City Press reports that Joseph Mathunjwa is fighting to retain his position as president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), despite a scathing court ruling last week that declared his election unlawful.

Last Monday, acting Judge Sandile Mabaso of the Labour Court ruled that his re-election as Amcu president in 2019 had not been valid. He found that Mathunjwa had not been employed in the mining and construction sectors since 2013, which was when he had been retrenched. But Mathunjwa, in his appeal papers filed a day after Mabaso’s judgment, stressed that, by virtue of being a union member in good standing, he was eligible to contest for the Amcu presidency. Mathunjwa and Amcu argued that the courts did not have the jurisdiction to rule on whether his election had been lawful or not. The original application to set aside Mathunjwa’s election was launched by Nkosikho Joni, a former Amcu deputy president, who was elected at the same conference but was dismissed last year. While Joni succeeded in getting Mathunjwa removed, he failed to prove his case against Amcu treasurer-general Jimmy Gama, whom he said was not qualified to contest the 2019 election. Joni had also hoped that the court would declare Mathunjwa’s decision to expel him from the union unlawful and unconstitutional, but the judgment stated that he had no locus standi, or a right to bring the legal action, so he was granted no relief in that regard.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Queenin Masuabi at City Press (subscriber access only)
• Read too, Amcu to appeal judgment setting aside Mathunjwa's election as union president, at TimesLIVE

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