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New South African party launches

New South African party launches
Written by Reuters

A new political party expected to pose the first serious opposition to the ruling African National Congress is formally launching in South Africa. The Congress of the People, or Cope, is made up largely of defectors from the ANC, which has been in power continuously for 14 years.

On Tuesday it named ex-Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota as its president. Cope emerged after Thabo Mbeki left the presidency in September amid a power struggle with ANC leader Jacob Zuma.

Many supporters of the new party were unhappy at the way in which Mbeki was forced to step down.

The BBC's Peter Biles reports from Bloemfontein, where the new party is being launched, that delegates have been locked in feverish political debates.

They see the launch as a key moment that signals the growth and development of South Africa's young democracy, he says.

Zuma is also in Bloemfontein on Tuesday for a party rally widely seen as an attempt to divert attention from the launch of Cope.

As it confirmed Lekota as its leader on Tuesday, Cope named the former premier of Gauteng province, Mbhazima Shilowa, as its first deputy president.

The party also unveiled its latest high profile supporter, the anti-apartheid activist and cleric Allan Boesak.

Boesak was given a rapturous welcome by Cope supporters, before telling them that the tide had turned against the ANC.

Lekota has ruled out any reconciliation with the ANC.

"The ANC more than anybody else should know that there is no possibility of us going back, we are now looking forward to the elections," he said on the eve of the party launch.

The breakaway party's formation has been marked by a lengthy and problematic search for a name.

The ANC has laid claim to the Congress of the People, since it was the name used for a historic, ANC-sponsored event in 1955.

But the High Court ruled earlier this month that the new party could use the name.

Cope was already the party's third choice.

Its first choice - South African National Congress - was challenged by the ANC, which said it was too similar to its own name.

Their second choice - South African Democratic Congress - was already registered as a party.

In its first electoral test earlier this month, the ANC dissidents won 10 of 27 wards in the Western Cape - the province where the ANC has always been least popular.

The Cope members had to stand as independent candidates because of the dispute over the party's name.

Our correspondent says the challenge for the new party is to distance itself from Mbeki, and not appear like a group of embittered losers from last year's ANC national conference in Polokwane, where Zuma defeated Mbeki in a leadership contest.

But he also says that Cope, which claims to have more 4,000 members, is in a position to make serious inroads into ANC dominance.

Labels: COPE, PARTIES, SOUTH AFRICA

posted by MrK @ 5:55 AM