I can understand the general outcry and disappointment of South African people in the manner by which the Congress of the People of the People's second try at holding an inaugural congress went. I can understand how it might look from the outside, without knowing all the facts and from the media reports of flying chairs, ex-Presidents attacking ex-Deputy Presidents, how all this might have disconcerting from those who watched from a distance. But from the inside the view is slightly different. I hope that after reading this you will have a new found respect for what the delegates of COPE in those three long days were trying to achieve.
Firstly I must say, most political parties in South Africa have no right to criticise COPE in this manner, because their idea of democracy is to arrive at their elective conference with a backroom deal signed between the leadership on who will get what position, with some contenders being intimidated or convinced to withdraw their contesting. This is their idea of well run Conferences, where major positions of leadership are not contested. Many a time a similar route was proposed within COPE by the Lekota camp, but this was always rejected outright by the genral mermbership of COPE. We wanted a democratic contest where the membership freely and fairly chose their leadership.
Why were tensions?
Personally I see it as deriving from the decision in Bloemfontein in December 2008 where everyone gathered at the birth of Cope gave the organisers the benefit of the doubt by sanctioning a leadership collective containing a cross section of South African society. This self-nominated leadership collective, which Lekota demanded at all costs to lead despite holding insufficient support even then, was given no more than two years to fully legitimise themselves by democratising their structures and finalising a National Elective Congress where the general membership would appoint the leaders they wanted.
Why this good-faith decision caused all the tension was because post the National Election in May 2009, it became clear that many within the collective leadership had no constituency within COPE branches, or the COPE supporting electorate. If a Leader has no followers then where is their incentive to test their popularity at the ballot box? So quickly this tension led to the people with vested interests, whether as Parliamentarians or other position of power within COPE, shifting from collective decision making to meeting in small, select (even in cases racially selective) groups. They used the bloated ego of Terror Lekota to work against who value the voice of the majority.
Hence Shilowa emerged as a champion of the voice of the majority against elitist group who were looking after their vested interests. Shilowa became the champion of those who wanted to elect by popular regional, provincial and national leadership. The Lekota group tried their best to sabotage, and when they saw how popular Shilowa had become within the party they employed dirty tricks of slander, as we saw Lekota accusing him with substance of corruption.
After the General Secretary and National Organiser had issued notices for the National Elective Congress at St Georges in May 2010 the Lekota group were not happy. As a backdoor compromise between the two groups it was decided, at a CNC meeting, on the eve of the Congress, the Lekota faction brought a proposal the Congress, whose Registration had already commenced, be converted to a National Policy Congress. As it was too late in the day for this, the Shilowa group correctly, and democratically, said that they would make a Proposal to the delegates at the floor, to see if they would accept and accede to Lekota's request. The members rejected the proposal outright, prompting Lekota and Dexter, the Head of Communications, to abandon the venue and head to Court for an Interdict to prevent the Leadership Elections taking place. The members at Congress were so upset by this refusal to accept their decision they even went as far as to propose, second and adopt a Vote of No Confidence in Lekota and Dexter.
For some peculiar reason, not understood by many of us, they were successful in their attempts, not just to halt the democratic elections on the basis of the mere agreement of the CNC to allow the members the right to accept Lekota's Proposal, but the Court also over rode the democratic right of the members to remove from Office the President and the Head of Communication. This decision was appealed but the Appeal was heard so late in the day after the date of the second Congress had been declared that the Judges held the matter to be moot.
The NCPC, although under George's Chair, was to be conveyed on Notice by the Acting General Secretary, Deirdre Carter, a Lekota sympathiser. The schedule of meetings was continually being interrupted by Carter postponing them on spurious grounds. On one occasion, upon being challenged why the meeting was again cancelled, she said that the President had not given a reason, showing clearly Lekota's complicity in the matter. When the postponed date came around she was back postponing again, this time claiming that the meeting would not quorate. George by this point understood Carter's game plan and contacted the NCPC members to double check. Almost every member was available to meet, so he convened the meeting and they worked hard to regain lost time which resulted in George being threatened with suspension. The executive body of COPE between Congresses, the CNC, rejected this recommendation by CWC where Lekota's sympathisers are in a majority.
At the same time as preparatory and CNC meetings were being cancelled with unconstitutional decisions being taken in the frequently called CWC meetings, backroom proposals were emerging from the Lekota camp in attempt to circumvent the democratic process. A document was deliberately leaked to the Shilowa camp making the ludicrous proposal designed merely to protect Lekota sympathisers' positions. It stated that the interim leadership's tenure be extended from the two years mandated by Bloemfontein until some time in 2014. This extended mandate was to be headed by Lekota for the first two years with Shilowa taking over for the remainder. The membership, and the Shilowa group in particular, laughed off the proposal, and the Lekota faction, quick to do damage control, circulated rumours that the document was a fake.
Merely a few weeks later, in a CWC meeting, a new proposal was presented by Lyndall Shope-Molefe that Cope split down the middle with Lekota going some provinces, and the COPE name, whilst Shilowa was free to walk away with others to start a new party. The nerve of it! The Provinces Shilowa was to be "given" comprise the vast bulk of COPE membership, yet Lekota was openly backing a proposal where he took a tiny proportion of the COPE membership and yet took all the Parliamentarians, the name, the infrastructure, etc.
Again, this ridiculous proposal was rejected outright with Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng issuing statements condemning it, and calling for a unified party. This time the damage control had to be a little more extensive than just passing the proposal off as a joke. Dexter issued a statement which initially denied Lyndall had made the proposal, but when he realised that she had confirmed it to journalists personally he changed tact and he went on radio and television claiming that the proposal had initially been made by Shilowa himself at the Eastern Cape Provincial Congress! This lie did not run very far before COPE members who had been at the rally produced video footage showing that Shilowa's speech had done nothing of the kind, that in fact he had stressed the need for unity above all else.
As the agreed date of 15-16 December 2010 for Congress drew nearer the CNC meetings were again postponed, even the final one before the National Congress was due to start was delayed by Lekota until 10 pm on Tuesday 15th of December because he did not want any of the CWC decisions challenged. Remember, the CNC were the entity empowered to call and hold a National Congress, yet the Acting General Secretary and the President would not convene any meetings. Coupled with the interference with the NCPC meetings and attempts to organise things, this meant that virtually every decision made in relation to congress was one which favoured the Lekota sympathisers in the CWC.
A week before Congress was due to be held, the Acting General Secretary issued a Notice on the Congress Venue, announced a delegates fee starting at R400, and declared a centralised registration process which circumvented the Provincial Secretaries (who are members of the CNC, CWC and NCPC and should be involved in an extensive way with Congress administration and organisation given that COPE Head Office has few staff). The issuing of this Notice so late in the day was ludicrous.
As COPE has a large number of supporters who are elderly and youths, they are not groups who have at their disposal large amounts of cash. The delegate's fee announced without warning, with a CNC meeting deliberately postponed until after the close of delegates registration so it could not be over ridden, the hope was to exclude many of the rural branches on the grounds of cost alone. The centralisation of the delegates' registration also caused chaos at the Congress, but this was effectively and comprehensively tackled in a statement by members of the delegate accreditation committee in an article entitled "How Lekota tried to steal the elective congress."
In the media, the COPE situation is played as two competing monster egos. Truth be told, this is about Lekota's bullying, machinations or slander and so deprive the membership of its legitimate right to elect whoever they wanted to lead them. He has frustrated COPE members of their democratic right, and inevitably to mature the democratic processes of the party and consequently mature the political scene of South Africa and Africa in general.
As COPE membership we reject any notion of a continuation of a self-appointing leadership, especially one that wants to be in position permanently. Lekota had outlived his mandate, this is why we took him out. But just as he did in St Georges, when he could not guarantee his success he again chose to abandon the Congress. This time, though, his bullying was clear for all to see even having physically assaulted Shilowa and his anti democratic tendencies had arranged it so that he opened Congress whilst one of his key allies, Thozamile Botha, had stalled the delegate registration sufficiently so that the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and the Free State delegates were not in the hall.
He then ironically condemns the Congress on the grounds of hooligan behaviour and called his followers to leave for another venue. A Press Release was even available by this point asking his followers and the Press to reconvene at the Pretoria Show Grounds, where he and a few hundred of mainly non-voting delegates interrupted another Conference in progress, a clear indication that he was panicking and had realised he had to leave Heartfelt in a hurry before the Congress began and the Provincial Leaders took interim control of COPE.
Fleeing from the Show Grounds he met again with these "delegates" and tried to reconvene his Congress, but when "delegates" from Limpopo proposed Sello Moloto as a Presidential contender, he collapsed the meeting and headed for COPE Head Office to declare himself the President. Until now, the former Acting General Secretary has been trying to convene a meeting of the outgoing CNC members but she has not received support for this. Clearly, this man is not about the people, but only cares for himself and his position. The Congress of the People cannot be held to ransom forever by his dictatorial practiced and power mongering.
At the same time Lekota and some of the outgoing CNC members abandoned Heartfelt, the rest of us remained at the official congress venue and continued with our tasks. The Registration went ahead far more speedily now that Botha left and a register of all the delegates was taken. The delegates, now ejected from the Hall on the orders of Lekota to the Pastor of the venue, who is a close ally of Hennie Kesler, a key Lekota funder, stood on the balcony of the venue and adopted a new Comprehensive Constitution and elected unopposed a new CNC Leadership from the names nominated by Branches.
I was proud of my fellow COPE members that day. What they had endured was almost intolerable. After three days of the most awful hardship their rights were being blocked by an egotistical man and his selfish followers. But they renewed my hope in our inherent sense of democracy. They insisted their voice was heard. And it is my my honest belief that South Africans, though disappointed by what they saw of the COPE inaugural elective Congress for the time being, will one day thank the party for demanding that political leaders respect and honour the fundamental essentials of democracy.
Yengwayo Kuta, member of the Congress of the People in the Western Cape.
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