'Coincidental' ANC rally to clash with new party launch

A mass gathering to provide feedback to African National Congress members in the Free State is planned for December 16 in Bloemfontein, the party said on Tuesday.

This would coincide with the December 16 launch in Bloemfontein of the new political party headed by Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa.

Free State ANC provincial secretary Sibongile Besane said a provincial programme, called Operation Maslohata, was launched in Welkom on September 6 and the new provincial executive committee (PEC) would provide feedback on December 16.

“Attached to that programme, we adopted a 100-day programme of the newly elected PEC of the ANC in the Free State. So, we will be closing that 100 days on the 16th of December.”

Speaking to journalists in Bloemfontein, Besane said the meeting would be held at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Rocklands, Bloemfontein.

Besane said he was aware the rally would coincide with the launch of the new political party.

“Now, I know it coincides with the launching of Sadec or convention, it was not a deliberate decision that was taken but coincidental, the 16th of December.”

Besane said the meeting was not intended to intimidate ANC dissidents.

“We have our own programme of action and we are going to stick to it, so we will be closing operation Maslohata on that day,” he said.

Besane said Operation Maslohata was a programme which involved ANC branches conducting door-to-door visits, with an eye on the election set for April 2009.

He said the meeting on December 16 would be to inform the rank-and-file of the ANC “how far we have gone implementing it [Maslohata]”.

Besane said they wanted ANC members to fill the stadium on that day.