COPE TO ASK COURT TO PERMANENTLY RESOLVE THE LEADERSHIP DISPUTE

Subsequent to the interim court interdict granted to former party president Mosiuoa Lekota's loyalist, Thozamile Botha MP, against COPE president Mr Mbhazima Shilowa on Friday, COPE CNC resolved to ask the court to resolve the leadership dispute once and for all.

The CNC, the highest decision making body of COPE between congresses, held its second meeting of 2011 in Cape Town and resolved to throw its weight behind Shilowa and challenge the interim ruling. This will also assist parliament and the IEC to reach final determination about real leaders of the organisation. 

Held amidst dramatic developments subsequent to the interim ruling of the South Gauteng High Court which effectively barred party president from attending the CNC and carrying out his duties as the leader of our movement for a month, the meetings was baffled by the interim order as it tiptoed around the real issues - which are Lekota sponsored confusion of dualism and parallelism.

In the middle of the night of Thursday 10 February the president received 206 pages of court papers, through e-mail, notifying him that Thozamile Botha MP, who purported to be acting on party instructions, sought urgent interdict to against Mr Shilowa to:

• Refrain from carrying out his duties as party president and as a member COPE;
• Order the president not to go to parliament to exercise his duties as an MP and a public representative;
• Restrained from withhold access to the head Office
• Restrained him from interacting with the party bankers.

Botha, and many other parliamentarians who support Lekota, have sought to mislead the members of COPE and the public at large by insisting that they were the authentic leaders of the party in defiance of the organisation. He has deliberately misled the court under oath and in an effort to get an interim interdict aimed at creating a disingenuous side show in an attempt to divert the leadership of the organisation from ending the confusion of parallel structures and dual leadership.

Under the instructions of Lekota, he sought the order in a mistaken belief that COPE in parliament is a separate structure from the organisation and therefore those who hold leadership positions there will dig in their heels and purge those who do not endorse Lekota's defiance of the party.

For the past two years the organisation has been embroiled in a protracted political battle which has led to the current unparalleled confusion and depletion of our movement. Since July last year, Lekota has removed his opponents from parliamentary leadership positions and dispense more patronage to his loyalists by unilaterally installing them in leadership position.

Whilst we believe the court erred in granting the interim order under the circumstances, we welcome the ruling that president could file a challenge of the interim order within 24 hours notice to the applicant. 

Consequently, the CNC has vowed to defend the organisation and its president and has subsequently instructed its legal team to challenge Botha's bona fides and the interim order forthwith.  We have also instructed our attorneys to inform parliament and the IEC of our intention to challenge the interim order and Lekota's false utterances that the president has been removed by court.

This means, therefore, as the matter is not finalised the rules parliament will apply and Lekota will be restrained from interfering with the president's parliamentary position until finalisation. The interim interdict has sought to purport those who singled out our president from the organisation, as the real leaders of the organisation. The nation has been swimming in a sea of deliberate confusion fuelled by those who abandoned the Heartfelt since December.

Those who reject the internal democratic processes and the will of the overwhelming as reflected at the congress in December, have pour scorn on our belief in the unity of the organisation and the courtesy that we have extended to them.

The CNC has therefore resolved the following:

• In defence of the president and the organisation, the CNWC to seek for such ancillary relief as may be considered necessary to ensure that the court order finally resolves the factional fighting over control of COPE in favour of Mr. Shilowa and the majority of office-bearers who support his leadership.
• To appoint the party president as its leader in parliament in line with party constitution and the resolution of congress - and re-engineer and beef-up our team in parliament.
• To appoint Mluleki George as its Chief Whip in the National Assembly
• To give moral, political and material support to our president as we forge ahead in defence of the organisation and eliminate dualism.
• To suspend, following the report on the investigation of the office of the general secretary, with immediate effect: Mr. Patrick Gerhard Lekota; Ms. Hilda Ndude; Mr. Phillip Dexter; Mr. Thozamile Botha; Ms. Deidre Carter; Mr. Smuts Ngonyama; Ms. Lyndall Shope-Mafole; Mr. Leonard Ramatlakane Mr. Kalipa Ndzipho and Ms. Julie Killian.
• The office of the general secretary liaises with the relevant disciplinary team and formulates charges, conditions of the suspensions and institute disciplinary proceedings with immediate effect. These members should be informed of their suspensions through letters as urgent as possible.

Statement issued by Sipho Ngwema, Head of Communications and party spokesperson, on behalf of COPE (S), February 14 2011 

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter