Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule says there is no need for him to read the Johannesburg high court full bench ruling dismissing his bid to reverse his suspension by the governing party.
However‚ Magashule said he would appeal the judgment with the hope a higher court would arrive at a different conclusion.
This comes after the court on Friday ruled Magashule’s suspension was within the confines of the constitution of the country and that of the ANC.
The court also held that Magashule’s claim that he was suspended without a hearing was false‚ adding he had been part of ANC national executive committee (NEC) meetings that formulated the step-aside guidelines‚ and that he also appeared before the party’s Integrity Commission to state his case.
Magashule says this is not true.
“Any judgment which says I was given the right to a hearing by the Integrity Commission in December 2020 in respect of the 30-day deadline [to step-aside]‚ which was only passed by the NEC in March 2021‚ is obviously wrong. One does not need to be a lawyer to grasp this contradiction‚” charged Magashule.
In its ruling the high court also invalidated what it termed as Magashule’s “purported suspension of ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa”‚ saying it was illegal and not in line with the party’s constitution.
According to Magashule‚ this part of the judgment was also “clearly wrong” because “any ANC member knows no NEC resolution can trump a conference resolution.
“Even counsel for the ANC accepted this reality. But the court found differently.”
Magashule said he listened to the reading of the judgment summary by Kollapen but was disinterested in reading the full judgment‚ which he aims to appeal in his home province at the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal.
“On my part‚ there is not even a need to study the judgment. It is clearly legally wrong and not in accordance with the constitution.
“I have therefore instructed my legal team to take immediate steps towards appealing this incorrect judgment.”
TimesLIVE
Source: ARENA Holdings.