WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-11-01 Time: 01:00:09 Posted By: Jan
By Deon de Lange and Angela Quintal
Organisers of the National Convention that kicks off in Johannesburg on Saturday are scrambling to accommodate a deluge of delegates, with the meeting already 25 percent over-subscribed.
Originally planned to number 4 000 people, about 5 000 have registered and organisers said on Thursday they were frantically trying to cope with between 40 and 50 calls an hour from people seeking a place.
The convention is expected to see more high profile members of the ANC emerge as supporters of the breakaway group led by former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa and former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota.
On former SA National Civic Organisation president and ANC MP Moses Mayekiso became the latest big name to announce he will join them.
The national convention organisers have been unwilling to name names but it is understood that former ministers Ronnie Kasrils, Sydney Mufamadi and Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, and her husband Jabu Moleketi, are among those on the invite list.
The so-called Shikota party was given a boost on Thursday with the release of Thabo Mbeki’s letter to ANC President Jacob Zuma.
The letter has raised doubts about ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe’s assertion that Mbeki had distanced himself from the breakaway faction.
Mantashe insisted on Friday morning that he did not pull the wool over the nation’s eyes about what Mbeki really said to party president Jacob Zuma.
The letter did show that Mbeki was not behind the breakaway party as speculated, he said in a radio interview.
Mayekiso, who was one of the Alex Five detained for treason and sedition in the 1980s, has resigned from the ruling party together with the Sandton branch leader Lawrence Khoza.
Mayekiso has said he took a principled decision because the democracy he fought for was now under threat under the ANC government.
Mbeki himself, in his letter, declared he would not “rule from the grave”, and it has emerged that instead he plans to start a leadership Institute based in Pretoria aimed at developing young people at home and on the continent.
In the letter, Mbeki cautions Zuma against ignoring ANC tradition by letting the “highly noxious cult of personality” to take root.
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has meanwhile issued a stern warning to its members that any young lion showing his or her face at the Sandton Convention Centre this weekend faced certain expulsion from the league.
“All disciplined and genuine members of the (league) will not be attending the convention of liars, dissidents and angry people,” the league said.
By late on Thursday afternoon, organisers were scrambling to arrange extra space as the guest list was already oversubscribed by more than 1 000 names.
Hundreds of hopeful delegates could be turned away during the official registration and accreditation process that got under way on Friday morning and is expected to continue late into the night.
And contrary to earlier reports, the convention is only open to “representatives of organisations”. Due to logistical constraints individual members of the public will not be able to attend.
TAC leader Zackie Achmat will not attend. He issued a statement in his personal capacity on Thursday saying that as a loyal member of the ANC he would stay away, while defending the right of others to leave the ANC “without fear or intimidation”.
Randall Howard, SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) general secretary, also said the union would not attend because “the struggle for national and class liberation” was led by the standing ANC.
Reverend Alan Boesak will also not be attending. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is abroad and will not be able to attend.
Some organisations, such as political parties, have put further pressure on planners by ignoring a two-delegate limit.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa – who is leading a delegation of five – on Thursday said he did not see how political parties could be limited to only two delegates.