The man at the centre of a last minute court action that seeks to stop the Mpumalanga ANC elective conference is an unemployed community activist at Phola township in coal-rich Ogies.
Francisco Vilanculo, commonly known as Natula, is an ANC member who is passionate about community issues. He is one of two ANC members in the province who have hauled the party to the Johannesburg high court.
He told Sowetan on Thursday that he’s in hiding after he was threatened for taking the party to court and attempting to put a stop to the conference which will elect a successor to David Mabuza.
In court papers, Vilanculo and Mhlonishwa Mahlangu accuse Luthuli House, ANC’s head office in Johannesburg, of failing to follow its own processes.
Vilanculo and Mahlangu were among five ANC members who wrote a letter to Luthuli House notifying the party of their intention to head to court.
One of the five members, Fakazi Shongwe, has since filed an affidavit and distanced himself from the letter sent to the ANC.
ANC members launch urgent court action interdicting provincial conference
The ANC Mpumalanga elective conference is being interdicted in court a day before it is meant to sit.
NEWS22 hours ago
However, on Thursday, Vilanculo and Mahlangu filed court papers hoping to interdict the elective conference. The pair also challenges the disbandment of the party’s Mpumalanga provincial executive committee (PEC) and the subsequent appointment of the provincial task team.
In his founding affidavit Vilanculo stated that the disbandment of the PEC was taken by the NWC (national working committee) which, according to the ANC constitution, was not empowered to do so.
ADVERTISING
He said the process leading to the conference “is fraught with irregularities”.
“It goes without saying that the NWC neither possess powers to disband PEC structures nor powers to appoint interim structures after the dissolution of the PEC,” stated Vilanculo.
He said the conference’s “road map” which has a binding programme which, included the setting up of date deadlines for nomination processes and dates for the verifications.
Vilanculo alleged that there were disqualified branches which were apparently not given a right to be heard by the interim structure which was essentially having responsibilities of a PEC.
“I can safely say there are many branches of the ANC who have been excluded from the ‘elective conference’… about 150-plus branches of the ANC have been excluded from participating in the elective conference,” stated Vilanculo.
Vilanculo is well known in Phola for having led the charge against regular mine blasting which has damaged houses in the small township in Ogies.
Mpumalanga last had an elective conference in 2015, when David Mabuza was re-elected as provincial chairperson before he rose to the position of deputy president of the ANC in December 2017 at Nasrec.
Party provincial coordinator Lindiwe Ntshalintshali told media that there was no court interdict or application before the provincial task team as they had not yet seen relevant papers.
She said the ANC’s lawyers were ready to defend the organisation against any court application.
Ntshalintshali encouraged disgruntled parties not to go outside the party to find resolution of issues but trust the ANC’s internal processes.
“It’s not for the first time we’re going to conference while there are people in court. We don’t take decisions based on court outcomes. We’ll defend [the legal action] while conference continues.
“We’d request our members to allow the ANC to go through its processes and deal with its matters internally. The livelihood of the ANC is within branches and not individual members and courts,” she said.
Share on Facebook «||» Share on Twitter «||» Share on Reddit «||» Share on LinkedIn