Speaker Stefanie Lockman-Naidoo denies that she has ever voted in council and adds that she has not been served by the ANC’s Mangaung Regional Committee’s  Disciplinary Head. This after it emerged that Lockman-Naidoo and former Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Transport, Patrick Monyakoane, as well as six others, were served with letters of intention to expel them from the ANC. 

The threats to expel the group from the ANC comes after it was argued by ANC members that structures such as the Interim Regional Committees (IRCs) do not have the power to charge or even expel party members. 

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The group is being accused of voting with opposition parties in council and as such going against the party's mandate and policies. 

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However, a letter bearing the signature of the ANC IPC member and coordinator, Paseka Nompondo, addressed to the Mangaung IRC’s coordinator, Sabelo Pitso, has since emerged. In it, Nompondo reminds the coordinator of the IRC that the matter involving the affected councillors was dealt with by the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) deployees in the province. He adds that the decision or intention to expel these councillors is null and void.

This is the second time the ANC announces action against Lockman-Naidoo and Monyakoane in a space of six months.

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The threat to expel these councillors from the ANC also comes ahead of the much-anticipated Free State ANC provincial conference next month where the new leadership of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) is set to be elected.

Earlier, a group of irate ANC members dragged the party’s upper structure Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) to the High Court. A group led by, amongst others, ANC Branch 29 Secretary in Mangaung, Ditaba Mokhutle, wanted a High Court judge to give an order to dissolve the IPC. Mokhutle said several factors ignited the court move and those include the failure to prepare and organise a provincial party conference.

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