Former ANC communications chief Smuts Ngonyama has resigned from the party because of offensive disrespect of offices of authority, he said in Johannesburg on Thursday.

"... What we have been exposed to in the recent past with regard to general disrespect of offices of authority is offensive, and not something we can celebrate.

"This is not something that I am able to tolerate or embrace," he said at a press conference formally announcing his decision to leave the ruling party, which he has served since he was at school.

The Cope factor

He would be joining the Congress of the People (Cope) — the breakaway party formed by former defence minister Terror Lekota over what it says is the ANC's departure from the tenets of the Freedom Charter.

"It is imperative... that I continue to contribute towards the development of South Africa and should do so where I will be able to make the maximum impact," Ngonyama said.

Ngonyama would not elaborate on the disrespect and offensive behaviour behind his resignation.

"You remember I have never expressed myself publicly about this before," he said, adding: "These are not the values I know of the ANC.

However, I am not prepared right now in a position to get into that."

"I've been given an opportunity to express myself within the ANC," he said. He wanted to end his time there "on a positive note".

No funding

Scotching reports that he was one of the new party's backers, Ngonyama said: "No, I haven't funded this organisation."

In fact, he said, he would not be able to fund the organisation.

Ngonyama is the latest of a slew of ANC members who have left the party to join Cope, among them former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa.

Ngonyama said there was "absolutely no significance" in the announcement of his resignation on Thursday.

Until then, he had still been going over the issue, mulling over his time in the ANC, the future of the country and the role he could play as an individual. He had also been listening to the whole process of evolution of Cope. His resignation was the conclusion of this thought process.

When he was unable to reach the Sandton branch chairman Trevor Abrahams to inform him first of his decision, Ngonyama said he informed ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe.

Ngonyama said he had accepted his decision and that their telephonic discussion had been "cordial" and "quite mature".

"That's all I can say".

Mbeki was informed

He had also "as a matter of protocol" informed former president Thabo Mbeki that he was leaving, but said it would not be fair to detail the nature of the personal comments Mbeki made "pursuading me to stay with the ANC".

He would not rule out the possibility of his eventual return to the party. "The ANC is not my enemy at all. It actually brought me up. I can't say I would never go back."

He could not say what post he would hold in the new party.

"Position doesn't matter, what matters is space for me to make my contribution and that is what I am looking forward to," he said.

"I now believe that the Congress of the People is a welcomed addition to our political landscape. We have the opportunity to ensure that the dream of non-racialism, non-sexism, and a united, prosperous South Africa remains within our reach."

Its existence had to be seen in the light of spoiling the country for choice of good organisations and of growing democracy.

Not just a case of sour grapes

Dismissing claims that it consisted only of bad losers rejected at the ANC's 52nd national conference in Polokwane, he said Cope had attracted not just leadership, but ordinary members of the ANC and from outside the organisation.

Asked whether he believed Cope could potentially replace the ANC or its official opposition, Ngonyama said: "I believe politics are about power."

"You don't take to the field with an idea of losing, (but)... with an idea of winning.

"I think Cope is aiming to win. However, the test will be in the field; the test will be with the people of South Africa. They will express their preference. All of us will have to live with that."

He would make his contribution with love for the country's people and patriotism, prepared to defend and promote the values of the positive legacies given to the country.

Sapa