The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday dismissed an urgent application to halt the ANC KwaZulu-Natal elective conference scheduled to begin on Thursday.

Judge Thoba Poyo-Dlwathi said the applicants had enough time to raise their grievances and that the matter was not urgent.

“I don't think the explanation behind the reason behind bringing this matter to court at the eleventh hour as the applicants knew the conference was going ahead on Monday and they lodged the application after 10am today once the conference had already started‚ there was no urgency‚”

Six disgruntled members from the Moses Mabhida and Lower South Coast regions had attempted‚ at the eleventh hour to stop the conference from going ahead‚ claiming that they hadn’t been given enough time and their grievances hadn’t been attended to.

Representing the six ANC members‚ Griffiths Madonsela argued that since finding out about the conference‚ the applicants had had to obtain legal advice as well as legal funds to instruct legal representatives.

“The continuation of the conference which is clearly unlawful and not in accordance with the constitution of the ANC is of significant importance...this application be dealt with on an urgent basis in order to ensure that the respondents comply with contractual obligations under the ANC constitution‚” Madonsela said.

But Greg Harpur‚ the lawyer representing the provincial task team‚ argued that the application was not urgent as the applicants knew three days prior to the conference commencing that it was going ahead and did not file the application.

“The applicant must stop coming to court to remedy their situation‚ they should resolve their issues at the conference‚” Harpur said.

Provincial chair of the ANC Women’s League Nomagugu Simelane said the party was happy that the conference would finally go ahead.

“In the ANC there are processes that you must follow‚ it also gives you remedy where you are not happy with a resolution.

“For members of the ANC to come to court when they are not happy and they have not followed processes properly‚ it is very disingenuous and borders on sabotaging the organisation‚” she said.