Listening to leaders of the Congress of the People (Cope) denying that there is a leadership tussle within the party is becoming annoying.
It is all the more annoying because at last weekend’s national committee meeting they were told by other committee members to stop denying the obvious.
When Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota and his deputy Mbhazima Shilowa shake hands one can sense the tension between the two. So why can’t the party’s leaders acknowledge that the current bosses were “parachuted” into their positions and that people now interested in running for the presidency must sell themselves to Cope members?
The party has no elected leader and some of the interim leaders have started to jockey for the top position. Among them are Lekota and Shilowa. They should be open about it, start lobbying and allow Cope members their democratic right to choose the president.
I still battle to understand why the leaders cannot tell their members that it’s show time and that the contestants should show their faces. Besides, the Bloemfontein inaugural conference in December promised an elective conference within 18 months. The period expires in June next year and the party is still struggling to build branches.
The biggest loser in this battle will be the young people whose hopes were raised in the run-up to the national elections. They probably remember Lekota’s closing remarks in Bloemfontein: “To young South Africans we offer an opportunity for you to respond to the urgent question: what kind of a country do you want to live in? We say we will be your partner to build a future you all desire and deserve.”
He also quoted African-American historian Vincent Harding: “There is a world waiting for us — the world of our children, not yet born, or just beginning, but wanting to live, to grow, to become their best possible selves. This will not happen unless the centre is transformed and fundamentally changed.”
Cope is the fruit of hard work by many young South Africans. Youth leaders such as Malusi Booi and Anele Mda come to mind, as do former chief executive of SA Tourism Moeketsi Mosola and business person Andile Mazwai. Because of their association with Cope, their employers were apparently put under pressure by the ANC and some were pushed out.
Mda faced disciplinary action at the Eastern Cape Youth Commission for alleged “unauthorised absence” from work. She was saved by taking up an MP job before the hearing took place. Booi resigned from a project management company after alleged threats from the ANC that the company would not get government contracts if it kept him. Mosola resigned from SA Tourism, also because of the pressure put on his employer.
I’m selecting these young people because they serve in leadership positions and participate in the meetings that discuss the direction of the party.
Did these young people risk their jobs so they could help former ANC leaders back into power? If not, they must ask questions, speak about their unhappiness and become involved in running the party instead of leaving that to a few leaders.
When I interviewed Mda in November, she promised that young people in Cope would be able to hold their leaders accountable. She even acknowledged failing young people by not speaking out about the wrongs in the ruling party when she was an ANC Youth League branch and provincial leader. “I can align that [failure] with the culture in the ANC that you don’t question the leadership,” she said at the time.
Recently Cope’s general secretary, Charlotte Lobe, tried to give the party’s youth hope when she wrote on the party’s Facebook discussion board: “We have chosen the road less travelled, a new party — Cope. The opportunity we have today, of changing our country for the better, is a rare one. We can either seize it or let it pass. Let us seize the day with hope.”
This was in response to an outcry from young Cope members about what seems to be the party’s slow death. A young Xolisile Kondlo responded: “With due respect Mme Lobe, how do you intend to seize the day?
How do u intend us to seize the moment when I go to avail myself to the [Cope] offices here in Port Elizabeth and I am greeted with padlocks?” This was from a young man who seems to be willing to continue volunteering his services to Cope, but is frustrated by the inefficiency of those in power.
The party needs a strong leader who will put the party’s interests above his or her own. Judging by how Lekota and Shilowa have handled the leadership issue, they do not fit that profile. Cope should have an elective congress as soon as possible and young people should ensure that their future does not go down with Lekota or Shilowa.