Expelled EFF MPs Lose Court Case


By Oliver Ngwenya    21-Apr-2015 13:10 UTC+02:00 1
Some of the EFF members who were expelled from the party. They have also lost their court bid against the expulsion. Image: eNCA

Some of the EFF members who were expelled from the party. They have also lost their court bid against the expulsion.
Image: eNCA

On Monday, the four members of the EFF who have been fired by their party realised how close they were to losing their jobs when the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that their case was not as urgent as they had made out and struck it off the court’s roll.

The four MPs, Mpho Ramakatsa, Andile Mngxitama, Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala and Lucky Twala, who were represented by their legal counsel, Francois Botes, had argued in their presentation that the matter of their expulsion be made urgent since the EFF intended to fire them as members of parliament representing the party. Notes argued that the whole process of firing his clients was not a legitimate one and that his clients should be accorded their right to remain as members of parliament while the whole disciplinary process took its course.

In his counter presentation, the person in charge of representing the EFF in court, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi argued that the matter was not urgent at all and urged the court to strike it off the roll. Ngcukaitobi argued that the MPs had been suspended in February when they had announced that they would not be attending the State of the Nation Address and continued not to do so. He further added that the EFF had announced on April 11 that they had expelled Ramakatsa, Mngxitama and Litchfield-Tshabalala while Twala had been suspended for three years if he did not apologise. The EFF legal representative added that the four had released a statement the day after their expulsion, stating that they did not recognize the EFF and its structures and that it was quite clear that they would not be making any appeal through these structures.

In making his judgement, Judge Eben Jordaan said the application lodged by the four members was not urgent since the members had expected their expulsion for a long time. This, he argued, was because the members had not attended a disciplinary hearing and that by so doing, they knew what to expect from the process. Jordaan added that, “When they hear on April 11 they’ve been expelled and on April 14 that they’re no longer members of Parliament they sit until Sunday to bring this application.” He then ruled that the application they had made was not urgent at all and that it was a complete abuse of the process.



  Comments


  1. Soulja says:

    Shame on them

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