Hajra Omarjee and Karima Brown
3 November 2008
Johannesburg — AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma wasted no time yesterday in denouncing ANC dissidents planning to mount an electoral challenge to the ruling party.
Zuma told a rally of 15000 followers in Soweto that he was ready to "debate" real issues and the "facts" - not anger. "We want them to come up with issues. They have decided to be an opposition so we will engage them. Let's have the facts, the policies, not the anger."
Zuma's address capped a dramatic weekend in South African politics, with former ANC heavyweights Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa leading a breakaway national convention on Saturday. The breakaway, which has since styled itself the South African Democratic Congress, intends contesting elections next year.
Zuma attacked the new political group, which is being backed by almost all opposition parties.
In a veiled reference to former president Thabo Mbeki, Zuma said the ANC knew "there were snakes" in the ANC.
Though it was painful, the party would persevere. "If someone is with you, but they are working against you, they are a snake," said Zuma, who spoke in three languages, mostly isiZulu.
Zuma said that even when things were bad in the ANC, people debated issues and did not jump ship. He pledged that the ANC would increase its majority and deal decisively with any threat to its hegemony. He also promised to respond to Mbeki's letter to him in which the former president lambasted the ANC leadership. Mbeki accused Zuma of encouraging a personality cult around himself, and said he would not be involved in the ANC's election campaign.
With only months to go before the election, and the threat of a serious challenge to the ANC's two-thirds majority, Zuma was in full campaign mode.
He took the fight to the breakaway, calling the proposed new party a "rich man's" group in cahoots with the Democratic Alliance (DA). Zuma mocked the choice of venue, Sandton, a "wealthy suburb".
He questioned the motives of former Shilowa and Lekota. Zuma said the ANC had known they were planning to break away after their defeat at the ANC elective conference in Polokwane. While Lekota had accused him of veering from the Freedom Charter, Lekota's dalliance with DA leader Helen Zille showed it was Lekota who had gone astray. "I heard Helen Zille. She said what Lekota was saying the DA had been saying for a long time."
Zuma lambasted Unisa vice-chancellor Barney Pityana, who had endorsed the breakaway and attacked Zuma at the convention on Saturday.
Pityana claimed to stand for the rule of law, but was hypocritical when he continued to speak about political leaders who had raped. Pityana said delegates should not let themselves be led by rapists.
Zuma, acquitted of rape charges in 2006, said he wanted Pityana to name ANC leaders who were rapists.
"One of the highly educated speakers suggested I was a rapist ... despite the fact I was acquitted by a court of law. Because the speaker is one of the educated persons who spoke at this convention held in Sandton, a place for the rich, one would have expected him to understand that once a person is acquitted he cannot be labelled a rapist."
Zuma also took issue with conveners who said they were gathered in Sandton to "defend the constitution".
"The ANC has always believed in the supremacy of the constitution," Zuma said. The ANC was ready to debate with those who left the ANC to become an "opposition". He accused them of having no proper policies, and said they were driven by "anger". Zuma urged ANC members and the youth to register to let allow the ANC to win decisively.
"Voting is a right that fulfils the traditions of democracy. The ANC has proved itself as a trustworthy organisation, dependable organisation, and is predictable," Zuma said.
Zuma outlined the ANC's focus on education, health and crime, and said the ANC had "a plan" for SA.
Zuma struck a cord with the crowd when he spoke of their social hardships. He spoke intimately about everyday problems such as school children loitering, teenage pregnancies and the burden of the elderly, who often became victims of crime and bore the brunt of dependent youth.
Laws on crime had to "bite", and the justice system was failing communities as it often seemed criminals had more rights than victims.
Zuma also spoke at the birthday party for ANC stalwart Albertina Sisulu. He thanked her for her continued support of the party, and said ANC leaders would follow her example by staying in the ANC "until they died".
He mocked Lekota and his followers, and praised ANC businessman Cyril Ramaphosa for remaining loyal even after Mbeki accused Ramaphosa of plotting against him. Zuma said lightheartedly Ramaphosa could handle defeat in the ANC after Mbeki scuppered his presidential prospects when Nelson Mandela stepped down.
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