Congress of the People (Cope) leaders Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa said on Thursday they did not know why Lynda Odendaal, the party’s second deputy president, quit this week.
”She wrote me a very short letter. She did not spell out any reasons,” party president Lekota told a media briefing in Cape Town.
This came after Odendaal told the Cape Talk radio station that Shilowa was part of an ”opportunistic” faction intent on ousting Lekota.
Lekota led the breakaway from the African National Congress last year to form Cope.
Odendaal quit on Tuesday and Simon Grindrod, the head of the party’s elections team, said he would be stepping down from his position on the congress working committee. He said he would remain an ordinary member of the party. Both have accused the party of lacking vision and strong leadership.
Shilowa, the party’s first deputy president, said: ”I don’t think the party should worry about what may have been said on radio.”
Shilowa said he enjoyed a close working relationship with Lekota and had consistently supported the decision to have him at the head of Cope.
”I endorsed that decision and I still endorse it … I do a lot of things, but with his permission.”
The party’s parliamentary leader Mvume Dandala added: ”I view the rumours of this with absolute contempt and want to say for once and for all there is no leadership tussle.”
Shilowa said Cope would discuss the loss of the two senior members at a committee meeting over the weekend, and hoped that both would attend to air their grievances.
The party was sorry to see them go, he added, and said nobody would malign them.
Lekota said a statement by fiery Cope youth leader Anele Mda that Grindrod should be expelled for bringing the party into disrepute with his angry missive explaining his reasons for resigning, was off the mark.
”She simply jumped the gun.”
He said it was baffling, following a series of leaks of internal documents, that people assumed those raising issues would be sanctioned.
”There is not an underground organisation. Some people think Cope should operate as a banned organisation.”
It was still unclear whether Cope would appoint a new second deputy president, but Leonard Ramatlakane was expected to take Odendaal’s seat in Parliament as he was next on the party’s list, Shilowa said.
‘Flawed leadership’
On Tuesday, Grindrod on Wednesday lashed out at the party’s ”flawed” leadership.
”The problem in Cope is not the members. The members are committed to the principles of integrity, transparency and democracy. That is what was promised. It’s the leadership that’s the problem [but] I’ll keep my Cope membership card in my back pocket,” Grindrod told the Mail & Guardian Online.
Grindrod charged that the party’s website was now inactive and that the head office in central Johannesburg was costing the new party R60 000 a month.
”The president is isolated and undermined on a daily basis by Shilowa. I have yet to see any public defence of the party president by Shilowa. Shilowa is trying to defend the legacy of [former president Thabo] Mbeki, but he should find time to defend his own party president.
”The leadership has given no reason for people to stay. Hope is dying in the cold light of day. What we’re seeing [in Cope] is what we’re seeing in the ANC. Like many in SA, I’m deeply disappointed. The [party’s] potential has been squandered by the selfish and narrow interests of the leaders.”
Phillip Dexter, the party’s head of communications, dismissed Grindrod’s complaints as a ”lot of smoke”.
”All I can say is that Simon is entitled to his views, but I don’t think these views bear any resemblance to the real world,” he told the M&G Online.
”It’s a debate that will take place. The party is seven months old. You establish it by work, not complaining.”
Dexter said the party was setting up constituency offices and preparing for the local government elections. ”It’s a different pace of work from election campaigning. You can’t be in permanent election campaign mode.”
On the money the party was spending on rent, he said: ”Money’s been raised, it’s been paid for. We’ve been offered a discounted rate, which we’ve taken. The offices have been refurbished. Why is it an issue? How much would he like us to pay?
Dexter said the party was building a new website, and that Grindrod should have addressed his complaints to him.
Read Simon Grindrod’s resignation letter