AMATHOLE, the second largest ANC Region in the Eastern Cape, has been disbanded for allegedly defying the party’s provincial leadership directives.
The regional leadership said on Monday that it was targeted by the party’s Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) for not supporting provincial chairperson and deputy president hopeful Oscar Mabuyane.
On Monday, the Eastern Cape PEC confirmed that it has disbanded the Amathole regional leadership.
Approached for comment, provincial Head of Communications Gift Ngqondi told Inside Politics that the region has indeed been suspended.
Ngqondi could not explain further on the reasons for the disbandment.
But the region is not taking this lying down, saying it now wants acting Secretary-General Paul Mashatile to urgently intervene.
“The disbandment of the REC has been orchestrated by the PEC emanating from the Provincial Conference wherein Amathole region did not prefer the incumbent leadership. The trigger for the acceleration towards the dissolution was informed by the recent verdict from the NDCA suspending amongst others the deputy secretary of the region in which the PEC was an appellant,” regional chairperson Khanyile Maneli said.
“Whilst the REC was acting within the prescripts of the organisation in processing the verdict of the NDCA which was initiated by the very PEC, it was unfortunate that the PEC was speaking in a different voice against adhering to the decision they prayed for before the NDCA.”
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe was not able to confirm whether there will be any intervention from the acting Secretary-General Paul Mashatile.
“We receive reports of PEC’s as part of our organisational reports package at the NEC. We are scheduled to have our last NEC mainly to consider reports related to the 55th national conference, in the next week,” Mabe told Inside Politics.
Mabe said regional structures fall under the authority of provincial structures, adding that “ANC PEC’s are empowered to communicate their own decisions, not national.”
Earlier this year, Eastern Cape ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukaitobi asked Amathole regional secretary Thembalethu ‘Teris’ Ntutu to step aside due to fraud charges hanging over his head.
In August, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced that the charges against “Teris” Ntutu, and 17 others, including businesspeople and their companies, as well as former and current employees of Mnquma Local Municipality, have been reinstated.
Fifteen of the accused briefly appeared in the High Court of South Africa: Eastern Cape Division, sitting in Mthatha in August.
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