A breakaway movement from South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is gathering steam in the run-up to next year’s polls, threatening to dent the dominance of the party that led the struggle against apartheid.
Dissidents within the ANC are organizing a convention a week from Sunday to lay the groundwork for their splinter group to become an official political party.
They hope to launch the group in December, and plan a series of rallies to boost their support around the country, including one on Thursday in a shantytown outside Johannesburg.
ANC leader Jacob Zuma vowed earlier this year that his party would “rule until Jesus comes back,” but he appears to be taking the new challenge seriously.
The ANC has suspended key leaders of the breakaway movement, including former defense minister Mosiuoa Lekota.
Five provincial officials who organized rallies for Lekota in Cape Town were also suspended after thousands of activists turned out to hear him speak and tore up their ANC membership cards.
“They are trying to quell the type of general upsurge that appears to be developing as quickly as possible. I think there is a clear indication they are quite concerned,” political analyst Dirk Kotze of the University of South Africa said.
The rifts first broke into the open last December, when Zuma seized the party leadership from former president Thabo Mbeki at a conference in the town of Polokwane.
Zuma’s allies last month forced Mbeki to resign as president just months before the end of his term, in a humiliating blow to the man who succeeded former South African president Nelson Mandela as the country’s second president after apartheid.
The public infighting has dimmed the reputation of Africa’s oldest liberation movement. Even Desmond Tutu has voiced frustration over the feuding, saying that he might not vote in the next election.
“What has happened since Polokwane and since Mbeki’s resignation is the growing sense that the leadership within Mbeki’s group was mistreated,” Kotze said.
Only a few prominent ANC officials have so far followed Lekota, among them Mbhazima Shilowa, the premier of the country’s richest province, who complained the party has been hijacked by Zuma’s supporters.
Two former members of ANC’s national executive committee as well as a former leader of the powerful labor unions have signed on to help organize the party, though it still lacks a nationally recognizable leader.
Although the breakaway is gaining momentum, analysts say the new party stands little chance of actually defeating the ANC at the polls.
Zuma, closely allied with South Africa’s powerful labor unions, enjoys support from the millions of people still mired in unemployment and poverty 14 years after the end of apartheid.
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi said the party appeared to be aiming to win 20 percent at the polls, expected in April next year.
“That’s a huge ask. But if they win it, it will change the South African political landscape completely,” he said. “If the [current] opposition keeps its 30 percent, there are several things the ANC will have to negotiate — including who becomes head of state.”
Matshiqi said the new party’s biggest challenge would be its positioning, creating an independent identity separate from the ANC.
“Beyond this acrimony, voters will want to know what the new party will deliver for them,” he said.
The new party will also have to rush to secure financing and assemble a national organization in order to campaign for the elections, Matshiqi said.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
PINEAPPLE DEBATE: While the owners of the pizzeria dislike pineapple on pizza, a survey last year showed that over 50% of Britons either love or like the topping A trendy pizzeria in the English city of Norwich has declared war on pineapples, charging an eye-watering ￡100 (US$124) for a Hawaiian in a bid to put customers off the disputed topping. Lupa Pizza recently added pizza topped with ham and pineapple to its account on a food delivery app, writing in the description: “Yeah, for ￡100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on, you monster!” “[We] vehemently dislike pineapple on pizza,” Lupa co-owner Francis Wolf said. “We feel like it doesn’t suit pizza at all,” he said. The other co-owner, head chef Quin Jianoran, said they kept tinned pineapple
RSS