The lobbying for leadership positions within the Congress of the People (Cope) is gaining momentum, with the party’s structures circulating lists of their preferred candidates for the May elective conference.
The Cope Youth Movement authored a new document in which the young people seek to assert themselves, after they won the January battle for an early elective conference. The interim leadership of the one-year-old party had planned the conference for December, but the youth movement, with the backing from Gauteng and some congress national committee (CNC) members convinced the party to bring the date forward.
The Mail & Guardian is in possession of a document titled Cope in 2010: The quality of leadership we need, in which the youth movement called for the election of leaders who would reflect the “future” of the party and not “the past”.
Cope was founded by former African National Congress (ANC) leaders who broke away from the ruling party following the recall of Thabo Mbeki as state president. Most Cope members come from the ANC and the breakaway party was constantly accused of being a replica of the ruling party.
“If our leadership collective merely reflects people who left the ANC, especially in our top 12 positions, we will lose the confidence of many South Africans who pinned their hopes on the emergence of something new”, said the document. “Having an ANC background should not count against anyone, but it must neither be an undue advantage”.
Shilowa for president
The youth movement list preferred current deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa to ascend to the presidency, current general secretary Charlotte Lobe and national organiser Mluleki George as his two deputies, parliamentary leader Mvume Dandala as general secretary and North West member of the legislature Nikiwe Num-Mangco as deputy general secretary.
Other preferences for the top 12 — which will form the party’s powerful leadership structure, the congress working committee (CWC) — are:
- Lolo Mashiane: treasurer
- Andile Nkuhlu: head of policy
- Mbulelo Ncedana: national organiser
- Neville Mompati: head of elections
- Nolitha Vukuza: head of sectors
- Lyndall Shope-Mafole: head of international relations
- Onkgopotse “JJ” Tabane: head of communications
The youth did not include current president Mosiuoa Lekota as it preferred to him as leader of the Council of the Elders, a structure that would be the equivalent to the ANC’s new Veterans’ League.
The scattered pro-Lekota group of the party’s youth movement circulated a list of its preferred leaders to the media in January, with Lekota as a presidential candidate, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as his deputy, Dandala as the national chairperson, current MP Smuts Ngonyama as the party’s general secretary, deputised by Shope-Mafole, and Jullian Killian as the national treasurer.
Younger leaders
But the latest youth movement document, compiled by the national steering committee, called for a younger leadership at the top. “[We] want 70% of the CNC to be below the age of 45, leaders who are young and have the ability and staying power to see Cope through the next decade”.
One of the top requirements for the Cope leadership should be “high moral standards” and leaders would be expected to sign an “ethical code” that would force them to set positive examples for citizens, “even [within] their personal lives”, said the document. It was recently revealed that Lekota had fathered a five-year-old child out of wedlock. Shilowa has two sons outside his marriage and — in a widely publicised case — was hauled before the courts for failure to pay maintenance
The youth movement would also like to see party leaders declaring their business interests, regardless of whether they occupy public office or not. “They have influence on what the members of Parliament say or do — this alone makes them influential, even if they do not themselves sit in the chambers”.
Some current leaders will face the chop, as the youth movement urged party members to rid the party of “passive participants”.
Delegates to the conference were also urged to be sensitive around race issues. “An all black or male CWC will not be acceptable,” said the youth document, which also called for a 50/50 gender representation in all leadership structures.
Cope is due to hold its joint policy and elective conference during the last weekend of May.