Launching a new political party was never going to be easy, but need it be as difficult as this?
No sooner did the political movement founded by prominent breakaways from the African National Congress announce that its new name would be the South African Democratic Congress, or Sadec, than another new party jumped up to say that that was their name already, and it was taken.
Samuel Kennedy, general secretary of the other South African Democratic Congress, abbreviated as Sadeco, said he had left a message for Sadec leader Mosuioa Lekota to call him to discuss the matter.
”I thought it prudent that I talk to Terror Lekota first rather than go public in the first instance,” he said.
Sadeco is a breakaway from Nadeco — the National Democratic Convention — which itself is a breakaway from the Inkatha Freedom Party.
If not resolved, the Independent Electoral Commission will have to make a ruling in line with electoral law that states that names and logos should not be confusingly similar.
”We are not going to be fighting over names, but we had hoped to use it to contest the December 10 by-elections,” said Mbulelo Ncedana, who speaks for Sadec.
He explained that whatever name they finally settled on for the by-elections would be an interim name until it was ratified at the party’s launch. — I-Net Bridge