The elective conference of the ANC’s third-largest voting bloc – the Eastern Cape – has been called into question after a court order on Tuesday invalidated the meetings of almost 40 branches in the Dr WB Rubusana region of Buffalo City as “unconstitutional and unlawful”.

The ruling could have implications for the outcome of the province’s elective conference, particularly the legitimacy of ANC provincial chair and premier Oscar Mabuyane’s leadership, as well as its support for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s re-election bid as party leader at the ANC’s elective conference in December. 

The Eastern Cape has the third-largest delegation at the conference with 634 representatives, making support from its branches crucial for those vying for leadership positions.

Mabuyane, who is also eyeing the party’s second-in-command job at the national conference after the province put his name forward as the preferred deputy president, told Sowetan's sister paper Business Day that Tuesday’s ruling would not affect his election as Eastern Cape leader “up until the matter is fully ventilated in a court of law”. 

Eastern Cape spokesperson Gift Ngqondi said the ANC believed the applicants in this court challenge had won the order “by irregular means”, and they were still awaiting the outcome of two related court cases on the matter.

“The court erred in granting a final order against some respondents that were not joined as parties in the matter. We are deeply concerned about the conduct of the applicants’ legal representatives and it’s a matter that we will have to follow up,” he said.

Ngqondi said “nothing [in the East London high court’s ruling] is compelling the non-recognition” of the Dr WB Rubusana regional executive committee, which “will continue to operate” until all legal processes had been exhausted. 

The high court ruling, which affects the credentials of branch delegates and the outcomes of both regional and provincial conferences, could potentially pave the way for a possible rerun of both conferences.  

However, any decision to re-run a conference, which would nullify the elected leadership, lies with the ANC national executive committee (NEC), the highest decision-making body of the party in between conferences, one NEC member said. 

“The ruling does not affect branches, because they still stand. It only affects the 35 elected members of the provincial executive committee [PEC],” the NEC member said, adding that the NEC would first seek legal opinion on the matter before moving ahead with any decision. 

Judge Igna Stretch found the region’s branch meetings of February and March this year were run “in an unconstitutional and unlawful” way. She ordered the ANC and 28 other respondents, who made no appearance, to pay costs.

“The decisions, resolutions and outcomes of the above meetings ... are null and void and of no effect, and accordingly set aside.”

The court found the ANC failed to ensure compliance with its constitution during the Rubusana branch meetings several months ago.

According to one of the successful applicants, the decision affects 37 branches of the ANC.

“The participation of all branch delegates elected ... in subsequent ANC meetings, elective conferences and all gatherings of the ANC including decisions taken thereon, is declared unlawful and set aside,” read the order.

During the Rubusana regional conference in late May, Buffalo City deputy mayor Princess Faku emerged uncontested as regional chair.

Several branches had put their weight behind East London businessman Lunga Nqam, but he turned down the nod at the last minute, citing the interests of ANC unity.

Both are considered allies of Mabuyane who was re-elected as Eastern Cape leader with 812 votes. Mabuyane’s erstwhile ally, Babalo Madikizela, a former ANC provincial treasurer and public works MEC, scored 662 votes.

Five ANC members, including first applicant ANC Youth League (ANCYL) regional chair Ondela Sokomani, brought the case among other litigation against the party.

In court submissions, they sought to block the regional gathering of late May. But that process went ahead regardless. Its outcomes and those at a provincial level now hang in the balance.

“The NEC must be swift in ensuring that no further meetings of the ANC are presided over by the now nullified regional executive committee, otherwise that will have a ripple effect on the legitimacy on the credentials of the national conference,” Sokomani said.

But political analyst Ongama Mtimka identified another possibility: that Tuesday’s decision could leave the Rubusana cohort’s votes out in the cold. 

He noted inter-party litigation “has been a key strategy used as a recourse” of aggrieved members and can lead to exclusions at national conferences, as has previously occurred with Free State representatives.

“The party has oftentimes refused delegates their right to vote when there is a pending legal challenge that may affect their participation at a conference or some votes have been ‘quarantined’,” said Mtimka.

“What would be interesting is whether the process was done such that the votes of the delegates from the affected region were isolated to be able to discount them without affecting the entire outcome of the processes those delegates participated in.”