afrol News, 3 November - South African ruling African National Congress president, Jacob Zuma, has questioned the motive to party's faction.

Addressing thousands of ANC supporters in Soweto, Mr Zuma accused supporters who left ruling party to join the breakaway party as political hypocrites.

The faction, South African Democratic Congress which has has been meeting in Johannesburg and plans to launch as a party on 16 December is formed by ex-ANC members who left the party after former President Thabo Mbeki stepped down in September.

He said real ANC members had stayed and he was confident his party would win the upcoming election.

"The ANC is still the party it was in the old days. We are going to win the upcoming election with an overwhelming majority, as we have done in previous years," he said.

"Even before the divorce has concluded they have now announced that they will be getting married to the Democratic Alliance and other opposition parties to form a coalition," South African Press Association said.

Mr Zuma said splinter group brought ideas to policy conference, but failed, saying the concept of new party came after Polokwane conference.

He said he was looking forward to the faction forming a party, saying it would provide a forum to engage in debates.

He told supporters that Mr Lekota's party was associating with the Democratic Alliance, which he said was against the Freedom Charter.

"They claim to be leaving the ANC on the basis that we are no longer following the Freedom Charter. But [Helen] Zille never agreed with the Freedom Charter. They fought with the DA in the past, but now they agree with Zille," he said.

Meanwhile at a national convention at the weekend the new party accused ANC of undermining South Africa's democracy.

"We want to become the next government in the provinces and at the national level. We want to be in the majority," Mbhazima Shilowa, former provincial premier, told reporters.

Mr Shilowa told the Sunday Independent newspaper that his faction were "not doing this just to be another opposition".

The infighting stems from a power struggle between former president Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, who defeated Mr Mbeki to become party leader last December.

His ousting led ex-defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota and other loyalists to quit the ANC in protest.

Mr Lekota officially resigned from the party last Friday.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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