President Jacob Zuma and African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Gwede Mantashe have been drawn into the party’s court case to nullify the party’s KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) 'rigged' policy conference, political analyst Karima Brown says.
Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, representing one faction of the KZN ANC, called out the top six, saying they were complicit in the wrongdoing that saw Sihle Zikalala become the provincial chair.
A full bench of the Pietermaritzburg High Court is hearing the matter for the next three days.
What is going to be interesting here is that even though it plays into the factional politics, they will have to look at the evidence brought forward to look at whether they [the one faction] have a case or not.
— Karima Brown, political analyst
The reason the top six were brought in was that aggrieved branches aligned to Senzo Mchunu, the former premier, argued that they in fact went to the president and went to the secretary general and sought their guidance and intervention.
— Karima Brown, political analyst
Historically, the ANC likes to believe it has solved the challenges in the African National Congress politically, but we’ve seen increasingly post-2007, people turning to the courts to solve ANC problems.
— Karima Brown, political analyst
The case will have huge implications for both KZN but also the ANC amid branch tampering allegations.
I’m sure we’ll hear about the shenanigans not only in the KZN ANC, but nationally.
— Karima Brown, political analyst