Splinter party no threat - Zuma
2008-10-09 07:19
Johannesburg - ANC president Jacob Zuma has dismissed as baseless the claims made by former defence minister Mosioua Lekota that the ANC under his leadership has deviated from the values and the principles enshrined in the Freedom Charter.
Zuma also said the proposed splinter party "is not and will never be" any real threat to the ANC.
He was speaking during an hour-long, wide-ranging interview on uKhozi FM on Wednesday night.
"I am very confident that the ANC will have an even stronger showing at the polls next year. This splinter party will never be a real threat. Here we are talking about a party that has not been formed as yet and if it were to be formed it will have very little time to mobilise support before the elections," Zuma said.
Freedom Charter
Earlier, Lekota had hinted at the imminent formation of a new party by disgruntled ANC members.
He accused the ANC of departing from its founding principles, saying the new leadership "under Zuma" has done nothing to condemn some of the practices deemed to go against the values of the organisation.
However Zuma said the ANC had not deviated from the Freedom Charter, adding that it was not the first time Lekota had raised these issues.
"There is nothing new in what he said today. Mr Lekota has raised these issues even before Polokwane and we have spoken to him and addressed these," he said without elaborating further.
Lekota had also charged that some ANC members and leaders had contravened the "All shall be equal before the law" clause as enshrined in the Freedom Charter, by seeking a political solution to Zuma's corruption trial.
The ANC president however defended the calls for the political solution.
"Those who have made this call were saying that because they felt that this was no ordinary criminal trial, but they felt that it was a political trial. This has even affirmed by a [Pietermaritzburg] High Court judge."
Youth League
In response to Lekota's criticism of the ANC Youth League for making inflammatory statements, Zuma said the party will never condemn its youth leaders publicly saying that such matters were dealt with internally.
Zuma said that the ANC leadership will continue to engage with Lekota and other dissatisfied members within the party.
He also said that his leadership will be meeting with other dissenting voices outside the party with a view to addressing some of the differences.
He mentioned Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu as one of the people he will be meeting with. Tutu has been critical and lambasted the Zuma leadership of the ANC.