The Congress of the People (COPE) is a South African political party formed in 2008 by former members of the African National Congress (ANC). The party was founded by former ANC members Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and Mluleki George to contest the 2009 general election. The party was announced following a national convention held in Sandton on 1 November 2008, and was founded at a congress held in Bloemfontein on 16 December 2008. The name echoes the 1955 Congress of the People at which the Freedom Charter was adopted by the ANC and other parties, a name strongly contested by the ANC in a legal move dismissed by the Pretoria High Court.

In the 2009 general election, the party received 1,311,027 votes and a 7.42% share of the vote. Following the 2009 elections, COPE experienced a leadership dispute between factions supporting Mosiuoa Lekota and others supporting Mbhazima Shilowa, that led to a 2013 court battle, and continued into 2014. After the 2014 election, COPE was left with only three seats in the National Assembly, down from 30 seats in 2009.

Despite its reduced stature, the party has joined with the much larger Democratic Alliance (DA) and several other smaller parties to co-govern Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg and Tshwane after the 2016 municipal elections.

COPE had its worst performance at the 2024 national and provincial elections by garnering a mere 0.09 percent of the votes. The party failed to secure a single seat in parliament as result of this poor performance.

History

52nd ANC national conference

The birth of the party can be traced back to the 52nd ANC national conference held at Polokwane in December 2007. The conference resulted in the election of Jacob Zuma and his supporters, ahead of Thabo Mbeki and his supporters, to the ANC's governing body, the National Executive Committee. Zuma was elected ANC president ahead of Mbeki. The conference highlighted the different factions within the ANC and brought to the fore the diametrically opposed philosophies between Mbeki and Zuma. This included differences in both style and economic policy – the former pursued neoliberal economic policies and was known for an aloof personality and plotting against his political opponents, while his successor is more left-wing and populist, and has a closer relationship with the South African Communist Party and Congress of South African Trade Unions. The split also revealed underlying ethnic tensions between Zulu and Xhosa speakers, represented by Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki respectively, as they jostled for political predominance.

Zuma corruption trial and recall of Mbeki Jacob Zuma, now elected president of the ANC and ANC candidate for president in the South Africa at the 2009 election, was facing corruption charges in relation to a multi-billion rand arms deal with French manufacturer Thales Group (SA division Thint). Zuma had previously been dismissed by Mbeki as South Africa's vice-president at the start of the arms deal trial.

In 2008, a landmark ruling by high court judge Chris Nicholson found that the re-charging of Zuma by the National Prosecuting Authority was illegal and was unduly influenced by Mbeki due to political motives. The case against Zuma was thus dismissed. As a consequence of the judge's findings of political interference, the ANC's National Executive Committee requested the recall of Mbeki as the country's president. Mbeki tendered his resignation on 21 September 2008 and the resignation became official on 25 September. Many members of Mbeki's cabinet resigned their posts at the same time in solidarity, including vice-president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and other senior cabinet ministers.

The recall of Mbeki brought to the fore simmering tensions within the ANC. On 23 September Mosiuoa Lekota announced that he had served the ANC with "divorce papers" and on 8 October announced that a national convention would be held to discuss the future of South African politics and the possible formation of a new political movement.

Lekota's call resounded with many Mbeki supporters who started handing in their resignations to the ANC to join Lekota's movement. Notable resignations include those of former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa, former Western Cape minister of safety and security Leonard Ramatlakane and Mluleki George. Across the country many regular ANC members also handed in their resignations in public demonstrations, burning their ANC membership cards. The resignation movement resounded particularly in provinces in which there were already splits in the ANC structure, such as the Western Cape.

Convention and formation of new party The convention called by Lekota was held in Sandton on 1 November 2008. Planned for 4,000 delegates over two days, the conference eventually hosted over 5,000, with some people not able to get into the venue, and was shortened to one day to avoid inconvenience to those delegates who had nowhere to stay overnight. The conference was attended by major political figures, including delegates from other political parties. The ANC did not send a delegation to the conference.

Following the conference, Lekota announced that a new party would be formed on 16 December. In Western Cape municipal by-elections on 11 December 2008, COPE won 10 of 27 wards (with its candidates running as independents, as it was not yet registered); the ANC won only three wards, with twelve of its candidates disqualified due to missing the registration deadline. The DA won nine seats.

The party was formally launched at a three-day conference from 14 to 16 December 2008, at which Lekota was named president.

2009 general election

The party faced its first general election in 2009. Their election manifesto was launched on 24 January 2009 and included calls for electoral reform to have the president, provincial premiers and municipal mayors directly elected. South Africa currently has a pure proportional representation system with parties submitting lists of candidates in order of preference. The president and provincial premiers and mayors (after municipal elections) are subsequently elected by the members of the relevant assembly.

On 20 February 2009, they announced clergyman Mvume Dandala as their presidential candidate. A COPE official was murdered in the Eastern Cape, and COPE supporters, from the Eastern Cape, were driven out of their shacks in Durban.Political tolerance on the wane in South Africa, Imraan Buccus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, SA Reconciliation Barometer. Retrieved 21 November 2018. The party achieved the leadership of the opposition in the legislatures of Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and Northern Cape and representation in all nine provinces.

Election results

National Assembly elections

!Election !Party leader !Total votes !Share of vote !Seats !+/– !Government |- !2009 |rowspan=4 |Mosiuoa Lekota |align=right|1,311,027 |align=right|7.42% | | New

!2014 |align=right|123,235 |align=right|0.67% | | 27

!2019 |align=right|47,461 |align=right|0.27% | | 1

!2024 | 14,177 | 0.09% | | 2

Provincial elections

!rowspan=2|Election !colspan=2|Eastern Cape !colspan=2|Free State !colspan=2|Gauteng !colspan=2|Kwazulu-Natal !colspan=2|Limpopo !colspan=2|Mpumalanga !colspan=2|North-West !colspan=2|Northern Cape !colspan=2|Western Cape |- !%!!Seats !%!!Seats !%!!Seats !%!!Seats !%!!Seats !%!!Seats !%!!Seats !%!!Seats !%!!Seats |- !2009 |13.67||9/63 |11.61||4/30 |7.78||6/73 |1.29||1/80 |7.53||4/49 |2.91||1/30 |8.33||3/33 |16.67||5/30 |7.74||3/42 |- !2014 |1.20||1/63 |1.63||0/30 |0.49||0/73 |0.16||0/80 |0.86||1/49 |0.32||0/30 |0.94||0/33 |3.60||1/30 |0.59||0/42 |- !2019 |0.25||0/63 |0.45||0/30 |0.24||0/73 |0.14||0/80 |0.23||0/49 |0.15||0/30 |0.27||0/33 |0.86||0/30 |0.32||0/42 |- !2024 |0.12||0/73 |0.22||0/30 |0.13||0/80 |0.10||0/80 |0.17||0/64

|0.20||0/38 |0.25||0/30 |0.09||0/42

Municipal elections

!Election !Votes !% |- !2011 |570,698 |2.1% |- !2016 |186,185 |0.48% |- !2021 |62,556 |0.2%

Provincial election candidates Ahead of the 2009 general election, COPE's list of provincial premiership candidates was announced in the Sunday Sun newspaper on 2 March 2009. Its candidate for Premier of Limpopo, serving Premier Sello Moloto, was announced slightly belatedly. Candidates for the 2019 general election were announced on 11 March 2019; the initial candidate for Premier of the Western Cape, Anthony Hall, was later replaced by Deidre Carter. +List of COPE candidates for Premier20092019Free StateCasca Mokitlane Teboho LoateGautengLyndall Shope-Mafole Dennis BloemKwaZulu-NatalLucky Sifiso GabelaJessica PandayMpumalangaPrudence MadonselaOuma MathebulaLimpopoSello Moloto Mankgwana RampediNorth WestNikiwe Num Matsholo LekgalanyaneEastern CapeWiseman Nkuhlu Lievie SharpleyNorthern CapeNeville Mompati Pakes Dikgetsi Western CapeAllan Boesak Deidre Carter

Reactions

Reaction from the ANC and alliance partners The ANC leadership reacted by offering a reconciliation meeting between treasurer Mathews Phosa and Lekota and his former deputy defense minister Mluleki George on 13 October. However, the meeting ended without resolution. On 14 October, Lekota and George were suspended from membership in the ANC by the National Executive Committee, with threats of suspension against any other members who sought to join Lekota and George. Both Zuma and then ANC Youth League president Julius Malema ridiculed Lekota for the announcement.

Support from within the ANC On 15 October, former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa, who resigned from his position soon after Mbeki and the cabinet resigned, announced that he had resigned his membership from the ANC and thrown his support behind Lekota's convention, which he announced would be held on 2 November. The partnership between Lekota and Shilowa led the press to nickname the proposed new party "Shikota". Former Western Cape community safety minister Leonard Ramatlakane resigned from the ANC on 22 October to join Lekota's initiative. On 3 November, former Eastern Cape premier Nosimo Balindlela announced her resignation from the ANC in order to join the proposed new party.

On 13 November 2008, Smuts Ngonyama, the former head of communications for ANC, joined the breakaway movement.

Reaction from other parties Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance, Bantu Holomisa of the United Democratic Movement and Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the Inkatha Freedom Party all welcomed the announcement, saying that a new party in opposition to the ANC would diversify the political landscape and pull South Africa from being an effectively dominant-party system.

Prominent supporters COPE attracted the support of a wide range of well-known South Africans from various sectors, including Sipho Ngwema, former head of communications for the Scorpions who is now the party's media liaison chief, and cleric Allan Boesak who ran in the 2009 election as COPE's Western Cape premier candidate. Other prominent supporters include the wife of Vusi Pikoli, the former head of the National Prosecuting Authority, and Simon Grindrod, former deputy president of the Independent Democrats.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former deputy president under Thabo Mbeki, and Saki Macozoma, a prominent South African billionaire and close ally of Mbeki, joined COPE in late February 2009. Macozoma's affiliation to the party was accidentally leaked by Mbhazima Shilowa himself in London, United Kingdom, in the third week of January 2009Onkundige kundiges en kansvatters – Media24 Archive (in Afrikaans) Die Burger. 22 January 2009. Mlambo-Ngcuka who is best known for her statement that South Africa could learn from Zimbabwe with regard to land reform.

Policy