Former African National Congress (ANC) chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota on Saturday opened the national convention by warning that the country was in serious danger of reverting back to ”apartheid-era style” if South Africans did not challenge the ANC leadership.
Lekota, who received a standing ovation from the crowd — who chanted ”Bua, Bua, Bua [speak]” — as he took to the podium, said the current ANC leadership was no longer committed to the principles of democracy adopted by the country in 1994.
”The current dominant political forces are now determined to abuse power to advance their personal interests,” he said.
The removal of former president Thabo Mbeki, including the dismissal of premiers and other government leaders by the ruling party, was designed to create space for the new crop of ANC leaders so that they could take control of government to abuse state power.
The new ANC leadership was determined to use all means to crush anybody who tried to protect the Constitution.
The convention, Lekota said, was proof that a majority of South Africans were not prepared to watch helplessly as the country was being pushed back to the dark days of the apartheid era, where abuse of state power and the use of state resources to enrich a few was the order of the day.
”We are ready and we will stand up and fight,” he said.
‘Dialogue of South Africans’
The convention, which could result in the first serious political challenge to the ANC since it came to power in 1994 — got under way in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Saturday morning.
Although organisers arranged for more than 4 500 people, when the meeting got under way at 10.30am, the massive hall in the Sandton Convention Centre was less than half full.
Hundreds more people were still singing and dancing in the street outside the centre, with more arriving all the time.
Lyndall Shope-Mafole, who resigned from the ANC on Friday, opened the convention.
The former director general of communications said she could no longer align herself with the ANC. After a short welcome, delegates stood up to sing the national anthem.
Most of the delegates were bussed in from provinces such as the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, and Lekota’s stamping ground, the Free State, where support is strongest.
A number of opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the United Democratic Movement, have sent delegations, the DA’s headed by its leader, Helen Zille.
While organisers have been careful to paint the occasion as an opportunity for ”dialogue of South Africans across the political divide”, it is clear that it will result in the formation of a new political party.
The country goes to the polls in early 2009.
The ANC has won a comfortable two-thirds majority in every general election since the demise of apartheid, but has faced growing criticism over the yawning gap between rich and poor, the pace of service delivery and land reform, and the high crime rate.
Mbeki and Lekota were ousted from the ANC leadership at the party’s conference in Polokwane in December last year, when Jacob Zuma trounced Mbeki in the contest for the party presidency.
ANC president Jacob Zuma said on Friday that party members should not be swayed into ”negative action” by their anger at the dissidents.
”We wish the adventurists luck, and are pleased that many are coming out and are resigning from the ANC. We expect the convention to unmask many others who will hopefully also leave the ANC in peace without any further delay,” Zuma said.
The convention is scheduled to end on Sunday with the adoption of a declaration. — Sapa