Controversial ANC MP Boy Mamabolo wants the governing party to produce records of how he was left out of its lists ahead of the May 29 national and provincial elections.
Mamabolo is heading to the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to demand that the ANC and its national list committee produce several documents.
The documents include reports compiled by the independent agency hired to vet candidates, the total number of candidates on the list who were retained based on experience as current MPs and MPLs, the vetting and screening report, and the total number of candidates on the list who were retained based on experience such as current members of Parliament and legislatures.
Mamabolo also wants the full nominations list from the various branches and the book of forms of the branches as uploaded onto the cloud, as well as an explanation or reasons for his removal and/or exclusion from the final list.
He wants the high court to grant him access to a copy of his interview score card and/or minutes of his interviews, copies of his vetting and screening report and the minutes of extended provincial executive committee (PEC) meetings for the provincial list confirming the adoption of the list.
Other demands include a copy of the approved final list approved by the PEC with additions and removals as envisaged, confirmation of the total branch nominations that he received and a copy of the list of the 20% that was added by the PEC officials and the total number of the added candidates that were part of the final list.
”I was nominated by various branches in accordance with the Constitution and/or electoral rules of the ANC and I received enough nominations for my name to be entered onto the province to national list of the Limpopo province,” states Mamabolo in his application.
He added that he had accepted the nomination and was subjected to interviews, vetting and screening processes but had not received any correspondence and/or report of the vetting and screening outcome.
Mamabolo also has not received any feedback and/or scoring of the interviews that he attended prior to the finalisation of the list.
Mamabolo only became aware of the final list submitted to the Electoral Commission of SA earlier this month and found out that his name was either omitted and/or removed from the final list.
He said he then sent an email to the ANC Limpopo provincial secretary Reuben Madadzhe, raising his objections/appeal and concerns regarding the exclusion of his name from the final list when he ought to have been included.
He also expressed concern about potential manipulation of the list and provided a WhatsApp correspondence sent to him, which suggested that there were plans to ensure that he aligned with certain individuals within the ANC to ensure that his name remained on the province to national list.
”I found the suggestion to be absurd and contrary to the ethos of the ANC constitution and my good conscience as a member of the organisation. I naturally did not engage to the suggestion or to align myself in what I considered to be an attempt to bribe my allegiance in a most improper and underhand manner,” Mamabolo explained.
He said he quickly learnt that this was an attempt to bribe him and buy his allegiance as had happened in the past.
In 2021, the ANC was ordered by the South Gauteng High Court to pay its Limpopo MPL Ponani Makhubele R1 million for failing to include her in its list ahead of the 2019 general elections.
”An ANC, which operates under murky waters where vote rigging, manipulation, vote buying and cronyism is rampant, cannot profess any right to run the country as a governing party.
“An ANC in which transparency and accountability are foreign and alien principles can simply not be qualified to superintend this constitutional democracy,” Mamabolo said.
ANC Limpopo spokesperson Jimmy Machaka confirmed to the Sunday Independent that that the party would be opposing Mamabolo’s application.
”We do not believe that Boy Mamabolo has established a proper case for the relief sought. We will ask that the case be dismissed with costs.
“We don’t owe him any employment. In no uncertain terms we will defend the matter. Matters of employment are not rights but they’re privileges. The ANC reserves the right to decide who it sends or who it does not send. So we can’t force the ANC to send him to Parliament,” he said.