{"id":46562,"date":"2026-08-05T14:28:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=46562"},"modified":"2026-08-05T14:28:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:28:38","slug":"politics-united-south-african-party-dismisses-arops-chairmanship-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/05\/politics-united-south-african-party-dismisses-arops-chairmanship-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS: United South African party dismisses Arop’s chairmanship claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The United South African Party (USAP) has said that Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Joseph Malek Arop is no longer a member of the party.<\/p>\n

USAP maintained their stance that he was dismissed in 2018 for allegedly violating the party’s constitution.<\/p>\n

The party made the remarks during a press briefing in Juba, where its spokesperson, Philip Jiben Ogal, rejected Arop’s reported claim to the party’s chairmanship and insisted that the issue of the party’s leadership remains before the courts.<\/p>\n

According to Jiben, Arop has no legal authority to present himself as the chairman of USAP because the party considers his membership to have ended following disciplinary action taken eight years ago.<\/p>\n

“The matter is before the competent court, and we ask our members and the public to allow the legal process to take its course,” Jiben told journalists.<\/p>\n

He said the party continues to recognise its acting chairman as the legitimate leader of USAP pending a final judicial determination of the dispute.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson also challenged any suggestion that the Political Parties Council has the authority to appoint or recognise leaders of political parties.<\/p>\n

He argued that under the party’s constitution, leadership changes can only be decided through the party’s national convention, where delegates elect office bearers in accordance with established procedures.<\/p>\n

Jiben maintained that any attempt to claim the chairmanship outside those constitutional processes would not be recognised by the party.<\/p>\n

“The leadership of USAP is determined by its constitution and by decisions made through the party convention,” he said. “No external institution has the mandate to appoint our leaders.”<\/p>\n

The latest remarks highlight an ongoing leadership dispute within USAP, a matter that the party says has yet to be resolved through the courts.<\/p>\n

While the party maintains that Arop was dismissed in 2018, the legal proceedings are expected to determine the validity of the competing claims regarding the party’s leadership.<\/p>\n

At the press conference, Jiben appealed to party members across the country to remain calm and continue supporting the current leadership structure until the court delivers its judgment.<\/p>\n

He also urged supporters to avoid actions or statements that could deepen divisions within the party while the case is still under consideration.<\/p>\n

“We encourage all our members to respect the rule of law and to wait for the court’s final decision,” he said.<\/p>\n

USAP’s statement comes amid continued public interest in political party leadership and internal governance in South Sudan, where disputes over party leadership are often resolved through internal mechanisms as well as the courts when disagreements cannot be settled internally.<\/p>\n

The party insisted that it remains committed to following legal and constitutional procedures in addressing internal disagreements.<\/p>\n

Jiben said respecting party constitutions and judicial processes is essential for maintaining confidence in political institutions and ensuring stability within political organisations.<\/p>\n

Efforts to reach Joseph Malek Arop for comment were unsuccessful by the time of publication.<\/p>\n

As of publication, Arop had not publicly responded to USAP’s claims that he was dismissed from the party in 2018 or to the assertion that he lacks the authority to claim the party’s chairmanship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph The United South African Party (USAP) has said that Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Joseph Malek Arop is no longer a member of the party. USAP maintained their stance that he was dismissed in 2018 for allegedly violating the party’s constitution. The party made the[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Philip-Jiben-Ogal-Secretary-for-Information-and-spokesperson-United-South-African-Party-USAP-photo-by-Yiep-Joseph.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46564,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46562\/revisions\/46564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}