesperson Sifiso Mtsweni on Sunday said they were not served with court papers.
“We referred the matter to national and were told that national is appealing because the ANC was not in court on that day because the papers did not arrive,” Mtsweni said.
Asked whether the ANC will oppose the application by Gabuza, he said: “I will have to check with the legal department and revert back.”
The IEC in the Western Cape referred questions to the national office, which did not respond by deadline.
Speaking at the manifesto launch in Khayelitsha on Saturday, ANC Provincial Task Team member Vuyisa Tyhalisisu defended the purging of Ngqentsu and ANC councillors.
“We must fight to defend the ANC. We don’t have friends until after the elections,” he said.
“Persons who wear a red, green and blue T-shirt are the same. They are the enemy of the ANC. That is why as the province we removed the people in councils and the legislature with red T-shirts. They are going to confuse us,” he said.
ANC Dullah Omar regional chairperson Ndithini Tyhido questioned the funding of the court cases against the ANC by its members.
“We can’t keep quiet when you take ill-gotten money and go to court when you are not elected. We won’t agree, comrades, when our volunteers campaign very hard and individuals who don’t win seats spend money in courts,” Tyhido said.
He however, urged ANC members to set aside their differences following the nomination of candidate councillors.
“Our message in this manifesto is aimed at fixing the municipality. The manifesto must address Cape Town problems,” said Tyhido.
ANC Youth League leader Lwazi Pakade said while the candidate nomination process was not perfect, the actions by those who went to court should be dismissed.
“Those who go to court can exercise their rights but we must deal head on with those who chose to go outside the ANC and contest the ANC,” he said in reference to ANC members who defected to the DA and Patriotic Alliance.
Last week, it emerged that some ANC councillors appeared in candidate lists of the DA and the Patriotic Alliance in the City of Cape Town, Mossel Bay, George and Knysna.
The ANC has since asked City of Cape Town municipal manager Lungelo Mbandazayo to start the process of declaring vacancies for the positions held by Ward 41 councillor Lindile Sonyoka and Ward 39 councillor Thembinkosi Mjuza.
Mayibongwe Maqhina
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