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Former ANC WC communications head loses bid to have his sacking set aside

Former ANC Western Cape political head of communication Lionel Adendorf had his bid to declare a provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting invalid, struck off the roll by the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday.

Adendorf filed an urgent application against the party following his sacking, saying the meeting where the decision was taken was invalid. He argued that all decisions taken at the meeting would have far-reaching consequences on the Western Cape legislature and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

With the notice having been served at 17:00 (i.e. after office hours) at the provincial headquarters in Adderley Street, in Cape Town's CBD, Judge Derek Wille told Adendorf's attorney, Brett Aarninkhof that insufficient means were made to serve the papers, thereby invalidating any argument of urgency.

"Rules are rules," Wille said. "There seems to be a belief that people with urgent political matters can just come to court and disregard rules. That is not how courts function and I will not allow that to happen in this court."

Judge Wille then quizzed Aarninkhof on the matter of urgency.

"Prove to me how this affects your client urgently," Judge Wille said.

After further debate, Aarninkhof conceded that he had not presented enough reasons to argue for urgency.

"Your client is not the guardian of all. He cannot conflate his rights with those of people who may not be affected by decisions taken at the meeting.

"My criticism is not on the merits of your client coming to court – my criticism is on procedural grounds," said Judge Wille.

He ordered that the matter be struck off the roll as rules of service were not complied with and the matter of urgency had not been proven. He also ordered that the legal teams pay their own legal costs.

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