Judgment on the Ace Magashule versus the African National Congress (ANC) case has been reserved by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
The court has for the past two days been hearing arguments from the lawyers representing the suspended ANC Secretary-General and party president, Cyril Ramaphosa, alongside Deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte.
Magashule took the ANC to court to have his suspension from the governing party reversed and to challenge the constitutionally of this decision.
“The matter was brought to court on the basis of urgency. We will try and finalise the judgement much sooner rather than later and I think I can speak on behalf of the bench and commit ourselves to do it as quickly as possible, minding that the application raises weighty issues of law. You can be assured that we will discharge our duties without fear, favour or prejudice,” said Judge Jody Kollapen.
It now remains to be been seen whether Magashule’s bid to reverse his suspension will be successful.
Magashule vs ANC Friday court proceedings:
Court arguments
During the arguments, representing Magashule, advocate Dali Mpofu told the court that the ANC National Executive Committee treated Magashule unfairly by not giving him a chance to have his side of the story, before his suspension from the ANC.
“But now that you have submitted a review, why must we not hear you in that respect. For 20 minutes for Audi, token Audi. They don’t even do that my lords and my lady. They just simply say, go away. They come here and tell you that this was because they want to uphold values of the ANC. But seated in the room of the people who were booting out Mr Magashule were many people that, according to Mr Legoete, had their own corruption issues,” said Mpofu.
Advocate Wim Trengove, representing Ramaphosa, refuted claims that Magashule was being targeted as false.
Attorney and legal analyst, Mpumelelo Zikalala, unpacks the case:
