African National Congress (ANC) treasurer general Mathews Phosa will meet former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota on Monday morning in a reconciliation attempt, an official said.
”Today’s [Monday’s] meeting is scheduled to take place at 10am,” said ANC spokesperson Brian Sokutu.
Lekota last week apparently snubbed Phosa, who said he had waited for Lekota to attend a scheduled meeting on Thursday morning.
But the former ANC chairperson, who has said he may start a new political party, did not show up.
Asked if Lekota had explained why he did not attend the Thursday meeting, Sokutu said: ”There wasn’t any formal response that we got from him … we will see what will come out of this meeting.”
Lekota at the weekend attended a public meeting of an ANC faction in the Western Cape disgruntled with the national and provincial leadership of the ruling party. He urged South Africans to join the campaign to defend the Constitution against attacks by new ruling-party leaders.
”The people shall govern principle is no longer for all of us — there are serious deviations. We must make sure that all South Africans join hands to defend the Constitution,” he said.
Statements by certain ANC leaders calling for a solution to ANC president Jacob Zuma’s legal problems as well as threats to kill if he did not become the country’s president were strong indicators that the Constitution was no longer safe.
”The time to defend our democracy is now,” Lekota said.
He appealed to all South Africans who respect the Constitution to attend the upcoming national convention to decide on measures to counter the current onslaught on democratic principles.
Dismissing as ”empty threats” criticisms from the ANC leadership against those agitating for a breakaway party, Lekota said no attack would make him stray from his mission.
”It’s not about me, it’s about what the people want. We refuse to be intimidated or bullied — we will continue to mobilise our people,” he said.
Lekota was one of a string of Cabinet ministers who resigned after the ANC’s national executive committee decided to remove former president Thabo Mbeki from office.
Newspapers on Monday morning suggested that former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa, who resigned from his position out of loyalty to Mbeki, was set to join Lekota in a new party. — Sapa