The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leadership structure in Gauteng is in limbo after irregularities and allegations of maladministration marred its recent congress.

An investigation into the validity of the elected leadership is under way, with some of the party's senior members locked in a meeting for most of Tuesday to thrash out the dispute.  

FF+ leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Pieter Groenewald was also expected to attend the meeting. 

National chairperson Anton Alberts referred questions to Groenewald. 

The congress was held in Krugersdorp last week and saw Philip van Staden, Kobus Hoffman and Grandi Theunissen elected as leaders.

Van Staden was elected as the provincial leader, while Hoffman and Theunissen were elected as deputy leaders.

Van Staden is a MP, Hoffman is a member of the Gauteng legislature, while Theunissen is a councillor in Tshwane. 

Jaco Mulder, Amanda de Lange and Gerda Senekal, who serve as MP, MPL and councillor respectively, were booted out.  

The trio are challenging the election outcome of the congress, with De Lange telling News24 she was still the deputy leader. The party holds its elective congress every three years.

Mulder, who identified himself as part of the newly formed interim structure, told News24 the investigation would likely continue until the end of the week, with the outcome set to be announced in January.

He said:

The issue that is being disputed is how branches were constituted; we believe that the branches may have not been constituted properly.

Mulder, who held the position of provincial leader, added that the voting process was disrupted by load shedding just as members were casting their votes on the electronic system. 

"The wifi was also down; the entire process was not done properly," Mulder said. 

De Lange declined to comment further on the dispute, telling News24 that she wanted to avoid "further misinformation" as some party members were "being emotional about the election".

"I am still the deputy leader in Gauteng, and I can confirm that, but we still want to discuss some issues. Right after the conference, we realised there were some irregularities, and [those are] some of the issues we want to discuss."

She added: 

There are other [members] who have gone to the media and they don't know what they are talking about, it's purely emotional.

Netwerk24 reported a few days after the election that party members received WhatsApp messages claiming that the election had been declared invalid. 

According to Netwerk24, the bone of contention was the validity of Hoffman's membership. The membership of the newly-elected deputy leader in Gauteng is believed to have been suspended a few hours before the election. 

Attempts to reach Groenewald were unsuccessful. His comments will be added once available.