Allegations of racism rock Cope

Allegations of racism have rocked the third biggest political party in the National Assembly, the Congress of the People (Cope). The party’s youth wing leader, Anele Mda, stands accused of calling deputy general secretary Deidre Carter a ”stupid, white token bitch” during an altercation just after last weekend’s congress national committee meeting in Johannesburg.

A Facebook group has been created on Cope’s website, calling for Mda to be sacked, both as youth leader and as a member of Parliament. Four Cope sources — two CNC members and two national youth wing leaders — told the Mail & Guardian that Carter had filed an official complaint with the party’s leadership.

The matter is scheduled to be discussed at the congress working committee (CWC) meeting in East London on Sunday. The CWC is the party’s highest decision-making structure.

A distraught Carter refused to discuss the matter on Friday night, saying it was an ‘internal matter” and that the CWC were ‘not taking it lightly”.

‘I have not discussed anything with my family and my daughter read it on Facebook,” said Carter.

Mda refused to comment on the allegations and referred inquiries to the spokesperson of the youth movement. She later sent a SMS to the M&G, saying people with ‘devious intentions” continued to ‘tarnish” her name.

Young people in Cope have taken it upon themselves to discuss Mda’s behaviour on a Facebook group called ‘Anele Mda must go”.

‘No leader of mine should have such terms in her vocabulary,” wrote Cope youth member Sabelo Kotswana.

‘That’s just not what I want to be associated with. That Anele is plain dumb. She must go.”

Liansky Bestenbeir said a date for a conference should be set as soon as possible to elect suitable leaders. ‘We should also call upon the removal of Mda as an MP.”

Said Tshepo Mazibuko: ‘Thank God we only got 7% on the votes. It would have been a disaster if Cope had won. The lack of vision from all levels [of] Cope is sad.”

The most emotional comment was written by Carter’s teenage daughter, Marcelle Carter. ‘I am supposed to study for my matric finals and here I am defending my mother. It is sad that people can’t see past race,” wrote Marcelle. ‘My mother is no female dog, nor a pig! My mother is the one that from as long as I can remember never spoke about race”.

Marcelle said her mother had enrolled all her children in public schools because she did not want them to live in ‘an all-white world — and to think of all the sacrifices we have made as a family are now being destroyed by one person”.

Another disappointed Cope youth member, Natasha Huckfield, said: ‘If you are angry, why does race come into it unless you are racist? A person like this has no business influencing the youth of SA.”

National spokesperson of the Cope youth movement, Sipho Nghona, was one of the people who participated in the Facebook group discussion.

He called for calm while the CWC decided on a course of action.

‘I do hope that the organisation will not sweep anything under the carpet as I’ll be following this with a fine-tooth comb,” said Nghona.

‘Both Comrade Anele and Deidre must be given a chance to have their say. I hope to God that this all proves to be a horrible dream. Racism must never be condoned.”

Malusi Booi, the youth movement’s national coordinator, said a formal response from the movement would be released as soon as a complaint was received by the national steering committee. ‘If we receive any document that clearly indicates a case of misconduct, we will deal with the issue at that particular moment.”

When Cope was formed last year its founders described the party as a non-racial political party, offering an alternative to the ruling African National Congress.

Booi said Cope still values non-racialism and respects all South Africans, irrespective of their skin colour.