South Africa’s co-ruling party African National Congress (ANC) on Friday responded fast, handing down a penalty to one of its top executives who held a meeting with Moroccan officials to seek to strengthen ties.

But days after Obed Bapela, the deputy chairperson and member of the ANC National executive committee, met with Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita, his party said it had sacked him from the positions for misrepresenting the liberation movement.

Bapela had called for stronger economic cooperation between the two countries as well as Morocco’s bigger role in the African Union.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said Bapela failed to explain the nature of the meeting with Moroccan officials saying it had raised questions about his commitment to ANC’s fundamental principles.

“As a result, the ANC wishes to advise that Comrade Obed Bapela has been relieved of his duties as deputy chairperson and as a member of the ANC NEC subcommittee on international relations,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.

The bone of contention is that ANC views Morocco as an occupation force in Western Sahara, the region in the southern parts of Morocco that has sought independence but which Rabat sees as a part of its territory.

Traditionally, the ANC has often supported self-determination causes across the continent, likening its history of defeating apartheid to these movements.

Morocco, which had exited the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor of the African Union later returned to the continental bloc in 2017. But it had left the continental body after the OAU admitted the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which administers a portion of the Western Sahara, from exile in Algeria.

Morocco officially calls Western Sahara as Southern province of Morocco and has gone on to campaign against recognition of the SADR.

After the Bapela meeting, ANC’s Secretary General Fikile Mbalula said Bapela’s views did not represent the ANC.

“The remarks in question are to the effect that the ANC is calling for the intensification of economic ties with Morocco, a nation that continues its illegal occupation of Western Sahara.

“The ANC remains solidly steadfast in support for the Sahrawi people and their right to independence. We will not tolerate actions that compromise our principled positions on decolonisation, self-determination, and justice.

The ANC will continue to work with its allies, including Algeria and others across the international community, to ensure that the people of Western Sahara achieve the freedom they have long been denied,” he wrote on X on Thursday.

Morocco did not formally respond to the incident. But it came as Rabat also fought the outcome of a case at the European Court of Justice, on October 4, which annulled the fisheries and agriculture agreements of the European Union (EU) with Morocco for including Western Sahara without consulting Sahrawi people first.

The EU’s General Court had already suspended the fisheries agreement in July 2023. Both deals should be ended within a year, providing a window for Morocco and the EU to rectify the anomalies.

But the decision could raise the question of who is Sahrawi, as the SADR runs a portion of Western Sahara from exile, while Morocco has administrative officials governing the region directly.

“The European Commission is currently analysing the judgments in detail. In this context, we take note that that the European Court of Justice preserves the validity of the agreement on agricultural products for an additional 12 months,” said a statement by President von der Leyen and High Representative/Vice-President Borrell on Friday.

“In close cooperation with Morocco, the EU firmly intends to preserve and continue strengthening close relations with Morocco in all areas of the Morocco-EU Partnership, in line with the principle of pacta sunt servanda,” it added, referring to a principle in international law that says treaties are binding to the parties that sign them.

Mr Bourita said Morocco would reject the decision of the Court outright as it violated his country’s sovereignty.

He said the decision is “out of sync with reality” and indicated that the European Union must find a solution to a solution to Morocco’s legal security agreements, without crossing the redline she said Rabat was not ready to negotiate on.

In its ruling, the Court ruled that the agreements were concluded in breach of principles of self-determination and violation of the consent of the Western Sahara people and their permanent sovereignty over their natural resources.

The same Court also rejected all appeals brought by the European Union Commission and Council with regard to the matter and directed that the trade and fisheries agreements involving Western Sahara’s territory be ceased within a year.

This ruling comes five years after the Front Polisario (FP)- a movement running the SADR from exile, filed a petition to the General Court of the European Union for annulment of the decisions of the Council that approved the EU-Morocco agreements. It also challenged two trade agreements concluded between the EU and Morocco regarding fisheries and agriculture.

The General Court had, in 2016 and 2018, annulled the agreement between the EU and Morocco because the agreements were concluded without having obtained the consent of the people of Western Sahara as a third party to the agreements.

Despite these rulings, the Council and the Commission renegotiated fishing agreements and SADR says it was still excluded.

The Western Sahara region was initially a colony of Spain but after the colonialists departed, it was administered by Mauritania and Morocco before Morocco claimed its territory.

SADR, meanwhile, has demanded a referendum for people to decide their future, something the African Union had backed. But SADR later accused Morocco of repopulating the region with non-natives, making it difficult for the original population to make a fair decision.

However, the referendum itself has never been held and Morocco has been marketing autonomy instead of total independence and wants the United Nations, not the African Union, to handle the dispute.

Over the years, several countries have recognised Moroccan claim over the region, a result of Rabat’s lobbying. The US and Israel are among those who recognise this claim.

Kenya had initially indicated it would follow the trend before it backtracked and said it will support the African Union's stand of supporting self-determination.

*Additional reporting by Aggrey Mutambo*