The Congress of the People’s fourth attempt in a year to convene a national congress to elect legitimate leaders was in a shambles on Thursday.
The party has been under consensual leadership since it was launched two years ago in Bloemfontein. The agreement was that party members would have the opportunity to elect leaders within two years.
By Thursday lunchtime, two days after delegates arrived in Pretoria, the opening of the congress — scheduled for Wednesday morning — had not taken place because of delays in registering delegates. Among the reasons was that the congress database had been pre-loaded with bogus delegates, whose names had to be removed before proper accreditation could start. Also, the company hired to conduct accreditation stopped work on Wednesday evening because it was hired for only one day.
On Thursday Cope was doing registrations manually — only about 500 of the expected 2Â 000 delegates had been accredited the previous day.
Allegations and counter allegations of sabotage by Cope’s two factions — one loyal to Cope’s president Mosiuoa Lekota, the other to his deputy, Mbhazima Shilowa — continued as one thing after another fell apart. The only question on which both groups agreed was that the constitutional mandate of the Lekota-led leadership had reached its sell-by date.
The congress national committee (CNC) met for about four hours on Thursday morning in an attempt to salvage the congress. Some of its members are understood to have argued that other congress business, such as commissions to discuss policy, should be set aside in favour of elections.
After its Thursday morning meeting the CNC proposed that:
- The registration process be taken over by provincial chairpersons;
- The provincial chairpersons and secretaries take over from the CNC and lead the congress, as the leadership’s term has expired;
- The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa be allowed to continue with preparations for the elections; and
- The congress should sit until the new leadership had been elected.
It appeared on Thursday afternoon that this would be the preferred route, as Cope did not have the funds to accommodate delegates for another night.
Hundreds of delegates did not have accommodation on Wednesday night and several CNC members were called in to organise hotel rooms for them.
Cope’s youth leader, Anele Mda, addressed Shilowa-supporting delegates outside the venue, calling on them not to give up on pressing for the congress to elect legitimate leaders.
“The CNC that is sitting, wherever they are, has no standing in this organisation now,” Mda said. “The only people who are in charge are the branch members.”
She attacked the party’s leaders, saying that if they had had good leadership values they would have resigned voluntarily, since their Âmandate had expired.
“They should have left office and said, ‘Comrades, we have not done you any justice. We cannot even provide you with a congress.’
“The clock is ticking — it is calling for the new guard. Mbhazima is the man of the moment who can steer the ship that will move Cope from the mud to the ocean.”
Groups of delegates supporting both Lekota and Shilowa tried to outsing each other after the two presidential candidates walked into the venue at 2pm on Thursday. The groups also booed each other’s candidates.
Roscoe Palm, Cope’s parliamentary spokesperson, told the media earlier that he could not say what time the congress would kick off, but that Cope was determined to continue with the gathering, even if only for elections. He repeated that the mandate of the current leadership was due to expire at midnight on Thursday.
Earlier in the day Shilowa’s backers were considering approaching the courts to challenge the constitutionality of the congress failing to take place without electing leaders.
“These people [Lekota’s supporters in the leadership] are deliberately frustrating the delegates so that they can get tired and leave,” said a Shilowa sympathiser.
There was conflict between supporters of the two leaders late on Wednesday night after Lekota had tried to address frustrated delegates who had been waiting for accreditation for most of Wednesday, did not have accommodation for the night and had not been fed.
Cope aborted an attempt to elect new leaders when Lekota obtained a court interdict to halt proceedings and hold a new congress within four months. The congress was then postponed on two further occasions, from September to November and again until December.