ANC party wants the chairman of the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal Kyalo Mbobu to recuse himself from nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi’s case.
They want Mbobu to remove himself from the case because on May 17, he issued orders against them by suspending the expulsion of Osotsi from the party.
The party had expelled the nominated legislator and written to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties who struck off his name from the party list.
The legislator moved to the tribunal and obtained orders suspending his expulsion until his complaint is heard and determined.
ANC has requested Mbobu to recuse himself as a condition precedent to a fair hearing and determination of the preliminary objection and the application by Osotsi.
“Chairman Kyalo Mbobu in complaint No.1 0f 2018 under whom the bench crafted jurisdiction in circumstances where none existed, grabbed jurisdiction and proceeded to make a ruling in favour of Osotsi,” the application reads.
Through lawyer Mukwana Alutalala, the party says based on judicial and fair practice, professional etiquette and presence of a good mind would demand the chair to recuse himself from the matter.
They are acutely apprehensive that the PPDT, specifically the presiding bench as currently constituted, will not deliver a fair and impartial determination of the matter in accordance with articles 47 and 50 of the Constitution.
ANC has further objected to the orders arguing that the complaint as currently originated and framed falls outside the jurisdiction of the PPDT and 'the same ought to have been dismissed'.
“Where a complainant was evidently and manifestly allowed abundant opportunity to appear before the party’s disciplinary committee but instead chose to scornfully spurn the opportunity, can the same party validly and legally invoke the PPDT’s appellate jurisdiction?” the party asked.
They also questioned the capacity in which the tribunal entertained the disputes, whether as an appellate forum or original forum.
“This tribunal has no powers to entertain a complaint which has not exhausted stipulated internal dispute mechanisms of the party, moreover, where the very complaint has attempted to submit himself to the internal dispute resolution process,” they argued.
They also said the orders of the tribunal issued on May 17 to stay the decision of the party disciplinary committee are consequently untenable, fatally framed and incapable of enforcement as they were issued after the fact.
ANC has further accused Osotsi of concealing from the tribunal the fact that he had filed a judicial review application in which he raised the same complaint, which was dismissed by Justice John Mativo, insisting that the remedy of exhaustion had not been observed by the MP.
They said Mativo had further ruled that the proper forum for the complainant to originate his complaint was the party’s internal resolution mechanisms.
