3 December 2008
Eastern Cape Anc Provincial Secretary Sephatho Handi And Anc MP Mampe Ramotsamai Are the Latest Ruling Party Members to Jump Ship And Join the Congress of the People (cope) - Citing Party Purges And the Decision to Kill Off the Scorpions As Their Reasons.
Handi said he decided to join COPE because "certain people" had wanted to oust leaders who had backed ex-president Thabo Mbeki for a third term before the ANC's conference in Polokwane.
"There were internal pressures within the ANC where people allowed suspicion to play a role in their judgment. There were widespread allegations that I was working for COPE," said Handi, who said the ANC was no longer a democratic organisation.
Ramotsamai said it had been hard for her to leave the ANC after serving the organisation for 25 years.
"I realised that the ANC I joined in 1983 is wearing out. It is an organisation of individuals (now). It has been difficult to defend some of the things in the party. In the Western Cape the ANC is looking inward, not outward. If this is the route the ANC is taking then I have no future," she explained.
She said the decision to dissolve the Scorpions hurt her.
"This party that I am joining, should allow a conscience vote. In COPE, people will have that space," she said.
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