Promises, but still no policy
2008-12-17 08:02
Michael Hamlyn
Bloemfontein - Everyone present at the launch of the new political party, the Congress of the People (Cope), over the weekend and on Tuesday's public holiday, was conscious of the fact that they were witnessing an historic occasion.
As the newly endorsed party leader Mosiuoa Lekota told the crowds at the
Goodyear cricket stadium in the centre of the city: "When next you celebrate
Reconciliation Day, you will remember that it was on this day that Cope was
founded. And on every Reconciliation Day afterwards."
At the end of the three days the excited participants in their yellow T-shirts with the Cope circle-and-cross logotype had been presented with a new
leadership, which was very like the old interim leadership with some surprising
additions.
No clear policy details
They had been instilled with a sense of pride, and had been exalted by
high-octane rhetoric. But they did not yet have any very clear policy details
to take back home.
Much of the policy-making has plainly yet to be done and what the high-
flown commissions, which were supposed to be hammering out policy formulations, came up with were mostly wish-lists of what still needs to be decided.
Sam Shilowa, the newly confirmed first deputy president of the party, was
unable to tell I-Net Bridge what the party's attitude towards inflation
targeting was likely to be, as he had not attended the presentation of the
policy commission to the conference.
He did let slip at a media conference however that the detailed policy
making will be done by the new executive.
The delegates themselves sang a great deal, which seemed to take their
minds off the nitty-gritty of politics, and they danced. One dance which
involved jumping into the air and landing heavily on both feet began to
threaten the structure of the raised tiers of seats and was discouraged.
Also formally discouraged was the singing of songs mocking the ANC and its leadership - such as one which declared that Cope was not a shower, a reference no doubt to Zapiro's cartoon image of the ANC leader Jacob Zuma forever portrayed with a shower protruding from the top of his head.
Young, black, middle-class
The party members in the Carrie Human hall of the University of the Free
State were mainly young, and overwhelmingly black. They were middle-class, with high aspirations for themselves and their children.
"Oh yes," one told me. "I know I-Net Bridge. I was trader a little while
ago."
Evident among them however were a number of old political war-horses still
in search of a party that would finally suit them, and perhaps more to the
point tolerate their vagaries.
Former mayor of Cape Town and premier of the Western Cape, Peter Marais was in the hall, but was not among the leaders gathered on the platform.
Allan Boesak, however, formerly convicted of robbing Scandinavian
charities of funds given to his foundation, gave perhaps the most exciting example of oratory on offer.
It was plain why in the UDF and the ANC he had been able to hold audiences in the palm of his hand. He had Cope delegates standing on their chairs, chanting in unison: "There has never been a time like this!"
On the same day Lekota made something of a meal of insisting that a man
charged with corruption should not be allowed to hold political office. He said
that in Europe such a thing could not happen, until a German correspondent
reminded him that Chancellor Helmut Kohl was indeed at one time in that
position.
Lynda Odendaal
But among the new leadership of the party were a number of figures that
could not be tarred with this brush. The new second deputy president of the
party, for example, has never been a politician before.
She was a backroom IT expert who helped put together the party's website,
and who now insists that she is not afraid speaking her mind.
She has been chief executive of her own IT company, and was so good at it that Nedbank made her an offer to head up their IT section.
Her husband Andre will now take the strain as chief executive, since her
political job will be full-time. She has three children of her own and a
stepson of 25.
Shilowa pointed out that though the ANC has insisted that half of their
leadership must be women, there are four women among the six top leaders of Cope.
Only one has had any serious political profile before, and that is
Charlotte Lobe, a former MP endorsed by the conference as secretary general.
Her deputy is a little known figure from KwaZulu Natal, Deirdre Carter, and the
treasurer general is a black empowerment consultant who says she gave up
politics ten years ago, Hilda Ndude.
Persecution complex
The persecution complex that the new party suffers from was less in
evidence at the end of the conference at the beginning.
While Lekota devoted more than half of his opening speech to "ANC-gevaar", and showed genuine concern that he has been the target of assassination plans, the two rival rallies of the MK veterans - addressed by Jacob Zuma - and the Cope rally passed off without incident.
Philip Dexter, Cope's communications chief, did say that they had wanted to hold their rally in Botshabelo, but were told that it had already been booked.
The big question now is how successful can the new party be at the
forthcoming elections.
If the ANC continues to implode in the way it has been doing in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape and some other provinces, it will probably do very well indeed.
The Democratic Alliance insists that it is not threatened by Cope, and
perhaps it isn't, but even if the DA hoovered up every non-black vote in the
country, it still could not form a national government.
Plainly the way forward for both parties is to ally.
- I-Net Bridge (News24)