Pretoria - With less than four months before the local government elections, South Africans could soon welcome two new breakaway political parties.
While embattled former Inkatha Freedom Party chairman Zanele Magwaza-Msibi has already announced the formation of her break away party, the Congress of the People (COPE) on the other hand could not deny nor confirm reports on Wednesday of an imminent split in the party.
COPE's split has been rumoured for weeks since its deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa declared himself the party's president following a controversial conference in Centurion last month.
On the other hand, the party's founder Mosioua Lekota has insisted that he is still the legitimate leader of COPE. Relations between the two plummeted after Lekota accused Shilowa of mismanaging the party's parliamentary funds.
"Our interpretation is that Shilowa has split from the party but there's nothing absolutely concrete from our side," said spokesperson Philip Dexter.
He went on to say that Shilowa had been suspended from COPE after calling meetings without consulting the party. "We condemned him and we served him with a suspension so he is no longer considered to be playing any role in COPE," said Dexter, who is widely known to be aligned to Lekota.
Last week, Lekota was locked out of COPE's headquarters in Johannesburg after it emerged that Shilowa had hired bodyguards to keep the former's supporters at bay.
Shilowa's spokesperson Sipho Ngwema on Wednesday promised to respond to BuaNews' questions but had not done so at the time of publication.
Magwaza-Msibi's National Freedom Party (NFP) was formed after weeks of mudslinging between her and the IFP. Political analysts have said the party may find it difficult to maintain support after the election, a phenomenon which was also witnessed in COPE.
Reacting to the announcement on Tuesday, IFP President Mangosuthu Buthelezi described the formation of the NFP as a "betrayal" to his party.
"This political matter has different facets. First and foremost, it highlights once more how South African politics is moving away from values and ideas, and from the methodology which inspired leaders such as Inkosi Albert Luthuli, Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and myself ... the spilt in the IFP is not about policies and values, but about personal ambition," Buthelezi said.
The IFP had been tried and tested over many decades of struggle against apartheid and confrontations with the ANC, he said, adding that his party cannot be bought, bent or swayed.
