Supporters of ousted South African president Thabo Mbeki threatened Wednesday to split from the ruling African National Congress, accusing its leaders of abandoning democratic ideals.
   
"It seems that today we are serving divorce papers," former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota told a packed press conference.
   
He accused ANC leaders of losing sight of the party's ideals that guided the struggle against apartheid and made democracy icon Nelson Mandela the country's first black president.
   
"We intend within a short period of time... to call a national convention of comrades or something of that nature to determine how to proceed to defend democracy in this country," Lekota said.
   
When asked if he planned to form a new political party, Lekota said: "It seems to be that it will be leading logically in that direction."
   
He added that the group would be prepared to contest elections next year, when ANC leader Jacob Zuma is expected to stand as the party's candidate for president.
   
Zuma said the party would meet with Lekota to try to bridge their differences, but warned there was a limit to how far the party would go.
   
"We are going to engage and it is important for us to do so," Zuma said, but at the same time warned against efforts "to destabilise the party."
   
The ANC ordered Mbeki to resign as president on September 20, the culmination of his long-running power struggle with Zuma.
   
Mbeki's resignation sparked widespread rumours of a split within the party, whose ranks include business executives, union leaders and a variety of activists whose bonds were forged in the struggle against white-minority rule.
   
But 14 years after bringing democracy to South Africa, the party's unity has frayed -- most dramatically in the feud between Mbeki and Zuma.
   
Lekota accused the ANC's leadership under Zuma of using tribalistic slogans, singing songs that advocate violence, and seeking to intimidate judges.
   
"The ANC is not its name. It is its policies... its commitment to the future and to the democracy of this country," he said. "The current leadership have shown that it is not the ANC."
   
Mbeki himself has remained out of public sight since his resignation, and has made no statements about a breakaway group.
   
Zuma and his ANC allies ordered Mbeki to step down after a court ruling implied the former president had interfered in the prosecution of corruption charges against Zuma.
   
Zuma unseated Mbeki as party leader last December, in a dramatic upset for the man who succeeded Mandela as South Africa's second president since the end of apartheid.
   
Mbeki has been criticised as aloof and distant from the needs of South Africa's poor, although he was praised for guiding the country through a period of sustained economic growth.
   
Zuma is seen as more sympathetic to social needs in a country where unemployment stands officially at around 23 percent but is believed to be much higher.
   
Hennie van Vuuren, political analyst with the Institute for Security Studies, said that Lekota was clearly paving the way for a new political party, but that it remained unclear how much support he could win.
   
"The challenge that he has now, is that he has to be able to prove ... there is a viable alternative to the ANC," van Vuuren said.
   
"It is questionable whether Lekota is going to be able to inspire a broad group of people to come together and create a broad-based opposition movement."