Mbalula warns PR list court loss could impact ANC election performance
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has rejected suggestions that litigation and internal disputes have left the party’s Eastern Cape structures in a state of collapse.
Fikile Mbalula, the ANC secretary-general, cautioned that the party's potential loss in the Constitutional Court challenge against its PR candidate lists could negatively impact its performance in the upcoming local government elections. The ANC is contesting a ruling by the Electoral Court that disqualified 181 candidates from the elections in six municipalities across the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State.
Mbalula made these comments to the SABC during the ANC's National Working Committee meeting in the Eastern Cape. The Electoral Court dismissed the ANC's appeal last month, stating that candidate information uploaded on the IEC's online system before the deadline did not constitute a formal submission. Mbalula expressed hope for a favorable outcome at the Constitutional Court, stating that the party has a solid case.
The candidate-list dispute follows another legal battle within the party in the Eastern Cape, where ANC members have challenged the integrity of branch meetings ahead of an interdicted provincial elective conference. The KuGompo High Court ordered the party and Mbalula to provide electronic membership data and branch attendance records.
Despite these legal challenges, Mbalula downplayed any notion of collapse within the ANC in the province, asserting that the party remains operational and focused on service delivery and local government elections.
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