The Eastern Cape ANC pledged unconditional support for Premier Oscar Mabuyane over the weekend, claiming that the high court had set aside an SIU proclamation to allow for him to be investigated for academic fraud - but the SIU has an amended proclamation that allows it to continue the probe.

The ANC's Eastern Cape spokesperson Yanga Zicina issued a statement on Sunday claiming the high court had 'vindicated' Premier Oscar Mabuyane in an investigation involving maladministration and academic fraud at the University of Fort Hare.

However, the proclamation on which the court order and the statement were based is no longer the proclamation that the SIU is using to investigate the matter.

Below is the court order that the statement refers to:

The ANC Eastern Cape statement reads:

"The African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape warmly welcomes the landmark judgment of the High Court ... which has emphatically vindicated our Provincial Chairperson, Comrade Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane.

"In a decisive ruling, Judge Ntsikelelo Mtshabe declared the conduct of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in its investigation of the ANC Chairperson (Mabuyane) on Fort Hare matters to be a serious abuse of process, unconstitutional and ultra vires of the terms...