The Constitutional Court has declared the ANC’s Free State provincial elective conference invalid

“The provincial elective conference of Free State province of the African National Congress held at Parys on 21-23 June 2012 and its decisions and resolutions are declared unlawful and invalid,” the judgment said.

The Constitutional Court appeal was led by ANC member Mpho Ramakatsa and five others, who wanted the PEC dissolved.

They challenged the validity of the PEC in court last month, claiming elections at branch level were irregular and that “parallel” branches were trying to manipulate the outcome of the party’s conference.

The ANC will hold its 53rd national conference in Mangaung from Sunday to Friday. At the conference, the PECs of each province will formally nominate and elect the party’s new leaders.

At court, Ramakatsa’s group wore T-shirts bearing the names of the candidates they would wanted submitted for nomination at the Mangaung conference. They are: Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe for president, Mathews Phosa for deputy, Fikile Mbalula for secretary-general, Thenjiwe Mtintso for deputy secretary general, Thandi Modise for chairwoman and Tokyo Sexwale for treasurer general.

The PEC declared invalid by the court had selected President Jacob Zuma for a second term as party president, with no votes for Motlanthe.

The ANC has already had to rerun its PEC conferences in Limpopo and the Western Cape, after they collapsed.