It's cold out there, Zuma warns

2008-10-14 12:25

Johannesburg - People intending to break away from the ANC were charlatans and dissidents who would not be tolerated, ANC president Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately comrades, as we prepare for elections we have to deal with the shenanigans of some elements within the ANC who (want) to break away and form a splinter party," he told delegates at the National Union of Metalworkers' congress in Vanderbijlpark.

He said the ANC constitution was clear on how differing opinions were raised.

"Today we are seeing patterns of behaviour which can best be described as charlatan," he said, referring to a public statement last week by former ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota that he was "serving divorce papers" on the ANC.

Lekota was unhappy about the way former president Thabo Mbeki had been treated and that the ANC appeared to accept what he termed tribalist support for Zuma in the run up to his election as party president in the face of a support also for Mbeki.

"They go around the country attempting to cajole the membership of our movement into a rebellion against our organisation. We are not going to tolerate that," Zuma said.

He accused the splinter group of trying to "steal the Freedom Charter", the document that outlays the ANC priorities and goals.

"In fact they want to steal the Freedom Charter which is unlawful. It belongs to the ANC."

The party plans to hold a meeting and take serious action against Lekota and his former defence deputy Mluleki George on Wednesday.

Zuma warned Lekota that when he left the ANC, it would be "very cold out there".

- SAPA