The African National Congress (ANC) can forge ahead with its elective conference this weekend, after an application by several disgruntled Ekurhuleni members was struck off the roll at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

The members, who represent 13 branches of the Ekurhuleni region, approached the court to have the provincial conference halted until their complaints had been resolved.

But Judge Edwin Molahlehi found that the matter lacked urgency, saying that the applicants took too long to approach the court. He struck the matter off the court roll.

Advocate Deon Pool, who represented the disgruntled ANC members, told News24 that although the matter was struck, the merits of the case could still be argued and there was a pending review application.

Gatekeeping at branch general meetings

Meanwhile, the ANC in Gauteng confirmed earlier this week that it had received a notice to take the party to court over the Sedibeng regional conference. They want the High Court to declare the regional conference, which took place earlier this month, null and void.

Five regions in the province have successfully held regional conferences this month following an earlier decision by the province to postpone the events until all issues were resolved. Even national executive committee (NEC) members were brought in to assist with the resolution of the disputes.

Some members in the party had complained about the manipulation of processes and gatekeeping at branch general meetings, where delegates were elected to represent branches at the regional conference.

ANC Gauteng spokesperson, Motalatale Modiba, said: "We are pleased the court has ruled in our favour. We were never in doubt about this particular case because the matter was never urgent but was just an attempt to derail the provincial conference from taking place. It sends a strong message that our courts will not be used to settle internal matters."

Speaking shortly after the ruling, ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said the judgment "inspired the confidence" of members.

"We need to ask ourselves who is actively involved in financing a counter-revolutionary project to liquidate the ANC, because many of those who are taking the ANC to court as it has been proven in Limpopo are people who are still relying either on...or e-wallet so they can't afford to pay senior counsels," he said.

'Dirty money'

He said courts should be dealing with serious crimes.

Ekurhuleni chairperson Mzwadile Masina also told reporters that the NEC should take further steps and establish where members of the party received money to pay counsel.

"We, as the structure of the ANC, do not have money to pay for legal costs. It's important to establish where the money comes from because we suspect that some dirty money is finding its way in our structures," he said.

Around 1 600 delegates from Gauteng's five regions were expected to attend the province's 13th elective conference, which was expected to take place in Irene, Pretoria.