The Reverend Allan Boesak, the fire-breathing orator who led the internal resistance to apartheid in the 1980s, has attempted to exploit the rivalries between South Africa’s ruling African National Congress and the breakaway Congress of the People.

Boesak, 63, whose career has been dogged by sexual and financial scandal, demanded that Jacob Zuma, the ANC leader, apologise to him over his conviction on charges of fraud and theft in 1999 and guarantee him the post of United Nations ambassador in New York.

Zuma, who is almost certain to become president after elections next year, weighed these terms for Boesak remaining as a supporter of the ANC but turned them down, whereupon Boesak joined the Congress of the People (Cope), claiming that while he was anxious “to serve my country again”, he could not do so within the ANC because “just too many things make me uncomfortable”.

Boesak then announced that he had no intention of taking a leading role or campaigning for any party. This produced an anguished plea from Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, the leader of Cope, that “our people need your services in this complicated hour”. The impression remains that Boesak is keeping his options open in case there should be another round of bidding.

In the late 1990s Boesak, who was the ANC leader in the Western Cape, saw his political career fall apart when it was revealed that much of the money he had collected for his Foundation for Justice and Peace for poor black children had financed his own high living.

Many of the large corporate donors decided, under strong ANC pressure, to write off the money, as did the singer Paul Simon, who had donated large sums from his Graceland tour. However, the Danish Danchurch and the Swedish International Development Agency were outraged and, despite pressure from Nelson Mandela, the president, and his successor Thabo Mbeki, refused to drop their case.

Bank records showed large and repeated transfers into Boesak’s account. He said he had “never understood accounts” and refused to enter the witness box, thus avoiding cross-examination. He none-the-less insisted on his innocence and said he would “do it all over again”.

He was sentenced to six years in jail for fraud and theft. On appeal this was reduced to three years and in fact he served only a year. Later he was pardoned by Mbeki.

Since then Boesak has returned to the church but has made himself useful to the developers of luxury estates by using his public popularity to persuade black communities to lift their objections to such building projects.

With the ANC split in the autumn Boesak suddenly quit his church and took a starring role at Cope’s launch, where his electrifying oratory had the 4,000 delegates weeping, clapping and chanting his name as he accused the ANC of “trampling on our hopes and dreams”.

Boesak took his family off for a month-long Christmas holiday but has kept up a barrage of press statements, taking issue with the way affirmative action is used to favour Africans over coloureds, demanding a stronger line against President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and claiming that the ANC has squandered its nonracial heritage.

At the same time his second wife Elna has given a lengthy interview in which she said their marriage was “divine, more romantic than ever” and that every day she found Boesak more attractive and more deserving of respect.

Boesak also promises to tell all in a new book, where he will “explain” that the money he took was given away to heroes of the struggle against apartheid whose names he was trying to protect, and that he was a mere “scapegoat for the struggle”.

There is no doubt that this is all part of a long-calculated relaunch of his political career. Cope’s leaders seem happy to have him but they too will face a problem, for they have trenchantly criticised Zuma’s ANC for not respecting the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.

Either they bring Boesak into their leadership as a convicted criminal or they accept his plea of innocence, showing disrespect for the judicial process.

For the moment Boesak’s charisma seems more important but one thing is certain: if he really does end up opposing the ANC, his erstwhile comrades will dig up more dirt to use against him.

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