This is according to University of Free State (UFS) political analyst, Dr Sethulego Matebesi.

He told OFM News the judgment by the Bloemfontein based Supreme Court of Appeal, which nullified the ANC PEC in the province, will weaken support for the embattled ANC Secretary-General (SG) Ace Magashule.

Matebesi also says this is a major victory for the disgruntled ANC members who challenged the validity of the PEC.

“One would like to see what is going to happen because this definitely declares the current PEC in the province unlawful and unconstitutional. So, they would have to reconstitute that - and it’s going to be very very difficult for the ANC in the Free State,” he adds.

On Wednesday the SCA upheld the leave to appeal the bid, with cost, and said the provincial conference was held in violation of a court order of 29 November 2017.

A disgruntled group of ANC members had argued that the Branch General Meetings (BGMs) were illegally constituted because those who attended the Ilanga Estate conference were those from the nullified 2017 Nasrec delegation, which emanated from the Parys conference.

In 2018, the High Court Judge Fouché Jordaan dismissed the group's bid to overturn the validity of the conference and said he did not believe this group had a solid case against the PEC, and believed that they made the court bid to score political points within their faction. Malebo at the time said though Jordaan dismissed their application he felt that the judge erred.

OFM News