A total of 108 people, most of them from the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress, joined the newly formed National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) in Gauteng on Saturday.
”Every week, we receive leaders of substance, people who have won elections before,” said Ziba Jiyane, Nadeco’s founder and national leader.
He said 41 of them defected from the ANC, 46 from the IFP, three from the Pan Africanist Congress and another three from the United Democratic Movement.
Fifteen of them came from community organisations.
”They did not belong to any political party,” he said.
”I think this is a vote of confidence in Nadeco,” said Jiyane, adding that the party, which was formed late last year, will launch its election manifesto next Sunday.
Jiyane, who was the national chairperson of the IFP, formed Nadeco after a fallout with IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, whose leadership Jiyane described as dictatorial.
Jiyane welcomed the 108 new members at a ceremony held in Eldorado Park, south of Johannesburg. — Sapa