Lungani Zungu
The Johannesburg High Court dealt Ace Magashule another bruising legal defeat on Monday when it crushed his application for leave to appeal its 9 July ruling.
On Monday the court ruled that his suspension from the ANC was legal and valid.
Judges Jody Kollapen, Sharise Weiner, and Edwin Molahleli ruled that there were no “compelling reasons” to grant Magashule leave to appeal.
Magashule, the suspended ANC secretary-general, took the ANC to court after the ruling party suspended him in May in line with the party’s step aside policy.
The court dismissed his case with costs.
He appealed this decision, but the court has now thrown his appeal out as well.
He had previously told Scrolla.Africa that he would go to the Supreme Court of Appeal if the court ruled against him.
Magashule also wanted the court to enforce his somewhat odd request to suspend his arch-rival Cyril Ramaphosa in his capacity as ANC president.
He also accused Ramaphosa and his allies of using the step aside rule to eliminate political opponents.
He questioned why Ramaphosa appointed Mondli Gungubele as the Minister in the Presidency, Enoch Godongwana as the Minister of Finance, and Zizi Kodwa as the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, despite them facing allegations of corruption.
The future looks bleak for Magashule, who is said to be secretly lobbying ANC branches to support him in his bid to become the president of the ANC next year in December when the party holds its elective conference.
He has maintained that his hands are clean and had nothing to do with the misuse of R255 million in the infamous asbestos project during his term as premier of the Free State.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said: “We did what was empowered to us as the National Executive Committee of the ANC, by conference.
“We applied the rules as set out in our own Constitution and the guidelines that we shall have put forward as it relates to conditions under which a member could be asked to step aside.”
Magashule could not be reached for comment as his phone rang through to voicemail.
