By Angela Quintal
Muslim militant activist Achmat Cassiem now heads the Pan Africanist Congress in the Western Cape, a move that has stunned reformists in the party who view it as a massive setback.
He was among those who openly marched against the party's national leadership in 2003 after Thami ka Plaatjie's bid to became president appeared set to fail, leading to a pre-emptive walkout by Cassiem and a handful of Plaatjie supporters at the party's Vista conference that year.
However, Cassiem bounced back at the weekend and was elected at the PAC provincial congress by a narrow margin, after several branches failed to arrive on time for their voting credentials to be accepted.
Some party leaders described this as a "catastrophe" and a "nightmare come true" and expressed concern that Cassiem would try to hijack the party in the province and impose his religious beliefs.
Cassiem, who heads the Islamic Unity Convention, is also a founder member of the radical Qibla movement founded in 1979, aimed at defending and promoting Islam in South Africa.
Qibla had links to the PAC's armed wing Apla during the anti-apartheid struggle, and Cassiem spent time on Robben Island along with other political prisoners.
Although senior cabinet ministers accused Qibla of being linked to Pagad and the spate of bombings in the Western Cape, Cassiem denied there was a direct link in a television interview in 2001.
"I don't have links to Pagad; they have their own administration. But all Muslims, I must insist, and all genuine leaders around the world are opposed to gangsterism, drugs and any form of intoxicants," Cassiem said.
In 2000, then Justice Minister Penuell Maduna accused Qibla - supposedly the core of Pagad's armed wing, the G-Force - of being behind the wave of bombings in Cape Town and called for water-tight legislation on terrorism.
Qibla was among the groups initially listed by the US state department as being a "terrorist" organisation.
Cassiem shares the view of the late Ayatollah Khomeini that the US is the "great Satan".
He has declined to be interviewed until he has given a press conference next week.
The PAC's deputy president, Themba Godi, said: "People get elected through the democratic process, but that in itself is not a licence to anarchy."
Cassiem, as a PAC member, was subject to party discipline, Godi said.
"We are convinced that all comrades who are elected are... committed to pursuing the vision of the organisation and nothing else. The PAC is a collective... We would not want a situation where an individual is larger than life."
Asked about Cassiem's earlier protests against the PAC's national leadership, particularly Motsoko Pheko, Godi said: "You are correct - Comrade Cassiem marched against the party and its leaders. We took action against some and not others, but we want to believe it is all water under the bridge."
The Media Review Network has welcomed Cassiem's election. Spokesperson Iqbal Jassat said Cassiem had "enormous respect" and was part of the Muslim mainstream in South Africa.
"That the Americans and Israel by extension would view him as linked with groups deemed to be terrorist is a matter of pride for us. We enjoy similar links with resistance groups."