DIVISIONS SURFACE IN ANC AHEAD OF ELECTIONS JOHANNESBURG Sept 28 Sapa A rebellion was brewing on Thursday in the Free State against premier Patrick Lekota from his own ranks in the African National Congress, over the sacking of a member of the provincial legislature. In other signs of rifts in the ANC ahead of the local government elections, the organisation warned in Johannesburg of a crackdown against members bidding to contest the elections as independents. In the Free State, the ANC Goldfields regional executive council said on Thursday the dismissal of ANC provincial executive committee chairman Pat Matosa from the position of RDP (reconstruction and development programme) commissioner last month was inconsistent with decisions taken at a working committee held to resolve differences within the ANC. "We feel that as structures of the executive power, regional committees should have an input on provincial decisions. The way things are happening are a cause of concern to this region," Bizana Ngesi, deputy secretary of the ANC's Goldfields regional executive committtee, told a Press conference. Ngesi said the Goldfields REC would attempt to enlist support for a special provincial council sitting from other RECs in the Free State. The Goldfields REC is to prepare a message of support for Matosa, he added. Matosa was injured in a car accident on Saturday. He was transferred from the Universitas hospital in Bloemfontein, where he was treated for concussion, to Welkom on Tuesday. In other developments, the ANC threatened on Thursday to fire members of the Intando Yesizwe Party who presently serve as ANC senators, parliamentarians, MECs and members of provincial legislatures unless they publicly distance themselves from the IYP. The threat followed the IYP's decision to contest the local government elections in the former KwaNdebele region and not as part of the provincial Patriotic Front. ANC senator Jackson Mthembu told a Press conference there were no major differences between the ANC and the IYP, but members of the IYP were upset the ANC had not granted them seats in provinces other than Mpumalanga. The IYP was the ruling party in KwaNdebele and lent its support to the ANC during the April 1994 elections as part of the PF. Another party which has also broken away from the PF to contest the local government elections on its own is the Ximoka People's Party of the Bushbuckridge area. Also on Thursday, the ANC said it would take disciplinary action against party members standing as independent candidates in the November local government elections after failing to be elected as ANC candidates. Rosheen Singh, co-ordinater of the ANC elections committee, said the ANC would first investigate instances of this kind, then negotiate with the persons involved. Thereafter, disciplinary action would be taken if necessary. She was answering a question at a Press conference at ANC headquarters in Johannesburg at which the party committed all its candidates to abide by the Electoral Code of Conduct, which applies to all parties in the elections. "The ANC will pay a heavy price for any breach of the code of conduct, and individuals responsible will be dealt with by both the electoral tribunals and our own disciplinary structures," President Nelson Mandela said in a letter to ANC candidates. Copies of Mandela's letter dealing with the electoral code of conduct were dispatched on Thursday to more than 6000 candidates standing for the party. ANC election media unit head Carl Niehaus said the ANC would also set up its own monitoring and complaints committee made up of MPs, MPLs and lawyers at provincial level to receive and act on complaints. A hotline would be established at ANC headquarters to enable ANC election co-ordinators to intervene in crises. The ANC would act firmly against all forms of violence, corruption and intimidation, to ensure the elections were free and fair. "We know too well what pain and suffering, violence and intimidation has brought on millions of our people, particularly in KwaZulu/Natal," Niehaus said.