The ANC might be branding the Shikota crew as merely ANC dissidents bitter because they're going to be shut out of the ripe pickings that seem to go with being part of the ANC elite. And a party can't be based on what you don't want.

Well, maybe these aren't just dissidents.
The Shikota movement on Saturday declared its intention to launch a new political party that will rival the African National Congress at the polls during the 2009 elections.

The movement decided this at the conclusion of its national convention, which drew to a close on Saturday night in Sandton. The face of Shikota, Mbhazima Shilowa, announced this to the delegates who attended the convention.

The convention also passed its declaration vowing to lobby for electoral reform that will allow for citizens to choose their own mayors, premiers and national president.

The declaration focused on four themes: supremacy of the Constitution, building social cohesion, freedom and equality before the law, and participatory democracy.

"We believe organised citizens should be able to take direct responsibility for some of their concerns and to exercise effective oversight over the leaders they choose at elections," the declaration reads.

It also asks for the "regular refreshing" of the mandate of political representatives and that all public representatives must be elected directly to improve public accountability.

It mandates the organisers of the convention "to continue to engage with the people of South Africa" to find ways to defend democracy and to build social cohesion.
full story from M&G here
I could support that.