/ 26 November 2008

Cope apologises to Zuma

The Congress of the People on Tuesday apologised unconditionally to ANC president Jacob Zuma for remarks made by two of its leaders at a public meeting in Mthatha on Friday.

The reported remarks by Cope youth leader Anele Mda and another Cope leader Willie Madisha was discussed at the party leadership’s weekly meeting on Monday, Cope said in a statement.

”Cope subscribes, without any reservation, to the principle of the independence of the judiciary and respects its findings. Therefore the remarks by Ms Mda and Mr Madisha are withdrawn unconditionally and a full apology is extended to the president of the ANC and his party,” Cope said.

Mda reportedly called Zuma ”a rapist” and said if the ANC was re-elected into government under ”President Zuma”, ”rape would no longer be a criminal offence”.

At the same meeting, Madisha reportedly called Zuma ”SA’s Stalin”.

The ANC accepted the apology, but called on Mosiuoa Lekota and Barney Pityana to ”stop insinuations that cast aspersions on ANC president Jacob Zuma.

”We appreciate that [Cope leader Mbhazima] Shilowa has made a public apology to the ANC on the derogatory and defamatory statements made by Mda and Madisha. The ANC maintains that hate speech cannot be allowed to be disguised as free speech, which is protected in our Constitution,” said party spokesperson Jessie Duarte said in a statement.

Duarte also said the party would be pressing charges.

In its statement on Tuesday, Cope also rejected media reports of alleged leadership tensions within the party.

A report in a Sunday newspaper to the effect that there were tensions between Shilowa, Lekota and Mluleki George ”is baseless and is devoid of any truth”.

”For the record, there are no camps or factions within Cope. The leadership of Cope is committed to working as a team in order to build a strong organisation.

”To that extent, the finalisation of leadership is a task of our national conference,” it said.

The party is due to hold its inaugural conference from December 13 to 16 in Bloemfontein.

”We remain of the view that the inaugural conference will give all South Africans an opportunity to help build a new inclusive organisation and shape their own future.

”We are now finalising the allocation of delegates to provinces, the congress of the youth, the congress of women, sectors and stakeholders, and local and international guests.”

On building the organisation, Cope said the steering committee was encouraged by the work being done on the ground.

”The party continues to grow and we believe that our central message of hope and that ‘Cope is a party of the future and a home for all South Africans’ seems to resonate with the broader public”.

Another defection
Another senior KwaZulu-Natal ANC member resigned on Tuesday and defected to Cope.

Sibongile Salenje, chairperson of the ANC Women’s League and KwaZulu-Natal branch secretary tendered her resignation on Tuesday and said her decision was the correct one.

Salenje said: ”I resigned because I was pushed aside for exposing the corrupt practices of the ANC leadership and was being straight forward”.

Six other ANC members in the North West have quit the party to join Cope. – Sapa