Ex-minister says ANC close to split

Former South African defense minister Mosiuoa Lekota said yesterday the ruling ANC was close to a major split but stopped short of announcing a breakaway party.

"I seems that we are serving today divorce papers," Lekota said at a news conference after complaining at length about what he called undemocratic tendencies in the African National Congress, which he said had betrayed its own principles.

Talk Radio 702 earlier reported that Lekota and other loyalists of ousted president Thabo Mbeki would form a new party.