Cape Town - Trouble is brewing for the Western Cape ANC in the run-up to its provincial elective conference in Cape Town this weekend over the question of suspended MPL Andile Lili’s contested suspension under the party’s step-aside rule.
The conference is set to run from June 23 to 25 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
In February, Lili was suspended from the party after being referred to the provincial legislature’s conduct committee relating to the criminal charges he faces and was asked to step aside from all his party commitments.
The ANC’s step-aside rule is used to sanction leaders facing serious criminal charges.
Lili said yesterday that he would be taking the ANC to court to challenge his suspension if he is not allowed to participate at the conference.
He said: “I will go to court to interdict this conference if my issue is not resolved.”
Lili shared a letter from his attorney dated May 27 and addressed to the office of the interim provincial committee co-ordinator asking for “details of what exactly it is that has given rise to Mr Lili being subjected to the step-aside policy”.
The letter read: “One of the crucial cornerstones of democracy in South Africa, as protected by the Bill of Rights, is the maxim: innocent till proven guilty.”
The letter said the net effect of the decision against Lili was that within the context of the ANC, he had been charged, tried, found guilty and subjected to the step-aside sentence, all without ever being afforded an opportunity to hear how he is alleged to have violated ANC policies or any law, and without an opportunity to defend himself.
Told about Lili’s threat to take the matter to court and derail the conference, the party’s provincial spokesperson, Sifiso Mtsweni, said: “We are not aware of his intentions at this stage and therefore cannot say much on it.
“If he serves us with legal documentation, we will respond to it accordingly but as far as our knowledge goes he remains on step-aside until the conclusion of his cases and will therefore not be allowed to participate in the conference.”
In May last year Lili, was found guilty of inciting members of the Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement to murder in comments he made outside the Bellville Regional Court on July 28, 2015.
In February, Lili was suspended from the party after being referred to the provincial legislature’s conduct committee relating to the criminal charges he faces.
This came after he appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on charges of assaulting the principal of Inkanini Primary School.
Lili, who until his suspension was the party’s human settlements spokesperson in the provincial legislature, has said a number of times that he had written to the ANC challenging the step-aside decision.