Nine from Bay for talks on stopping state capture

AT least nine Nelson Mandela Bay residents will take part in the first steps towards building a new broad front against state capture that will be taken at a Conference on the Future of South Africa starting today at the Rhema Church in Randburg.

The conference, hosted by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and SaveSA‚ is set to include about 400 delegates from about 100 civil society organisations.

It will also include ANC veterans and MPs from various political parties – including the ANC.

Pastor Neville Goldman, of Port Elizabeth’s Algoa Park Assembly of God, said the conference would discuss an implementation plan today, before the National Assembly debates the no-confidence vote against President Jacob Zuma next month.

He said eight other Bay residents would join him at the conference.

“We are anti-corruption and we are pro-integrity,” Goldman said.

Kathrada Foundation director Neeshan Bolton said yesterday the conference marked an attempt to recapture the state.

This comes in the wake of the Gupta e-mail scandal and as law enforcement agencies appear paralysed to act on the revelations of the extent of the family’s influence over Zuma’s administration.

National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has yet to decide whether the no-confidence vote will be an open or a secret ballot.

SaveSA’s Sipho Pityana said it was regrettable that MPs were forced to choose between a leader and the people of the country.

He said some MPs, who had been seen as hostile to the president, had been threatened.

Outspoken ANC MP Makhosi Khoza‚ who has said she will vote with her conscience come August 8‚ is set to address the conference today.

The MPs attending the gathering may provide a glimpse into how they will vote in the upcoming motion.

The conference will also be used to show MPs that they should do the right thing and vote against Zuma on August 8.

Pityana said yesterday that Zuma should face the full might of the law.