Lekota slams the Zuma ANC

So now we have a 'Zuma ANC' and a 'Mbeki ANC'.

If this isn't confirmation that the split in the ANC is a fait accompli then I don't know what is.

I predicted this split a long time ago - when Mbeki fired Zuma in 2005 - that it would result in the fragile Zulu/Xhosa alliance falling apart. Without the common enemy of whitey, the animosity that always existed between the two major tribes would come to the fore and it has come apart and contrary to what people may think, this is great news! I'll tell you why.

1. Our democracy has been operating as a one-party state for almost 15 years. We have seen the consequences of one party rule in Africa and in our own country.

2. A second strong party brings balance and options. If people know they can be voted out then they will try and perform. The ANC has been arrogant in its demeanour towards the electorate. The people cry out for service and are met with scorn. That won't happen if there is strong opposition.

3. A party with the large majority the ANC enjoys has a blank cheque to do whatever it wants. We've seen it in action. The ANC has changed the constitution at least 13 times and there was nobody to stop them. Ditto the Scorpions. That will no longer be the case.

4. This split brings more verve and energy to political discourse. There isn't one Big Brother telling everyone else what to do, decisions will need consensus.

5. Coalitions/ alliances may need to be formed which brings the ideas of small parties to the fore - and that is good. Everyone has ideas and coalitions allow for the opportunity of fresh ideas to be tested.

6. A changing of the guard sweeps clean. Democracies in the West work because there is regular changing of governments. A politician's career should be uncertain, that way he/she fights to keep his/her job. There should be no job for life in politics.

I'm sure there are plenty of other good reasons so these are hopeful days - if the split does indeed happen.

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NEC member Jeff Radebe describes complaints as "last kicks of a dying horse".

Former Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has accused the ANC leadership of driving the party away from its political cultures and practices, the SABC reported.

Addressing the media in Pretoria, Lekota presented a strongly worded statement to ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe. "I want them to say in unadulterated fashion, whether this is the route they are pursuing deliberately, or whether perhaps they are not aware of it," Lekota said.

He said the current leadership within the ANC had taken a direct and unadulterated departure from the Freedom Charter. He also blamed the leadership under Jacob Zuma, as being removed from policies and customs enshrined in the Freedom Charter.

"This is a personal open letter to the Secretary General and of course, through him to the leadership of our organisation... If I do not find satisfaction in the response to this, if there is no proper address for this, I reserve the right to decide what I'm going to do with myself."

Lekota also raised his concerns over what he called ''high levels of intolerance in the ANC''.

In his letter Lekota wrote that the "unusual situation that has now arisen in the African National Congress and the tripartite alliance requires extraordinary steps".

"I wish to place on record the concerns I see as gnawing away at the ANC with the hope that the leadership might wake up to the dangers our movement faces."

Lekota wrote that he joined the ANC attracted by its policies, political culture, values, history and its commitment to the interests of the country's people - black and white - and was still as fervently committed to this cause as he was then.

"However, for some time now, I have lived with a growing sense that our leadership has veered the organisation away from the established policy priorities and customary democratic norms of the ANC."

Lekota claimed that those who expressed views contrary to popular opinion were later "hounded out" and "purged" from organisational and state structures, contrary to the ANC's democratic culture.

"Sectoral and individual interests other than those flowing from the people's interests as expressed in the Freedom Charter are elevated to levels of national priority.

"This, we are expected to show up at criminal court cases or carry shoulder-high individuals convicted of crimes unrelated to the demands in the Freedom Charter."

Lekota said that instead of instilling respect for institutions of democracy, ANC leaders issue threats that if judicial proceedings did not result in "outcomes they prefer", the country would be brought to a standstill.

"Lately, the leadership has taken a direct and unadulterated departure from the Freedom Charter by calling for a political solution in the matter of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions vs the President of the ANC.

"What happened to the Freedom Charter's promise that 'There shall be equality before the law?' Or are we not to have political solutions to every citizen's criminal case?" he asked.

Blatant threats to kill for certain individuals -- if desires other than their own are not satisfied -- were made with impunity.

"When democracy-supporting institutions intervene to stop such delinquent behaviour more of our leaders come out in loud support for threats to kill."

The list of these "excesses" and the "arrogance" which accompanied them grew by the day, Lekota said.

"What resistance is put up by some in the ranks of members and leaders is harshly suppressed into tame acquiescence."

He appealed to the ANC to reply to his concerns openly and frankly "so that everyone can be assured that the deduction that I and many other comrades have made, that the organisation is no longer pursuing the original policies of the ANC, is incorrect".

Lekota said that if his concerns were not addressed to his satisfaction, he reserved the right "to decide what I'm going to do with myself".

In reply the ANC national executive committee stated that members' criticism of the party amounted to notice of their resignation, "Put bluntly, you and those who share your views are giving notice to leave the ANC," Transport Minister Jeff Radebe, a member of the NEC, wrote in a reply to Lekota's letter.

"For the record, the ANC is a voluntary association of individuals who believe in it, and who [are] free to leave as and when they cease to do so," Radebe said.

"History is full of examples of such individuals. In the majority of cases, these were leaders who had grown too big for the ANC.

"These people could no longer subject themselves to the discipline of the organisation. As such they either had to leave voluntarily or be expelled.

"We hope we have not reached that stage in your case," Radebe wrote.

Mandated to respond by Mantashe, Radebe expressed "sadness" that Lekota had chosen to communicate through the media, especially as he was well versed in the movement's policies and traditions.

He noted that Lekota said in his letter that the present state of affairs left him and "many other comrades" with a clear sense that their membership of the ANC was "an endorsement of practices that are dangerous to the democracy that many people in our country struggled to bring into being".

In replying, Radebe reminded Lekota of the many comrades he had refused permission to speak in the NEC, "abusing your position as chair, simply because you disagreed with them".

"Insofar as conducting meetings, the NEC, was reduced to an animal farm, where those who shared your views had a field day whilst the rest banished to the twilight.

"The unlucky ones were subject to your verbal assaults, privately and publicly."

Radebe wrote that Lekota had presided over a "disrespectful discourse, which insulted former president Nelson Mandela. "... We challenge you to deny the fact that you did so".

"Your individual and sectoral interests prevailed upon you to officiate over such unwarranted attack upon an old man who thought of you as his own son.

"As a brotherly advice we suggest you visit Madiba and apologise.

"Your behaviour and public utterances prior to the Polokwane conference were, to say the least, un-ANC."

Referring to the high court ruling which found the prosecution of Zuma invalid, Radebe said: "We hope that all of us will respect all institutions that serve our country without fear or favour".

To Lekota and "all your cronies", the ANC said that what they were trying to demonstrate to the country was "nothing, but the last kicks of a dying horse".

"Remember that the ANC as an institution will stay forever while individuals like yourselves will go."

Radebe assure ANC members and the country at large that the ANC had not deviated from its policies.