A national convention which could lead to the launch of a new opposition party will be held in November, former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Wednesday.
Throwing his weight behind former ANC chairman Mosiuoa Lekota’s call for such a convention, Shilowa, who resigned from the party on Tuesday night, said he would be the convenor of the convention to be held on November 2.
“After much soul-searching and interrogation of the aims and objectives of the national convention and the possible outcome thereof, I have decided to resign my membership of the ANC with immediate effect and to lend my support to the initiative by making myself available on a full time basis as the convenor and volunteer in chief together with comrade Mosiuoa and others,” he said at a press conference in Johannesburg.
He said he expected to be vilified for his decision. Shilowa resigned after former President Thabo Mbeki was recalled by the ANC in what Shilowa described as a “putsch”. He would first help establish a preparatory committee comprised of “prominent individuals”.
They plan to tour the country to ask sectors of society what can be done to “defend democracy”. He encouraged people to bring their views to the convention. “This includes those who believe that the convention should also pronounce a platform for a new political party,” he said.
Discussions would also include electoral reform to directly elect a president, instead of the national president being elected by the party. He said now that he had resigned from the ANC he could find an office and open a banking account for the convention. If a party was formed, it would be “a hard slog” opening branches and forming party lists.
