Suspending African National Congress secretary general Ace Magashule from exercising his party duties was unconstitutional, according to his lawyer Dali Mpofu on Friday.
Mpofu said this in the Johannesburg High Court where he is representing the senior party official following his removal from office after he defied orders to step aside from office pending the solution of his alleged corruption case in a court of law.
Mpofu said it was unconstitutional for the ruling ANC to suspend its secretary-general, not only from his position but from the party as well.
Magashule had a constitutional right to associate with any political party in the country, including the ANC, Mpofu told the court.
“It guarantees freedom to make political choices and once a choice is made on a political party, the section safeguards a members’ participation in the activities of the party concerned,” he said.
Following his suspension from the ANC, Magashule filed a court case seeking the reversal of the suspension which is based on a party resolution formulated at the organisation’s 2017 elective conference.
The National Working Committee of the ANC at the elective conference then decided that those who refused to step-aside would be suspended from the party.
In his argument, Mpofu said the resolution was against the law because Magashule could not be banned from participating in party activities in accordance with his constitutional right.
The resolution, which said that any member of the ANC alleged to be involved in corruption, must “step-aside” from their positions until their cases are dealt with in courts of law, has seen Magashule become one of its first casualties.
The hearing continues.
NM/jn/APA