The national convention to be held this weekend is about constitutional principles the present leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) has moved away from, organiser Mosiuoa Lekota says.
Speaking to about 120 people in Bloemfontein, Lekota said the group had made it clear that the convention had nothing to do with former president Thabo Mbeki.
”It has to do with the principle of the … Freedom Charter, which clearly the present leadership of the ANC was not being loyal to and moved away from,” he told the gathering on Wednesday night.
Lekota said this was the basis of the new movement.
”If he [Mbeki] wants to come along that’s fine, but this is an independent movement guided and initiated by the fact that there are threats to the democracy we have found. That is it, period.”
It would make no difference if ANC president Jacob Zuma discussed the contents of a letter Mbeki had written to him. In it Mbeki indicated he did not ”bless” the ANC dissidents.
”He [Zuma] was discussing it in public. It is neither here nor there. We have said from the beginning this is an initiative that has nothing to do with former president Thabo Mbeki.”
Speaking at the meeting organised by some former Free State National Party leaders — including Inus Aucamp and former Free State minister of agriculture Mann Ulrich — Lekota said the ANC had been moving away from its basic principles for some time.
A ”parting of the ways has come” in respect to many members who had to decide on how they saw the principles of the Freedom Charter and the country’s Constitution.
”This divide has come in the ANC. Who is the good or the bad in the ANC?” Lekota asked.
There were two factions in the party, those with ”the right interpretation” of the Constitution and those who saw differently. Lekota said South Africans should not be ”caught asleep” on the direction the ANC had moved.
He called for changes to the way leaders at all levels were elected. The ruling party should not be allowed to elect people such as municipal mayors ”from behind walls”.
”It’s time to place power back in the hands of people. Communities must decide who must lead them.”
Referring to a proposed new political party, Lekota said the ANC had done its work.
Addressing the possibility of political violence in the country if a new party should emerge, Lekota said nobody, including community leaders and the media, could neglect the responsibility of teaching non-violence. — Sapa