The ANC Limpopo provincial conference got under way on Friday afternoon after the high court struck an urgent application to interdict it off the roll.
The more than 1,000 delegates from the five Limpopo regions were in a joyous mood, singing and dancing inside the dome erected for the conference at the Limpopo Cricket Club in the Polokwane CBD.
The Polokwane high court’s decision to strike the interdict off the roll means the conference, which is expected to elect Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba as the chair of the ANC in the province, can officially get under way.
“The Polokwane high court application to interdict the ANC Limpopo provincial conference has been struck off the roll,” said ANC Limpopo spokesperson Jimmy Machaka.
“This paves a way for the ANC Limpopo provincial conference to proceed with its business unhindered.”
ANC heavyweights who were confident on Thursday the interdict would be thrown out have been vindicated.
One senior party leader had earlier said: “They will lose, those who applied; the conference will proceed.”
ANC second deputy secretary Maropene Ramokgopa is expected to give a keynote address on behalf of the national executive committee and its office bearers dubbed the top seven.
The conference was being interdicted by a disgruntled ANC branch member, who questioned the legitimacy of the digital device that was used to verify the branch general meeting in the Collins Chabane region’s ward 10 that decided the delegates who would represent the branch at the conference.
The application emanated from branch member Nhlanhla Basil Mabasa, who asked the court to halt the conference at the 11th hour until he could be furnished with all documents relating to the branch meeting in November last year.
He wanted access to attendance registers, nomination forms, delegates nomination records as well as the correspondence relating to the submission or recognition of branch structures, among other documents.
He also asked the court to grant him 10 days upon receiving these documents to submit a supplementary affidavit in the case.
He said this was important because it was a dispute that directly affected the provincial conference.
Mabasa claimed there was inconsistency between the reports produced for the meeting around how many people were in attendance.
According to Mabasa, the electronic device that was used to digitally verify members in attendance ceased working after scanning only 19 members, but the final report showed it scanned 111 people.
The member verification process was then done manually, capturing a further 67 members, bringing the total attendance to 86, he said.
“However, the preliminary verification report dated December 22 2025 reflects that 111 members were electronically verified,” Mabasa said in his founding affidavit.
“This figure is inconsistent with both the electronic verification process (which was interrupted at 19 members) and the total physical attendance of 86 members.”
Mabasa says he received no explanation on the discrepancy and had no idea where the additional 25 members came from.
“In the circumstances, the verification outcome is irrational, unreliable and procedurally defective, and any reliance on such data is unlawful,” he said.
TimesLIVE
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