Lekota upbeat about Cope

2009-07-09 12:04

Johannesburg - Congress of the People president Mosiuoa Lekota was upbeat about the party's future in a recent interview with the Helen Suzman Foundation, refuting suggestions that the party was dying.

"After the election the vibrancy dims somewhat, and the impression may well be that Cope has died. No. It's simply that the main actions have shifted from broad society back to the corridors of power, and people of course return to their regular work."

Although he admitted some "mistakes and miscalculations" in the run up to the recent elections, he said he was inspired that the party took 37 seats in Parliament after an election campaign that was "undermined" by mistakes.

In the interview, released by the foundation on Wednesday after the resignation of the party's second deputy Lynda Odendaal and Simon Grindrod, a national executive committee member and elections co-ordinator, said he had stopped looking back to the "good old days" (when he was chairman in the ANC).

He believed that a party which brought a country to liberation ceased to become as significant once liberation was achieved, creating a gap for parties which could concentrate on governance.

"It is very important to underline that Cope is a post-liberation, modern political party, and to understand its historical foundations," said Lekota, disagreeing that it was formed out of "disgruntlement".

Complaints 'misplaced'

Lekota and several other key ANC members left the party after former president Thabo Mbeki was forced to resign last year. They later formed a new party.

"Liberation organisations, on the day that democracy is achieved, have essentially achieved their historic mission. From that point onwards, the country needs an organisation geared towards governing. There's a world of difference between fighting for freedom and governing," he said.

He said that rather than rewarding loyalties from the freedom struggle, Cope had to focus on showing itself to understand that the task was to govern and "not to reward the loyalties of yesterday".

He said complaints from Grindrod about a malaise was misplaced.

"December last year we had no time to set up party structures. Under normal circumstances a party would set up branches and structures, and then go into an election campaign with a well-oiled machinery of organisation.

"We had to set that aside, because the more urgent task was to focus on the elections. So we relied on structures that came up spontaneously, what was immediately available."

They decided that after the elections they would set up branches and provincial structures then hold a national conference to elect the national leadership.

'Formative stages'

"So we are still in our formative stages," he said. However, a conference date had not been set yet.

He said the level of volunteers indicated that people's enthusiasm for the party wasn't artificial and they were focusing on getting the party ready for the 2011 election.

"The test is to manage Cope's image in such a way that we direct it towards the positive building of the party, and at the same time we have to keep the organisation in the face of the nation, so that we don't entirely lose the attention of people who are reflecting on the problems the country is faced with.

"Undoubtedly we will stumble along the way, but I work inside the party all the time now, and I'm convinced that we are doing very, very well. I'm very happy doing what I'm doing now because it's much more relaxed and I can take time to reflect."

- The full interview appears in the current edition of FOCUS Magazine, the quarterly publication of the foundation.

- SAPA