Former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa has called for political tolerance in the run-up for to the formation of the new political party.
All parties should be free to campaign across the country, he said on Monday. ”We should be able to shun and frown on those who create no-go areas.”
Addressing an open debate at the University of Johannesburg on the formation of the breakaway party, Shilowa said democracy entailed that parties had the right to go to the public and explain who they were.
”We have the right to go to the market place and share ideas … say who we are and this is what we stand for,” Shilowa said.
Referring to membership of various parties, Shilowa said large numbers did not necessarily mean a party would win the majority vote.
”It’s not the membership you have that ensures a win, it’s the message, consistency and hope. No amount of insults will stop us,” he said.
Commenting on the new party’s convention slated for November 1, Shilowa said delegates would deliberate on, among other issues, whether the country’s electoral process was still adequate.
”Is there any merit to change the electoral process. Should the president, premiers, mayors be directly elected by the electorate,” he asked..
Shilowa said South Africans had matured enough to have a direct say as to who their leaders should be.
He said the convention would be open to all South Africans.
”You cannot choose which South Africans you want to dialogue with … Helen Zille, for example, will be allowed to come. You will not read any headline that says Zille is barred from the convention,” Shilowa said.
Invitation
Meanwhile, Former African National Congress (ANC) chairperson Terror Lekota and Shilowa on Monday invited the South African public to attend their national convention to be held on the weekend.
The convention would serve as a platform where the organisers of the new party, to be launched on December 16, could take stock of responses from the public, Shilowa said.
The ideas and issues would help to form the basis of policy formation for the new party.
The convention was to ensure dialogue and conversation between all interested South Africans, to determine what problems or issues they had, or would like discussed in the national political sphere.
The convention will be held on November 1 and 2, with provincial delegates set to arrive and register on October 31.
Any interested person could get his or her issues on to the agenda, which would be discussed at the convention or in the convention’s sub-commissions, the organisers said.
The convention will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre.
Shilowa said that the group had been having trouble with finding a venue because universities in the Free State, where they had wanted to hold the convention, were in their examinations period and could not accommodate them.
The group initially wanted to hold the convention in Bloemfontein, then planned to move it to Pretoria, then reverted back to Bloemfontein, before settling on Sandton.
Introductions and main speakers would open the convention. Plenaries and open discussions would follow.
The convention would then divide into related commissions to discuss issues such as social development, youth topics, the protection of the Constitution, the defence of democracy and the issues of poverty and electoral reform.
The convention would end on Sunday with reports from the commissions and closing speeches.
It was hoped that a declaration could emerge from the confluence of ideas. — Sapa