ANCYL members bid to stop congress
Updated | By Portia Cele
Several well-placed sources said the group was in the process of serving papers at the High Court in Pretoria, and wanted the urgent application heard today.
"We are proceeding with court action and we are filing papers," one of the members told News24.
The group has alleged that there are unresolved disputes relating to the exclusion of delegates.
The run-up to the ANCYL national congress has been marred by claims of irregular auditing processes and allegations of interference from top structures within the ruling party.
'Premier league'
An ANC official has been accused of working hand-in-hand with a so-called "premier league" on the auditing of branches to ensure the delegates who get selected to attend the elective congress will vote for its preferred candidates.
The "premier league" is said to include North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo, Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza and Free State Premier Ace Magashule. It is understood they want North West chairperson Collen Maine to lead the league. This is apparently linked to 2017 when the ANC elects a successor to President Jacob Zuma.
Last week, ANCYL North West member Gontse Maruping said a group of members in the province had lodged disputes over the alleged inflation and tampering of branch audits.
He said the national task team listened to members' disputes but did not resolve the issues.
"They just listened to our complaint and said they would come back to us before Friday. Which to us is a matter of concern," Maruping said at the time.
He said if the disputes were not dealt with the group would have no choice but to go to court.
Appeals
According to a source in the ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal, who asked to remain anonymous, the reason why the ANCYL in the North West is challenging the matter in court is because national task team member Nathi Mthethwa failed to act against appeals.
Some 40% of voting delegates attending the conference are from KwaZulu-Natal.
“Thabo Molamo, the branch chairperson in the North West challenged the elections and the NTT never did anything about it...
“I don’t think this congress is going to sit because in the North West, where the potential president comes from, all the branches have collapsed but they miraculously went to the provincial general council."
After having exhausted all internal structures, they were forced to go to court.
“If the conference goes ahead then it will mean that it sat with the wrong credentials and unresolved issues. In Limpopo, there are similar problems, they are challenging in court. This congress will collapse."
Another North West ANCYL member confirmed the court action was going ahead.
"You can't start a process and not finish it," he said referring to a dispute resolution process.
"They commenced a dispute resolution process. Now when you realise that these disputes are so grave... they decided they not going to respond. How do you do that?" he asked.
(File photo)
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