Everett, Wash.
Published: Sunday, November 2, 2008

Dissidents split from South Africa's ruling party

Thousands say that ANC President Jacob Zuma has shut them out of leadership positions.

Los Angeles Times

 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- It had all the oomph of a gathering of South Africa's ruling African National Congress: the haunting political songs, the swaying dancers leaping into the aisles, the cries for power, "Amandla!" All that was missing was ANC President Jacob Zuma and his campaign song, "Bring Me My Machine Gun."

Thousands came from all over South Africa on Saturday for a national convention of ANC dissidents, marking a political shift that poses the biggest threat to the party's dominance since it came to power in the first post-apartheid election in 1994.

About 5,000 delegates destroyed their party cards in protest at the recent ousting of South African President Thabo Mbeki, a mass repudiation of Zuma and his allies, who took over the party nearly a year ago. Today, the dissidents were expected to announce that they will form a breakaway political party in December.

An emerging coalition of South Africa's many opposition parties could prove a serious challenge to the ANC. In the packed hall, the leaders of all the main opposition parties spoke in support of the breakaway convention, to jubilant cheers.

"When we look back on this day with the hindsight of history, this convention could be a turning point in our democracy," Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said as the crowd shouted her name: "Zille! Zille!" "Coalitions can work. They build bridges. They take us into the future. They don't trap us in the past," she said.

Patricia De Lille, the leader of the Independent Democrats, said the convention marked the breaking of the ANC's political dominance. "The once-proud liberation movement has lost its way. The values, the visions and the ideals of the struggle have been forgotten," she said.

The ANC's dirty linen has come tumbling out with the split: Convention delegates complained that after the Zuma camp took over the ANC, everyone else was shut out.

"If you're not a member of the Zuma camp and you say something against them, they'll chase you away," said Lulamile Ndala, 44, of Eastern Cape province. He said the Zuma camp wanted to control every position in the party, from leaders of residents' organizations right up to the presidency.

"They are chasing us out. They call us traitors. That's not democracy. That's not what we were fighting for," said Phuthuma Kahlana, 25, a delegate who also came from the Eastern Cape.

Dumila Mateza, a consultant from Johannesburg who has always voted ANC, said he is disillusioned by the party's arrogance. He says it's starting to resemble Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, which has dominated Zimbabwe for 28 years.

"If you don't respect your institutions, then surely we are going down the ZANU-fication route," he said.

"There's a desperate need for a quality of leadership that has a moral consciousness," said Barney Pityana, vice chancellor of the University of South Africa. "Today, this whole country is being held to ransom by people who no longer believe in virtue in politics."

The level of support for the dissidents has shaken the new ANC leadership and tainted Zuma's term as party president. Zuma's biggest liability appears to be one of his key allies, ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, who has declared that his movement would "kill for Zuma" and vowed to crush any breakaway movement. Speaker after speaker at the convention condemned Malema.

Zuma, campaigning in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province Saturday, described those at the convention as "poisonous snakes," the South African Press Association reported.
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