Despite having been savaged at April’s polls, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) of General Bantu Holomisa has tried to pull itself together and face the future with a scarcely wavering gaze. Details of the plan were circulated on Monday.
But before adopting his plan, the party leader made a determined attack on the quality of leaders he found in his party.
About 120 party faithful gathered in a Pretoria hotel on Saturday and endorsed a plan put forward by Holomisa. He told members that it was clear there was no one else to blame but themselves for the failure at the polls.
He complained that the party’s local councillors did not attend meetings. ”They are silent on local issues and are nowhere to be found, even on their telephones,” he said. ”This picture demonstrated itself during the past elections when the UDM leaders were required to represent the party on talk shows, only a few would be available.” He added that the UDM needs to change the perception that only its president can participate in such debates.
He pointed out that when people looked at UDM policies they commend them, but question whether the party has people enough to run a government and execute the policies
He said the party is going to have to look very carefully at the mechanisms it uses to select its leaders on the ground.
Holomisa suggested that this was something that needed to be considered later. ”I submit that we cannot come up with an answer today, but put us on alert for the forthcoming provincial congresses and the national congress next year,” he said. ”If we are to agree on a turnaround strategy to rebuild the UDM, discipline must be the key factor and how we identify and select leaders.”
Noting that politics will not wait for congresses, he encouraged the meeting to set up a committee of 10 to represent party interests in the debate around political realignment.
The party will also appoint spokespersons for various ”desks”, what the Democratic Alliance is calling a ”shadow cabinet”, to liaise with party structures and the press. — I-Net Bridge