Hlongwane the prodigal son

The prodigal son has gone home. The re-defection of Mlungisi Hlongwane from Cope to the ANC should be an act of encouragement to others like him who never had any intention of working towards building Cope into a formidable political party but to serve their own sinister agendas. It is important to reiterate that Cope has been consistent in its message to political careerists and opportunists that they are not welcome. Cope has committed itself to attracting men and women of unquestionable ethical and moral sensibilities and who are inspired and determined to discharge their public duty to our people without undue consideration for self-interest

As Cope members we must show our gratitude to Hlongwane for bringing to our attention “that there are many in Cope who have pre-ordained objectives that have very little to do with the overall objective of the development of our country”. We should identify these characters and reject them. Our duty as members of a party still in its infancy is to ensure that we build a party on a solid foundation so that we may withstand turbulent political hurricanes going into the future.

It was rather unfortunate that in his desperate attempt to justify his political prostitution and discredit Cope, Hlongwane had to resort to making absurd claims of tribalism, racialism, undemocratic processes and so on. During his press briefing he said that: “It is regrettable that there are Xhosa-speaking Cope leaders who have taken a conscious decision that Cope must be a predominantly Xhosa-led organisation.” Any person in full command of his mental faculties and having some semblance of respect for the truth would know that only two Xhosas form part of the top 12 members of the Congress National Committee. He deliberately ignores the fact that though Dr Mvume Dandala might be Xhosa, the president of Cope, Mosiuoa Lekota, is Sotho, and his two deputies are Afrikaner and Tsonga.

He claims to have refused the premiership candidacy of Gauteng when in fact he was asked to recuse himself because he was suspected of working with the ANC. We wish him well at the ANC where he belongs together with all others who came to Cope to pursue their personal interests.

We hope the ANC keep their word in welcoming others after the elections. Those who will soon be overwhelmed by their disappointment of having dismally failed to fulfil their personal agenda at Cope. We encourage them to return to their home in the ANC to further advance those narrow interests within a fertile environment for corruption, careerism and opportunism.

The formation of any new political party will ordinarily attract such unsavoury characters who have nothing but the pursuit of all things contrary to the demands of the people they should be serving. It is indeed flattering to Cope that Hlongwane has come to the realisation that there was no tolerance for political careerists, opportunists, the incompetent and factionalists, thought he may not publicly admit this self-evident truth. He will be joined by Dan Kotzer who Cope has kicked to the curb for promoting factionalism in the Western Cape.