“This matter has never been about personalities; it is about the integrity of our processes.”
Those were the words of Stan Itshegetseng after a dramatic legal bid to overturn the ANC Johannesburg regional leadership was struck off the roll, with the Gauteng High Court dismissing his urgent application challenging the election of regional chairperson Loyiso Masuku.
Speaking to The Star last night, Masuku welcomed the Gauteng High Court’s decision, describing it as a reaffirmation of the party’s internal processes.
“The African National Congress in Johannesburg welcomes the court judgment. This judgment confirms that disputes of any conference must be first dealt with internally,” she said.
This follows the court’s decision to throw out the application on procedural grounds, ruling a lack of urgency in the case brought by Itshegetseng, a former special advisor to the ANC’s previous regional chairperson and advisor to the COS in the City of Johannesburg Mayor, Dada Morero’s office. The ruling effectively brought the matter to an immediate halt, preventing the substantive merits of the dispute from being tested.
Itshegetseng told The Star that the challenge is not a personal attack on Masuku but a broader fight over internal democracy within the party.
“This matter has never been about personalities. Cde and Councilor Loyiso Masuku is a leader I respect, both as a comrade and as a public representative. The issues raised are institutional, not personal. They concern the integrity of organisational processes and the credibility of outcomes arising from the ANC Johannesburg Regional Conference.”
He described the urgent court bid as the opening step in a wider legal strategy targeting what he believes are serious flaws in the December 2025 regional conference.
“The urgent application constituted what I would describe as Phase One of a broader legal process. It was limited in scope and aimed at addressing immediate concerns arising from the conference outcome, particularly where there was a need for swift judicial intervention to prevent potential prejudice,” he added.
He said the court’s decision turned purely on technicalities, ruling that internal ANC processes had not been fully exhausted.
The ANC’s Johannesburg region has been engulfed in turmoil since the December conference, where Morero was unseated by Masuku, marking a historic moment as she became the first woman to lead the region. But the breakthrough victory has been overshadowed by deepening divisions and legal battles exposing fault lines within one of the party’s most powerful structures.
At the heart of the dispute are allegations of irregularities that Itshegetseng insists have yet to be properly tested.
“Concerns around the conference, including allegations of irregularities, are precisely what underpin the substantive dispute. It is important to stress that these issues have not yet been fully tested in a court of law,” he said.
He declined to ventilate detailed claims publicly, indicating these would form part of the next phase of litigation, where the fairness and legitimacy of the conference process will be challenged directly.
The controversy has deepened amid mounting allegations of vote manipulation, flawed ballot design and questions over the independence of the electoral process, including claims that the service provider overseeing the vote was linked to a City of Johannesburg employee.
The situation escalated further when police reportedly uncovered ballot boxes and papers at a Pretoria home, alongside separate investigations into alleged vote-buying and reports of pre-opened ballots found at a presiding officer’s residence.
At the same time, the political fallout has evolved into a broader power struggle, with attempts to remove Morero as mayor stalled by the ANC’s national leadership, leaving him in position despite his regional defeat.
Itshegetseng, however, maintains that he followed all internal ANC processes before turning to the courts, disputing the court’s view that internal remedies had not been exhausted.
“I engaged my Branch Executive Committee, formally raised the matter at a Branch General Meeting, and escalated the issues to the Office of the Secretary-General… These steps were taken in line with ANC guidelines… In this instance, there was no acknowledgment or substantive response received within that framework.”
“It is precisely this absence of engagement that left me without an effective internal remedy and ultimately compelled me to approach the Court as a last resort,” he added.
Despite the setback, he signalled that the legal fight is far from over.
“This matter is not concluded. Phase One dealt with urgency. Phase Two will address the substantive issues,” Itshegetseng said.
Meanwhile, Masuku stressed that the ruling reinforces the ANC’s constitutional framework and the principle that internal remedies must be exhausted before approaching the courts.
“The ANC is a democratic organisation with a constitution, and members of the organisation must exhaust all the internal processes before approaching the courts. This judgment reinforces the authority of the constitution of the ANC. The 16th Regional Executive Committee (REC) remains a democratically legitimate structure and will continue to exercise its powers as an elected structure.”
She further signalled that the focus now shifts to stabilising and rebuilding the organisation, with priority placed on governance and delivery.
“The ANC REC in Johannesburg is focused on uniting and renewing the organisation. We are preoccupied with building effective structures and strengthening our machinery and work collectively to fix local government by accelerating service delivery. This is to stay true to our historic mission, which is to serve the people,” Masuku said.
The Star