Court judgments will not affect ANC conference, claims Kodwa

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – DECEMBER 05: ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu and the party spokesperson Zizi Kodwa during a media conference at Luthuli House on December 05, 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mthembu called for an investigation into claims that pay TV MultiChoice tried to unduly influence government’s digital migration policy. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla)

Johannesburg – The recent court judgments against provincial and regional ANC executives will not affect 90% of the delegates at the party’s elective conference, ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa says.

Kodwa spoke to News24 on Saturday morning on day one of the party’s national elective conference, held in Nasrec in Johannesburg.

The party’s national spokesperson was adamant that the many recent court judgments, notably against the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal leaderships, will not affect the conference’s ability quorate.

“The judgments are not about the national conference,” Kodwa stressed.

“The regions do not participate. We do have branches [affected], about 38 of them where the provinces said they were appealing the outcomes. [But] it will not affect the 90% of branches who are expected to be here.”

Kodwa said the party would comply with all the court judgments, and was confident it would not have a material impact on the conference’s outcomes.

Zuma ‘political report’

The party’s national executive committee was due to meet at 08:00 on Saturday to discuss the judgments and how they would affect the party’s conference.

“We would have met anyway whether there were judgments or not,” he continued.

“We would have met to see the health of our delegates so we can provide leadership at the plenary.”

President Zuma was expected to give a “political report” to delegates around 09:30, but this will likely happen later in the day to accommodate the NEC meeting.

News24 Politiki also spoke to Gauteng ANC chairperson Paul Mashatile on Saturday.

Mashatile said there were lessons to be learnt from the court challenges plaguing the party’s conference.

“We will respect the judgments of the court. What we need to do is really tighten up our procedures – whether we follow our [party] constitution properly and the resolutions about who should be at the BGMs [branch general meetings], who should be at the provincial congress, etc.

“So it’s a lesson to tighten up the rules and follow them to the letter.”

(Photo credit: Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla)

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