ANC taking Cope concerns to IEC
2008-11-17 16:12
Johannesburg - The ANC is in the process of raising its concerns over the Congress of the People's name with the Independent Electoral Commission, spokesperson Carl Niehaus said on Monday.
On Friday the ANC said it would oppose attempts to appropriate its political heritage, on the grounds that the Congress of the People was an ANC event marking the Freedom Charter's adoption in 1955.
In terms of IEC rules, a party could object to another's similar name or logo.
The ANC initially lodged a court application to contest Cope's first choice, The SA National Convention. Then Cope discovered that its second choice, the SA Democratic Congress was already taken.
Niehaus said it would wait for an IEC finding on their concerns before deciding whether to return to the courts.
"We will see how it goes from there," he said.
Apology from newspaper
Meanwhile, Niehaus said he stuck by his original demand of an apology from The Times newspaper. It published an article indicating that the party was about to axe a personal assistant alleged to have given strategic information to former ANC communications head Smuts Ngonyama, who was being associated with Cope.
Niehaus said the PA, Vuyisa Manyandela, who works for herself and fellow spokesperson Jessie Duarte, was back at her desk and that the allegations were "hot air".
"She is sitting in her office and she is doing her work as a PA," said Niehaus.
The Times on Monday again stood by its story.
At the same time, the ANC Youth League's Julius Malema was in the spotlight again for comments he made about Cope co-leader Mbhazima Shilowa. Malema labelled him a bad father over child maintenance payments, and took a dig at his earlier profession as a security guard.
Shilowa was once a security guard at The Star newspaper, before going on to become Congress of SA Trade Unions president and the premier of Gauteng. He was recently in the news for contesting paternity of a child with a former partner. He reportedly began maintenance payments only after tests confirmed the biological link.
Zuma spoke to Malema
Malema also reportedly urged students at the University of Limpopo not to allow Cope to lobby on their campus.
ANC president Jacob Zuma reportedly spoke to Malema over his latest public statements.
Niehaus said Zuma had been reiterating the ANC's stance of political tolerance to all its members.
In response, Cope's Terror Lekota said ANC members were disrupting his meetings in a manner that reminded him of apartheid.
At the SA National Convention, where the formation of a new party was agreed on, Lekota said the ANC was taking on some of the worst characteristics of apartheid.
Listening to the 'mother party'
The ANC had not received any official complaints about the behaviour of its members at Cope meetings, but would investigate if they received them.
ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said although he had not been present at Malema's speeches, he said his comments about Shilowa were "observations" known to be true.
In a later statement he said the league reaffirmed its commitment to ANC values, but any suggestions from outside the ANC that they were unruly was "pathetically opportunistic".
The league had a level of relative autonomy but was not micro-managed by the ANC.
He said the gist of an article in the Sowetan, that the league would not listen to the ANC, was changed by the sub-editors who worked on the story.
"The Sowetan and some in the media seem to be consciously playing the defaming game through distortion and sensational reporting on the character and statements of the ANCYL," he said, referring to a Sowetan headline "ANC can't gag us".
The league took advice from the ANC but was not forced to listen.
However, Niehaus said although the league had autonomy, "there is also the issue of who is the senior party".
"It's good for a child to listen to the mother party," quipped Niehaus.
- SAPA