How the ANC’s first big splinter party planned to collapse it from within

The Congress of the People (COPE), launched in 2008 by former African National Congress (ANC) leaders, was not only intended to become South Africa’s next major opposition party.

From its earliest discussions, some of its founders imagined a far more daring strategy: a coordinated effort to weaken and ultimately collapse the ANC from inside government structures.

This was unpacked by co-founder Mbhazima Shilowa, the former Secretary General of the Confederations of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), as well as the Premier of Gauteng, while he was still with the ANC.

COPE’s birth followed months of escalating turbulence within the ANC, fuelled by deepening factionalism and the dramatic recall of President Thabo Mbeki in September 2008.

While the departure of senior figures such as Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa was widely linked to their opposition to Jacob Zuma’s rise, several leaders argued that the ANC was drifting from the foundations that had defined the transition of 1994.

Concerns about integrity, internal democracy, and political culture became central to the split.

The plan for an “inner coup”

Between April and July 2008, Shilowa said that a series of private discussions took place among ANC provincial chairpersons, secretaries, and other senior members who believed the organisation required drastic intervention.

He described the early strategy as an “inner coup” in the interview, a plan to transform the ANC from within before publicly breaking away.

The design relied on coordinated provincial mobilisation rather than immediate high-profile resignations.

Leaders and supporters from provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, and the North West were expected to remain inside the ANC, organise quietly, and prepare for a collective move.

The intention was that, once the internal groundwork was ready, the group would launch a new party at a moment they believed could inflict maximum structural disruption on the ANC.

Despite months of planning, the “inner coup” never materialised. Some participants pulled back, and the risk of disciplinary action within the ANC grew.

The final break instead came through the targeted resignations of senior figures shortly before COPE’s launch.

Lekota, Shilowa, Sello Moloto and others left the ANC at a point when they were facing threats of disciplinary processes, and their departure became necessary to preserve the credibility of COPE’s founding convention.

Several other leaders timed their resignations to secure positions on COPE’s electoral lists ahead of the 2009 national vote.

Mluleki George, for example, publicly dismissed suggestions that he would leave the ANC, only to resign days later and join COPE’s parliamentary list.

A serious early threat to the ANC – and its fall

Even without the original underground strategy, COPE’s formation delivered a sharp political shock.

In the 2009 general elections, the party won 37 seats in Parliament and became the official opposition in five provinces.

Its rapid rise signalled a real appetite for a strong black opposition movement and exposed the ANC’s vulnerability to internal fractures.

But the momentum that made COPE a national force proved short-lived.

Ironically, the party quickly succumbed to the same factionalism and organisational weaknesses that had driven its founders out of the ANC.

The most damaging failure was the inability to hold the required elective conference within 18 to 24 months.

When the long-awaited conference took place in 2010, it collapsed amid disputes, including interventions from leaders who feared losing their interim positions.

COPE soon became consumed by internal battles for control, access to resources, and unresolved personal rivalries.

Instead of building its parliamentary presence or consolidating public support, the party’s energy shifted inward.

As such, high-ranking officials like Shilowa resigned from the party around 2011.

This breakdown of internal democracy, combined with persistent infighting, crippled the organisation and precipitated its steep decline in the 2014 elections.

In the 2024 general elections, the party failed to achieve any representation.