Statement by the National Office Bearers of the Congress of the People, of 25^th October 2010

The National Office Bearers of the Congress of the People met today in an extra-ordinary meeting. The meeting took a number of decisions that will be summarized below, but before that, some general points need to be outlined.

Since the formation of COPE, there has been a consistent and increasingly aggressive attempt by certain individuals within the party to impose on it values, principles and practices that are the antithesis of what the party stands for. COPE was formed to, among other things;

• Defend the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa from those forces that seek to undermine it,

• Build a credible political alternative that will lead the masses of the country to build on the gains made by the now degenerate national liberation movement-among these are the priorities of addressing poverty, unemployment, education, healthcare, basic services, enterprise development and other important challenges,

• Reform the electoral system of the country to ensure that public representatives, especially Mayors, Premiers and the President, are elected directly by citizens,

• Fight and root out corruption in our society.

In the course of the formation of the party, the leadership of the party charged with setting up structures by the Bloemfontein Congress has had to deal with attempts to rig branch membership, impose leaders on regions and provinces and even an attempt to turn a national policy congress into a rigged elective congress. It is now increasingly clear that some of the resources of the party have been misused to promote this factional agenda in the party.

The NOBs deliberated on these issues. Noting that;

• To date the National Organiser has failed to put in place a credible membership system that can provide an up to date record of paid up members of the party,

• Certain of the provinces and the Women's and Youth chapters have made little, if any, progress in setting up structures in Voting Districts, regions and provinces and while steps have been taken by the NOBs to correct this situation, these have not been completed as of yet,

• The unauthorized debts incurred in the name of the party still stand as a liability on the books of the party, making the holding of any Elective Congress a difficult challenge. Claims that some money has been raised, for example to pay for a venue in Thabanchu, have not been reported to any structure of the party and no money has been received for such,

• The Deputy President of the party, Mr. Mbhazima Shilowa, Mr. George and other leaders of the organization continue to make false, misleading and unmandated statements to the press and media. In particular;

It has been stated that the May Policy Congress will "reconvene" as an elective Congress, that the CNC decided that only some branches would be audited before the Congress when in fact it decided that ALL branches must be re-audited, that the venue for the Congress was decided upon by the CNC as Thabanchu when in fact it was decided upon as Gauteng, audits of branches, regions and provinces are not completed. If the venue has been paid for it has been done outside of COPE policies and procedures. The Policy Congress in any case had no status to accept nominations or adopt a Constitution.

Bearing this background and the specific actions of these individuals in mind, the NOBs took the following decisions;

• Recommend to the CNC that Congress be postponed to the 15^th December 2010,

• Recommend to the CNC that whatever meeting is convening in Thabanchu is not a COPE meeting and has no powers to elect any leadership or adopt any resolutions on behalf of the party,

• Recommend to the CNC that the Deputy President of the organization, Mr. Mbhazima Shilowa, be suspended from the party and face a disciplinary hearing for bringing the party into disrepute for the recent public statements that he has made,

• Recommend to the CNC that the National Organiser of the organization, Mr. Mluleki George, be suspended from the party and face a disciplinary hearing for bringing the party into disrepute for the recent public statements that he has made,

• Recommend to the CNC that the former Administrative Whip of the party in the National Assembly, Ms Lolo Mashiane, be suspended from the party and face a disciplinary hearing for refusing to cooperate with the forensic audit being undertaken into the Parliamentary funds of the party,

During the course of the meeting, information was received of a statement issued by a meeting of people claiming to be representatives of provinces, the youth and women's chapters, held at COPE House at 2pm. This meeting is not a structure of the party. The National Office Bearers have referred the matter to the CNC.

Statement issued by Phillip Dexter, COPE head of communications, October 26 2010

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter