ANC 'to pay' for loyalty
by Caiphus Kgosana, Moffet Mofokeng, George Matlala and Makhudu Sefara
2008-11-23 18:08
Johannesburg - Paranoia has gripped the ANC and the new Congress of the People (Cope) is also beginning to taste its own medicine as ANC moles attend its meetings.
The ruling party has come up with a few "enterprising" ways of finding out who spies for Cope in its midst, including establishing unofficial task teams in provinces to check on those they suspect.
This is in addition to Mangosuthu Buthelezi-style loyalty pledges, which the Inkatha Freedom Party leader made his members sign ahead of floor-crossing periods.
As paranoia spreads, even members of COPE claim the ANC is sending people to its meetings to check who is attending.
"Here in Limpopo, for example, the ANC know that there are four MECs who regularly attend our meetings. So they want evidence," said a COPE source.
ANC provincial secretary Joe Maswanganyi dismissed this, saying people who worked in clandestine ways did not have the courage of their convictions.
"We are not planning to infiltrate them; if they infiltrate us (that) is unfortunate," said Maswanganyi.
A political hotbed
A Western Cape Cope organiser, Ndithini Tyhido, said they had been informed that provincial ANC leaders had instructed moles to monitor whether former provincial chairperson and MP James Ngculu attended COPE meetings.
"As far as we know, he is still a member of the ANC and a member of Parliament," said Tyhido.
It is believed that North West ANC secretary Supra Mahumapelo and social development MEC Nikiwe Mangqo are under surveillance.
This as Cope co-leader Mbhazima Shilowa told City Press yesterday that some ANC members of provincial executive committees were expected to join Cope this week.
The Eastern Cape has become a political hotbed, with the ANC sending 50 MPs to the problematic Nelson Mandela region from tomorrow in a bid to stop the exodus.
City Press learnt that Cope leaders were this past week working on a plan to hold the party's maiden rally at the 40 000-seater Botshabelo Stadium in the Free State.
Cope leader responsible for policy co-ordination Phillip Dexter told City Press that the party would release policy discussion documents tomorrow, which would be sent to provinces immediately.
The provinces would hold "consultative conferences" until December 10, when a team of policy advisers would start synthesising the feedback for discussions at the inaugural conference on December 16.
In Parliament, the ANC has been urging individual MPs not to join Cope, allegedly promising them jobs if they don't make it back on the list of those returning to the house.
Some were promised ambassadorships and others deployment to well-paying jobs in government departments or parastatals, which means they would be able to look after their families - a concern shared by many MPs.
Another MP said the approach by senior ANC leaders to MPs had changed dramatically from telling people to leave to pleading with them not to leave - an approach also adopted by ANC president Jacob Zuma during his address to the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) in Midrand on Friday.
Deputy president Baleka Mbete addressed the ANC caucus on Thursday, pleading with MPs not to leave the party, saying the leadership conceded to having made mistakes.
'We make mistakes'
"We are human, we make mistakes," Mbete allegedly said.
According to a source, Zuma told the NEC gathering: "We should tell (those who want to jump) there is no better home than the ANC. Therefore, we should continue to engage them as some are leaving the ANC on the basis of ignorance."
Another source said businessman Cyril Ramaphosa and Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma raised serious concerns at the same meeting at the harm ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema is causing the ANC.
ANC spokesperson Carl Niehaus yesterday said the party's lawyers would launch an urgent application in the Johannesburg High Court to force Cope to stop using the name.
Cope, in turn, has appointed legal eagle Wim Trengove SC, a former trustee of the Nelson Mandela Trust and a co-legal adviser to the former president to defend the case.