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ANC will even attach disgruntled members’ RDP houses if it has to‚ to reclaim legal fees

The ANC is wiling to attach the RDP of its members who took it court.
The ANC is wiling to attach the RDP of its members who took it court.
Image: FILE

The ruling ANC will go as far as attaching RDP houses of its poor members who took the party to court to reclaim legal fees amid a frenzy of court challenges in the past two years.

That’s according to party spokesman Pule Mabe‚ who slammed disgruntled ANC members who kept taking the party to court to solve internal disputes.

Mabe was addressing the media on Wednesday after a failed bid by aggrieved Ekurhuleni ANC members who attempted to halt the Gauteng elective conference scheduled to be held this coming weekend.

The court did not accept the applicants’ reasons that they were forced to wait close to two week to apply for an urgent court interdict because they were raising legal fees.

In their court papers‚ the members said most of them were unemployed and had to first raise funds to mount a court challenge.

However‚ the court found that the disgruntled group could not make an argument for their matter to be heard on an urgent basis and dismissed it with costs.

“One of the things were are going to start to be doing is‚ where they have dismissed cases with costs‚ we need to be seen to be writing letters [of demand]. So that if there is something to attach‚ whether it’s an RDP house or something‚ at least we lay our hands [on it]‚” said Mabe.

“[That will] bring to an end comrades who are hobnobbing and going to courts and all of that. Courts in this country must deal with serious crimes‚” said Mabe.

RDP houses were introduced as one of the first social welfare interventions by the ANC when it took power after 1994 and are aimed at poor and unemployed South Africans who can’t afford to build their own homes.

As a result‚ numerous ANC ministers have in the past slammed beneficiaries who sell their RDP houses after they have been handed over by the state.

Earlier he had questioned the source of funds which poor ANC members were using to take the party to court to finance “a counter revolutionary project to liquidate the ANC”.

“Many of those who are taking the ANC to court‚ as it has been proven in Limpopo‚ are people who are still relying on M-Pesa or [First National Bank’s] e-Wallet‚ so they can’t afford to pay senior counsels‚” said Mabe.

His comments come after ANC members from at least five provinces - including the Eastern Cape‚ KwaZulu-Natal‚ Limpopo‚ Free State and now Gauteng‚ have taken the party to court to solve internal party’s problems in the lead-up to provincial conferences and last year’s national elective conference.

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