Africa is a Country

We won’t know the full extent of its impact till Monday, but this weekend’s “National Convention” hosted by a breakaway faction of South Africa’s majority party, the African National Congress, could be fateful for the party’s future, electoral and otherwise.

The splinter group of ANC activists unhappy with the direction of the party (although they have a hand in creating the party’s present predicament) is holding its “National Convention” today through Sunday in Sandton, a wealthy suburb to the north of Johannesburg.

To keep up with events, I can recommend the following sources from inside South Africa: When it comes to old-school newspapers, The Mail & Guardian, Business Day (especially its Opinion page), The Times and News24 (that’s all the news resources of NasPers, the biggest media company in South Africa, in one place).

Among the blogs, there’s only one I can single out: ‘The Wild Frontier,’ the blog of Ray Hartley, the editor of The Times. The breakaway ANC also has its own website (which needs regular updating!). The Mail & Guardian’s Thoughtleader is still too unpredictable and uneven, with its blowhard, often right-wing, “columnists.” [These blogs are, incidentally, both products of "big media."]

The most important question, however, is: Is anyone liveblogging the Shilowa-Lekota National Convention?

BTW, the breakaway ANC group has no name yet.  That has not stopped some from mocking the group. Most newspapers use the headline “Shikotas” when referring to them. That’s a composite of Sam Shilowa and Mosiuoa Lekota’s last names. Less flattering is “Zillekotas” combining the last names of Helen Zille — the leader of the small “official” parliamentary opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (who seem to model herself after Margaret Thatcher and has a penchant for the good media stunt) — and Lekota.

Finally, I have heard them refered to as “ANC Fong Kong.”

UPDATE: Zoopy, a South African video portal, is there ‘shoulder to shoulder with supporters and protesters of the Convention.’ Here’s an interview with Thabo Mbeki’s brother, Moeletsi. [Via Zoopy]