Free State ANC elective conference may not go ahead

There are concerns that the ANC elective conference in the Free State might not go ahead as planned at the weekend.

Disgruntled party members say there’s a prevailing climate of fear.

Twenty-six ANC members have taken the party to court for allegedly breaching its own constitution.

They’ve argued in the High Court in Bloemfontein that it would be life-threatening to proceed with the conference in Parys in the northern Free State.

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, for the applicants contends that neither the ANC’s national executive committee nor the PEC have addressed the concerns of aggrieved members.

Ngcukaitobi says: “Allegations made by the applicants are of the most serious kind. They say they went to a meeting and were excluded because they supported Cyril Ramaphosa. They says they were told by the chairperson that the only people permitted in the meeting are those who support Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.”

“These are the most specific detailed allegations which are simply not answered by the province. So, in so far as the allegations that are contained in the founding affidavit the court actually has no option but to endorse unequivocally the allegations contained in the founding affidavit,” adds Ngcukaitobi.