New party in EC wants to unseat ANC

MAKHOSI Khoza’s African Democratic Change (ADeC), the new kid on the political block, will this month launch its provincial structure in the Eastern Cape.

The province is a traditional ANC stronghold. ADeC ambitiously hopes to wrestle power from the governing party next year.

The former ANC MP left the ruling party in September after being one of President Jacob Zuma’s most vocal critics, and established a new political formation. Yesterday ADeC national organiser, Lufuno Gogoro, confirmed the party would launch in East London on January 20.

“We are coming to the Eastern Cape to get more members and to dismantle the ANC. The ANC has failed to inspire confidence in the people of SA, failed to unite the country and solve the problems facing us as a country,” he said.

The party will also target the O R Tambo region.

He said his party would take over the province in the next general and provincial elections set for next year.

Asked if this was not too ambitious, Gogoro said liberation movements failed to lead after 20 years in power and new political parties took over.

Khoza, in her September resignation letter, labelled the party she had been a member of for decades as “alien and corrupt”. However, ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi said they were not shaken by ADeC’s arrival in the province.

“The ANC has one million members and gets voted by 11-million people. There is no way they [ADeC] will take the members of the ANC,” he said. “We contest elections every time because we are part of an ongoing process to transform SA. We have weaknesses such as corruption but we are open about them and we are dealing with those.”

But Gogoro said people wanted service delivery, not lip service.

“We will pursue the vision of servicing the people of this country and making sure they get employment,” he said. —