COPE: It's about policies, people and leaders who serve, not a runaway train!

This weekend saw something that has never happened before in South African politics. The Deputy President of the Congress of the People (COPE), Mbhazima Shilowa, openly started an election campaign to become the next President of the Congress of the People. Dubbed as ‘the Shilowa Express', the main theme of the campaign is that people should support him, personally.

Even though this public campaign makes thing more open and transparent, there are a few dangers related to this particular style of campaign that members of COPE and the broader public should be wary of. The first is that we should at all times try avoid a situation whereby people are elected by how much noise they can make, how much money they can hand out or how many parties they can throw. True leadership should be chosen based on their experience, values, principles and vision for the future. As citizens of South Africa and members of COPE, as ordinary people, we should demand to know these attributes, so that the PEOPLE can make an informed decision on who should be their leaders. COPE has taken a decision not to allow T-shirts with leaders faces on them. How much more 'cult of the personality' like is the 'Shilowa Express'?

COPE members have a responsibility to hold their leaders accountable and demand to know what different ideas their leaders have on policy, principles and procedures. Every member should be free to speak out, be critical and demand leadership that is not corrupt or in it for their personal enrichment. The contest of ideas must be encouraged. 

As a new party COPE has faced some challenges and made some mistakes. One of the challenges was that its initial leadership was chosen through broad consensus, not by a due democratic process of going through branches and elective conferences. Naturally, some members who were not happy with the leadership that was chosen or the position they were given. Having learned from a previous political life to deal with failed ambitions by forming a faction and calling for an election of new leadership as soon as possible, that's exactly what these unhappy souls did.

This ‘coalition of the wounded' has openly campaigned to remove some of the current leadership by making unfounded allegations, using disrespectful language and even by fabricating stories about some of them.  Along these lines, President Lekota has been criticized on his stance on BEE, even though he never said we should not redress the injustices of the past. He has been called a dictator and a thug, even though he has allowed debate and criticism in the party, particularly of himself.

There have been no negative consequences for those who made these comments. Many of the provincial leaders who are on board the ‘Shilowa Express' have been at the forefront of suspending members who disagree with them and at running congresses that are dubious in the make-up, to say the least. There are those who have even alleged, falsely, that the President of COPE had 36,000 membership forms removed from the party HQ!

Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and many other members of COPE have made invaluable contributions to the new party. But COPE is not owned by any one leader or a group of leaders. Like all leaders, the two of them have their strengths and weaknesses. Some valid criticisms of President Lekota mentioned are that under his leadership the party has been divided, it has failed to put in place proper membership and finance systems, it has had various acts of ill-discipline go unchallenged and it has not articulated its stance on all issues very clearly.

But these same criticisms can be levelled at the Deputy President and other senior leaders of the party. Deputy President Shilowa has been criticised for indecisiveness, a tendency to elitism and of favouring particular individuals in the party who are loyal to him. How then can the Deputy President arrogate to himself the role of saviour of the party? The party can only be saved by its collective leadership.

In his election campaign statements made in the City Press and the Sunday Times, Mbhazima Shilowa has given a critique of our country and of COPE. What is striking about this critique is that it is no member of COPE would disagree with the issues he raises, least of all President Lekota. What's more, none of what he says is new. Deputy President Shilowa has not once articulated a vision for the future that sets out anything different from current COPE policies as an alternative. Because of these factors and because of the 'Shilowa Express', the party runs the danger of a leadership contest being about personalities only.

In truth, these events have reduced the COPE elective Congress to being about two principles; democracy and fairness or justice. Currently within COPE there is a commitment to democracy and against corruption by the majority of its members. If the contest for the presidency of COPE will be won by the forces that factionalise and throw false allegations, this will be a thing of the past.

Instead, the party will be one that mirrors the corrupt national liberation movement, where factionalism, vote-rigging, money and crude force determine the outcomes of elective congresses. Equally, these forces will insist on a regime in which it is only legitimate to speak if it is in the favour of one view, theirs. COPE members therefore have a very important choice to make that may well determine the direction our country is taking.

COPE was formed to take our country out of the culture of accumulation of wealth and material entitlement, where politicians are mainly ‘tenderpreneurs'. COPE was formed to defend democracy and to protect our hard one freedom. It can only do this if it has a leadership collective who ‘tell no lies and claim no easy victories' and who ‘speak truth to power'.

The COPE elective Congress is therefore not about this or that leader. It is about the values and principles that the organisation stands for. We as members of COPE must articulate these values and principles, but we must also live them in practice. Therefore, when we choose our leaders we must do so based on whether they have lived those principles and values. Nothing about the ‘Shilowa Express' gives comfort that it can be that collective leadership. Instead, it is a tendency that has factionalised the party. COPE members must reject the ‘Shilowa Express'. It runs on one track, does not stick to its timetable, passes key stations of democracy, transparency and accountability and most importantly, threatens to derail the party.

Phillip Dexter, MP, is the Head of Communication for the Congress of the People. He writes in his personal capacity.

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