Sibongakonke Shoba
21 November 2008
Johannesburg — IN A major coup for the Congress of the People (COPE), one of the two deputy presidents of the Independent Democrats (ID), Simon Grindrod, has defected to the newly formed party.
Grindrod, who was also Cape Town's mayoral committee member for economic development, made the announcement at a media briefing flanked by COPE leaders in Cape Town yesterday .
"I am here because every South African must grasp this opportunity, which may only come around once in a lifetime, to provide an alternative to the ANC," he said.
The move was a "personal decision" and he did not want it to be portrayed as a criticism of ID president Patricia de Lille, for whom he had the greatest respect.
Other than De Lille, Grindrod was probably the ID's best-known public representative.
Grindrod said if South Africans wanted change they had to break the mould of voting according to colour.
COPE executive member Phillip Dexter, who along with COPE heavyweights Mluleki George and Leonard Ramatlakane flanked Grindrod at the media conference, said COPE was working "flat out" to finalise draft policy documents.
De Lille said though the party was surprised and disappointed by Grindrod's resignation, the ID had many capable candidates to take over his duties.
She said Grindrod was the "second" of the ID's two deputy presidents, and the first deputy, Agnes Tsamai, would continue serving in that position. "We wish Mr Grindrod well with his new party," she said.
Meanwhile, another name dispute will see the ANC and its breakaway party battle it out in court, this time over the use of the name Congress of the People.
The ANC dissidents, led by Mbhazima Shilowa and Mosiuoa Lekota, said yesterday they would not bow to ANC pressure as they did when they abandoned the name South African National Congress after the ruling party took them to court.
ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu said the party was consulting its lawyers with the aim of taking legal action .
This week papers were served on COPE by the ANC demanding that the party refrain from using the name as the ruling party claimed it enjoyed "significant common law rights" to the name.
The ANC said the Congress of the People was an idea of Prof ZK Matthews, an ANC leader, which was adopted by an ANC conference in 1953. Other organisations that were involved were amalgamated later into the ANC or ceased to exist, the party said.
Since 1955, the ANC had continued to make regular use of the name in various ways. In many political circles and among its supporters the party claimed it was commonly referred to as the "Congress of the people" or "ukhongolose wabantu" in Nguni languages, which demonstrated a close association between the ANC and this name and concept.
"The use of this name by any other party is likely to confuse a significant number of the electorate into believing that such a party is the ANC or is associated or endorsed by the ANC, which is, in fact, not the case," ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte said. With Sapa
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
