MBOMBELA – A dark cloud has lifted from the Congress of the People (COPE) after
the High Court in Johannesburg ruled on Friday that Mr Mosiua Lekota was the
rightful leader of the party.
The effects of this ruling might have a chain
reaction as it can cause others to be removed from their positions with
immediate effect since there will be changes within the party. There were two
camps, namely that of Lekota and that of Mbazima Shilowa who lost in court last week.
In Mpumalanga province, since it’s been discovered that there were
factions, it is alleged that the current COPE representative in the provincial
legislature, Ms Zali Madonsela, is expected to step down and be replaced by Mr Sizile Ndlovu, the party’s current provincial secretary.
Speaking to Mpumalanga News, Ndlovu said he was over the moon that the court case had come to an end. “We are happy that this matter has been concluded and we are more than ready to work hard as the general elections are around the corner.
After the whole drama, a decision was taken at national level that in this province it
had been agreed that the party would operate under my instructions only.”
Asked by this reporter about the way forward regarding issues of the
legislature he said,
“Well, since the court ruling on Friday clarified things, I
was expecting Madonsela to leave the office since she was not part of the party
and had been expelled a long time ago, but she refused to leave the legislature
although I have to represent the party in the provincial legislature. We don’t
have time to play games,” said Ndlovu.
He said since as there were factions within, it was very difficult for them to operate as they didn’t have access to the funds of the party.
“Even though things were very tough, we have managed to survive by using money from our own pockets. Today we are freezing the account of COPE until everything is settled so that those people will not have access to the money and misuse it.
“As in the province, Madonsela had all the resources, but failed to build the party as she didn’t even manage to establish branches,a huge embarrassment to someone who called herself a leader,” explained Ndlovu.
The provincial head of communication of the party, Ms Lolo Madonsela, said they had not received any instruction that Ndlovu should move in.
“So far, we haven’t received anything that says Mr Ndlovu must move into the office, but we welcome the court ruling although it didn’t go the way we had hoped.
We thought that the ruling would allow for an inclusive congress where branches
could select their own leaders and we are hoping that some of the leadership
elected in Bloemfontein, will continue to serve under Lekota because the court
ruled that they had to be reinstated,” she said.
The leadership battle started when Lekota expelled Shilowa from the party after an internal disciplinary hearing had found him guilty of mismanaging the party’s
parliamentary funds.
Last year the High Court in Pretoria struck an application by a COPE faction – aligned to Shilowa – to stop disciplinary hearings against COPE members, from the roll.
In 2011, Lekota obtained an interim court order recognising him as president of the party and restraining Shilowa from claiming the title of party leader.
