S. Africa dissidents gather to plan their split

Johannesburg, South Africa —  It had all the oomph of a gathering of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress: the haunting political songs, the swaying dancers leaping into the aisles, the cries for power: “Amandla!” All that was missing was ANC President Jacob Zuma and his campaign song, “Bring Me My Machine Gun.”

Thousands came from all over South Africa on Saturday for a national convention of ANC dissidents, marking a political shift that poses the biggest threat to the party’s dominance since it came to power in the first post-apartheid election in 1994.

About 5,000 delegates, most of them former ANC members, packed the hall here in a mass repudiation of Zuma and his allies, who took over the party nearly a year ago. The dissidents, incensed over the recent ousting of South African President Thabo Mbeki, were expected to announce today that they will form a breakaway political party in December.

An emerging coalition of South Africa’s many opposition parties could prove a serious challenge to the ANC. In the packed hall, the leaders of all the main opposition parties spoke in support of the dissident convention, to jubilant cheers.

“When we look back on this day with the hindsight of history, this convention could be a turning point in our democracy,” Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said as the crowd shouted, “Zille! Zille!”

“Coalitions can work. They build bridges. They take us into the future. They don’t trap us in the past,” she said.

Patricia de Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats, said the convention marked the breaking of the ANC’s political dominance.

“The once-proud liberation movement has lost its way. The values, the visions and the ideals of the struggle have been forgotten,” she said.

The ANC’s dirty linen has come tumbling out with the split: Convention delegates complained that after the Zuma camp took over the ANC, everyone else was shut out.

“If you’re not a member of the Zuma camp and you say something against them, they’ll chase you away,” said Lulamile Ndala, 44, of Eastern Cape province. He said the Zuma camp wanted to control every position in the party, from the presidency right down to leaders of residents’ organizations.

“They are chasing us out. They call us traitors. That’s not democracy. That’s not what we were fighting for,” said Phuthuma Kahlana, 25, also from the Eastern Cape.

Dumila Mateza, a consultant from Johannesburg who has always voted ANC, said he was disillusioned by what he saw as the party’s arrogance. He said the ANC was starting to resemble Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, which has dominated Zimbabwe for 28 years.

“If you don’t respect your institutions, then surely we are going down the ZANU-fication route,” he said. “The noises are very clear from that the ANC is becoming a ZANU-PF.”

Convention speaker N. Barney Pityana, vice chancellor of the University of South Africa, said the new ANC leaders were in politics for material gain, while the party tried to protect a leader accused of corruption and fraud -- a reference to unresolved charges hanging over Zuma.

“There’s a desperate need for a quality of leadership that has a moral consciousness,” Pityana said. “Today, this whole country is being held to ransom by people who no longer believe in virtue in politics.”

The level of support for the dissidents has shaken the ANC leadership and tainted Zuma’s term as party president. Zuma’s biggest liability appears to be one of his key allies, ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, who has declared that his movement would “kill for Zuma” and vowed to crush any breakaway movement. Speaker after speaker at the convention condemned Malema.

Zuma, campaigning in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, described those at the convention as “poisonous snakes,” the South African Press Assn. reported.

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robyn.dixon@latimes.com