Nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi yesterday suffered a major blow after the High Court dismissed an application by the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal that had reinstated him as ANC secretary general.
ANC won an appeal it had filed against the tribunal's ruling. The party appointed Barrack Muluka to replace Osotsi as secretary general.
Justice Cecilia Githua ruled that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the matter because Osotsi had not exhausted all internal party mechanisms.
She ruled that the appeal by ANC had merit and set aside the decision made on April 12 last year by the tribunal.
“The tribunal was wrong in entertaining the case by Osotsi because he had not exhausted the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism,” the judge ruled.
The court also directed Osotsi to pay costs to ANC for the petition.
This means Muluka will retain his position, unless Osotsi moves to the Court of Appeal to challenge the judgement.
The MP has also filed a separate case at the High Court challenging the decision of the party to expel him from the party.
He was allegedly expelled from ANC over wrongful conduct. He is accused of mismanaging party funds when he was the secretary general.
ANC has opposed Osotsi's case at the judicial review, arguing that the MP has not exhausted all internal dispute resolution mechanisms on his removal from the party list before moving to the court.
In his defence, the MP argues that he was never given a hearing to defend himself against the accusations by the party.
Osotsi said as the secretary general he was not in the accounts department and was not in charge of party funds as alleged.
The MP risks losing his seat if the Registrar of Political Parties strikes his name off the ANC member’s list.
Edited by Pamela Wanambisi
