Lekota convention under way

2008-11-01 11:15

Johannesburg - The national convention that could result in the first serious political challenge to the ANC since it came to power in 1994 got under way in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Saturday morning.

The two-day gathering has been summoned by ANC dissidents led by former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa, and ousted party chairperson Terror Lekota.

Although organisers have arranged for more than 4 500 people, when the meeting got underway at 10:30, the massive hall in the Sandton Convention Centre was less than half full.

Hundreds more people were still singing and dancing in the street outside the centre, with more arriving all the time.

Lyndall Shope-Mafole, who resigned from the ANC on Friday, opened the convention.

The director general of communications said she could no longer align herself with the ANC.

After a short welcome, delegates stood up to sing the national anthem.

Most of the delegates were bussed in from provinces such as the Eastern and Western Cape, and Lekota's stamping ground the Free State, where support is strongest.

A number of opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance and the United Democratic Movement, have sent delegations, the DA's headed by its leader Helen Zille.

While organisers have been careful to paint the occasion as an opportunity for "dialogue of South Africans across the political divide", it is clear that it will result in the formation of a new political party.

The country goes to the polls in early 2009.

The ANC has won a comfortable two-thirds majority in every general election since the demise of apartheid, but has faced growing criticism over the yawning gap between rich and poor, the pace of service delivery and land reform, and the high crime rate.

Though the convention movement's senior members are largely supporters of axed president Thabo Mbeki, Mbeki said in a letter to the ANC made public this week that Lekota had not sought his approval of the initiative.

However, neither did he condemn it, as ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe had earlier suggested by quoting selectively from the document.

"Comrade Lekota and others have not engaged me in any of the actions they have taken, to secure my approval or otherwise," he said.

"The ANC leadership has not engaged me in any of the responses it has taken in this regard, to secure my approval or otherwise."

Mbeki and Lekota were ousted from the ANC leadership at the party's conference in Polokwane in December last year, when Jacob Zuma trounced Mbeki in the contest for the party presidency.

The ANC axed Mbeki from the presidency of the country in September, following a high court judgement suggesting he may have meddled in Zuma's corruption prosecution.

Zuma said on Friday that party members should not be swayed into "negative action" by their anger at the dissidents.

"We wish the adventurists luck, and are pleased that many are coming out and are resigning from the ANC. We expect the convention to unmask many others who will hopefully also leave the ANC in peace without any further delay," Zuma said.

The convention is scheduled to end on Sunday with the adoption of a declaration.

- SAPA