Congress of the People

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The Congress of the People (COPE) is a social liberal South African party founded in 2008 by former members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

history

founding

Mosiuoa Lekota

From 2005 to 2008 there was a power struggle within the ANC between the camps of the previous President Thabo Mbeki and his former Vice President Jacob Zuma . Due to allegations of corruption, Mbeki dismissed Zuma as Vice President in 2005, but in the further course of the power struggle at the end of 2007, Zuma prevailed as the new party chairman. In autumn 2008 Mbeki's fall as President of South Africa followed by the new ANC leadership. Since Jacob Zuma lacked the necessary parliamentary mandate, Kgalema Motlanthe became the new president.

When Zuma was elected party chairman, tensions within the ANC had already emerged, which intensified with Mbeki's replacement as president. While Mbeki pursued a liberal economic policy and appeared rather aloof, Zuma belonged to the left wing and was very popular. In addition, ethnic tensions between the Zulu and Xhosa , embodied by Jacob Zuma (Zulu) and Thabo Mbeki (Xhosa), contributed to the conflict. As a result, a group of previous ANC members around Mosiuoa Lekota resigned from the party and began to promote the establishment of a new party.

At the founding meeting in Bloemfontein in mid-December 2008, around 4,000 delegates elected Mosiuoa Lekota as party leader. Deputy party chairmen were Mbhazima Shilowa and Lynda Odendaal . This confirmed the previous provisional leadership with Lekota and Shilowa. Official registration as a party and recognition as such by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) took place on December 19, 2008.

Parliamentary elections 2009

The party ran for the first time in 2009 in a general election . On January 24th, the COPE passed its electoral manifesto calling for direct elections to the state president, prime ministers and mayors. The program also focused on fighting crime and helping the poor. The presidential candidate was Mvume Dandala . In the elections on April 22, 2009 , COPE received 7.42 percent of the votes cast and missed the target. After the ANC and the DA , COPE became the third largest force in parliament with 30 members. Mvume Dandala became its group leader.

Leadership struggle

In 2010 a power struggle developed between Lekota and Shilowa over the leadership of the party. On May 29, 2010, the delegates of a party congress spoke out in a vote of no confidence against Lekota as chairman. A week later, the Johannesburg Supreme Court annulled this vote due to procedural errors. In protest against the power struggle, Mvume Dandala resigned from the group's chairmanship and as a member of parliament with effect from July 15, 2010. The party's congress national committee decided that Lekota should take over both the parliamentary seat and the parliamentary group chairmanship. Shilowa went to court against this decision, but lost the legal battle.

Election results since 2014

In the 2014 elections , the COPE received only 0.67% of the vote and thus only three mandates; in the 2016 local elections their share fell to 0.45%. The party suffered further losses in the 2019 parliamentary elections when it only won 0.27% and two seats.

Litigation over the name

The new party initially planned to adopt the name South African National Congress . However, due to opposition from the ANC, this plan was abandoned. The ANC then tried to have the new party prohibited from using the name Congress of the People . It has been argued that the name alludes to the historic Congress of the people in 1955 and the Charter of Freedom written there . However, this is part of the history of the ANC, and no other party can claim this historic event for itself. The legal objection has since been withdrawn.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Why Mbeki had to go BBC News: Online article from September 21, 2008
  2. ^ How ANC came to split BBC News: Online article dated December 16, 2008
  3. ↑ Lekota likely to lead Cope to the polls . Mail and Guardian: Article online December 15, 2008
  4. ^ Cope officially registered as a political party . Mail & Guardian : Article online December 19, 2008
  5. ^ A new Agenda for Change and Hope for All ( Memento of March 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), COPE election program for the 2009 parliamentary elections (PDF)
  6. ↑ New SA party promises reforms , BBC News online article, Jan. 24, 2009
  7. ^ Dandala: There's no leadership struggle in Cope , Mail & Guardian online article, March 5, 2009
  8. ^ ANC rules National Assembly, but misses two-thirds , Mail & Guardian online article from April 25, 2009.
  9. ^ Court says Lekota still Cope president , Mail & Guardian , June 6, 2010.
  10. ^ Dandala rues Cope's 'tawdry' leadership battle , Mail & Guardian, July 15, 2010.
  11. ^ Cope's Lekota heads back to Parliament , Mail & Guardian , August 18, 2010.
  12. ↑ 2016 election results (PDF), accessed on August 14, 2016
  13. ↑ What's in a name ?: Cope confident at court ruling . Mail and Guardian: Article online December 10, 2008
  14. ^ ANC to block Congress of the People. ( Memento from June 15, 2010 on the Internet Archive ) In the News.co.za article on November 11, 2008
  15. ↑ ANC turns attention to Western Cape . Mail and Guardian: Article online December 18, 2008.