By Antony Sguazzin and Nicky Smith, Bloomberg
Dissident members of South Africa’s African National Congress decided to form a new party and fight next year’s elections after they were angered by the ruling party’s ouster of Thabo Mbeki as national president.
“Not only do we intend to tackle it, we intend to win the next election,” Mbhazima Shilowa, the ex-premier of Gauteng province, told a gathering of 6,300 people in Johannesburg today. “There is no more debate whether or not there will be a new political party. The decision has been taken.”
The convention was called to discuss whether to form a new party to rival the ANC, which has run Africa’s biggest economy since Nelson Mandela led it to victory in the first democratic elections in 1994 after the end of apartheid. Former ANC stalwarts including the one-time party Chairman, Mosioua Lekota, have pressed for a new party after Mbeki’s Sept. 21 resignation.
While a new party would be unlikely to defeat the ANC, which took almost 70 percent of the vote in 2004, it may win enough support to block the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution.
“We are absolutely not concerned,” Jessie Duarte, a spokeswoman for the ANC, said in an interview. The dissidents are entitled to form a party, she said, adding that the party will respond to the announcement at a rally tomorrow in Soweto near Johannesburg.
Party Name
The dissidents will choose a name tomorrow for their new party, which will be launched in Free State Province on Dec. 16, Shilowa said.
The new movement would consider forming a coalition with other opposition parties after the elections, Lekota said earlier today.
‘We shall be open to consider, beyond the elections, a coalition,” Lekota told journalists. “I don’t see why we should not consider it.”
An alliance with opposition parties, whose leaders spoke at today’s meeting, may give the new party more weight in parliament.
“Coalitions can work,” Helen Zille, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s biggest opposition party, said after standing up in front of people chanting her name. They “can work for everybody.” The DA won 12 percent of the vote in 2004.
Leaders of other parties who attended the convention included Patricia De Lille of the Independent Democrats, Bantu Holomisa of the United Democratic Movement and Kenneth Meshoe of the African Christian Democratic Party.
‘Viable Challenger’
“The combination of movements is the beginning of the formation of a viable challenger,” said Alistair Sparks, the author of three books on South African politics, in an interview at the convention. “The ANC has a serious challenge on their hands.”
The dissidents say Mbeki’s forced removal, criticism of judges who considered fraud charges against ANC President Jacob Zuma, and pledges by some ANC members to “kill” on his behalf threaten the nation’s political system.
“There is real panic in the ANC,” said Susan Booysen, a political science professor at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand. “If they had known that Mbeki’s ousting would be the final trigger that fired the split, they may well have reconsidered.”
Delegates expressed support for Lekota, better known by his nickname “Terror” for his exploits on the soccer field during the apartheid era.
Lekota Support
“Whose Business Is It? We Want Terror,” delegates sang, carrying signs denouncing the ANC’s leadership.
Others chanted Mbeki’s name and carried signs denouncing Zuma and Julius Malema, the leader of the ANC Youth League who called for Mbeki to be ousted ahead of his removal by the ANC.
“I believe South Africa deserves change. That’s why I’m here,” Joseph Maluleke, a 25-year-old delegate, said, wearing a Barack Obama `Vote For Change’ T-shirt. “We deserve better.”
Zuma, who is backed by labor unions and the South African Communist Party, has said he won’t alter the policies of the Mbeki administration.
The dissidents said they will call for direct elections for the presidency an provincial leadership posts and will safeguard the constitution. Now, parliament appoints the president.
Mbeki was replaced as South African president by deputy ANC leader Kgalema Motlanthe after a High Court judge said he may have pressured prosecutors to charge Zuma. Because he isn’t a member of parliament, Zuma couldn’t take over until after elections.
Abuse of Power
“The dominant political forces are determined to abuse their power to advance their personal interests,” Lekota said in a speech to the convention. “They even engineered the dismissal of the president of the Republic.”
Mbeki doesn’t want his name used to promote either movement, according to a letter he wrote to Zuma that was printed by Johannesburg’s Star newspaper yesterday.
“The difference between the parties will boil down to what is happening to our democracy,” Booysen said. “There really is no real policy difference at the moment.”
The ANC began to fracture in 2005 when Mbeki dismissed Zuma, then his deputy, amid allegations of corruption. It widened last December when Zuma defeated Mbeki at an ANC congress to become head of Africa’s oldest political movement. That automatically won him nomination as the ANC’s presidential candidate for the 2009 elections.