By Political Bureau
The ANC was dealt a serious blow hours ahead of this weekend's watershed National Convention spearheaded by Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and Mluleki George.
National executive committee member and communications director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole resigned, and was due to chair today's opening session.
She is the second member of the 80-strong ANC NEC to resign, after Charlotte Lobe climbed aboard the "Shikota Express" two weeks ago.
Shope-Mafole said she had resigned not because of the convention itself, but because she found herself in the "wrong company". She told the Saturday Star that because she was in an ANC leadership position, she often had to uphold views with which she differed.
Shope-Mafole chaired the ANC's NEC subcommittee on political education and ideological work, a position she was elected to in January. She has been ANC communications department director-general since 2004.
While ANC President Jacob Zuma - who is set to draw thousands of people when he addresses a rally at the Jabulani Amphitheatre in Soweto tomorrow - is "unfazed" by the rebels, Shilowa warned the ANC to expect more high-level resignations.
The convention got off to a rocky start yesterday with angry scenes as delegates struggled to get accreditation - and the rebel trio found themselves embroiled in a legal battle as the ANC launched an urgent court bid to protect its name.
But by 7pm last night ahead of the convention's start in Sandton on Saturday, nearly 4 000 delegates had been accredited - and busloads more were still expected from the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal - while overstretched organisers were still battling to sort out accommodation.
In a day of drama on Friday, Lekota, who was ousted as ANC national chairperson at Polokwane, also resigned from the ANC.
Within minutes of the ANC announcing it had accepted his decision to quit, Lekota and his rebel comrades Shilowa and George were slapped with court papers over the event's name.
At a press conference, Shilowa accused the ANC of abusing the courts in a bid to try to prevent the convention going ahead.
Shilowa accused the ANC of behaving like the apartheid government in the days of the United Democratic Front.
But ANC spokesperson Steyn Speed said the legal action had nothing to do with trying to stop the convention from going ahead.
"It is an application to restrain from using the name SA National Congress, or SA National Convention, or the letters SANC because they are confusingly similar ," Speed told the Saturday Star.
But Shilowa wasn't convinced. He said papers had been served at 1.15pm on Friday, with the three leaders expected in court two hours later. None of them were able to make it to Pretoria in time. The matter has been postponed until Thursday.
As Shilowa spoke, a group of about 40 people could be heard singing outside the gates of the Sandton Convention Centre.
The unhappy delegates said they had donated money to the initiative, exchanged text messages with organisers and attended meetings, yet no one had informed them that they also needed to register online to be part of the convention.