Shadley Nash
THE Labour Party of South Africa will hold a special congress on Saturday where it is likely the party will dissolve, ending 30 turbulent years.
For one of the party leaders, Peter Hendrickse, son of LP leader Reverend Alan Hendrickse, the dissolution of the party will be met with mixed feelings. “It will be nostalgic, yet joyous. The party has fulfilled its role in getting a democratic government elected,” he said.
The special congress to be held in Uitenhage follows on the heels of an executive committee recommendation to its congress in May that the party dissolve. “There is only one item on the agenda,” Hendrickse said.
But, for historian Dr Roy du Pre, the dissolution of the LP comes at a time when coloured people are once again feeling marginalised. He warned that if the government continued to ignore the cries of the coloured people, the drift to the National Party seen before the elections would become “a rush”. — Ecna