Organisers are expecting more than 4000 people to attend a public meeting with former ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota in Orange Farm, Gauteng on Thursday.

Organiser Nicholas Mjempu said this would probably be the only public meeting in Gauteng ahead of a national convention to discuss the possibility of a breakaway ANC party on 2 November.

"This is the only meeting for Gauteng... It is because we have so many commitments to other areas. Today [Wednesday] Comrade Terror is in the Eastern Cape and by the weekend he will be in the Northern Cape," said Mjempu.

Invitations to attend the Gauteng meeting have been sent to churches and community groups in Orange Farm, Sebokeng, Evaton, Finetown and surrounding areas.

"We are expecting more than 4000 people to attend. I arranged buses to pick up people," said Mjempu.

The meeting will give Lekota some idea of the strength of support he enjoys in Gauteng since his announcement that he was serving divorce papers on the African National Congress.

Former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa has thrown his weight behind Lekota who is expected to launch a new party on 16 December.

He was among a string of cabinet ministers who resigned out of loyalty to former president Thabo Mbeki who was removed from office by the new ANC leadership elected at Polokwane in December.

Sapa