Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule.
JOHANNESURG – Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has suffered yet another blow as his application for leave to appeal his suspension from the party was on Monday dismissed with costs.
Magashule had approached the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to appeal a judgment by the same court that was handed down on July 9, dismissing his application to have his suspension from the ANC deemed unconstitutional and invalid.
He had sought to submit new evidence not available at the time of his application being dismissed, as well as argue that in their initial judgment the judges demonstrated both actual or perceived bias in reaching their order to dismiss his application, while upholding his own “suspension” of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In a strongly worded ruling, the High Court said “there are no political imperatives which influenced” the court’s decision, or any “prejudgment” of the issue before the court.
In its judgment, the court found that the judges had thoroughly analysed each material issue and had come to the conclusions based on the facts and the applicable law.
The fact that the applicant may disagree with the factual findings of the court, even if such disagreement are copious, does not lead to the ineluctable conclusion that the court was biased, the ruling read.
In its judgment, the court also indicated that it considered the “step-aside rule” was in line with the party’s own policy frameworks.
Adding more salt to the wound, the court again dismissed Magashule’s own suspension of Ramaphosa, saying that while he had argued that this suspension of the president was done on the authority of the national working committee, there was no truth to this, as he had not been given such a mandate.
Magashule was suspended by the governing party in May stating that he would be temporarily suspended until the outcome of his legal proceedings. – NEWS24.
