The Pretoria High Court on Friday dismissed with costs an application by the African National Congress (ANC) to stop a breakaway group using the name Congress of the People to contest the elections next year.
The ANC had argued that the group, which intends officially launching as a party next week, used the name to gain instant credibility, because it was also the name of the event in 1955 that gave birth to the ruling party’s Freedom Charter.
The first signs of a breakaway came when former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota said he felt the party was moving away from its founding principles and that a ”divorce” was imminent. The complaint revolved mainly around the ANC’s support for its president, Jacob Zuma, during the corruption investigation against him.
Lekota, his former defence deputy, Mluleki George and former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa all resigned from the party and threw their weight behind a new movement, also citing unhappiness over the way former president Thabo Mbeki had been treated.
Mbeki was asked to resign after corruption charges against Zuma were set aside.
Cope was the movement’s third choice of name after it learnt that the names South African National Convention and South African Democratic Congress were already taken.
Meanwhile, a disappointed ANC intends applying for leave to appeal the court ruling.
Speaking outside the Pretoria High Court, spokesperson Carl Niehaus said the party was disappointed, but would apply for leave to appeal.
In a later statement, it said: ”The ANC does not believe that this name should be appropriated for the exclusive use of any political party, particularly one that had no involvement in that historic event.”
Cope said it hoped the ANC would respect Friday’s court judgement. ”More importantly, that the ANC accepts the changing political landscape in our country and that the existence of Cope can only strengthen democratic values and culture,” a statement read.
It said the judgement vindicated its position that voters won’t be confused.
”This was nothing but a bullying tactic by the ruling party to frustrate a normal democratic process whereby people can exercise their right to belong to a political party of their choice.”
The party, which claimed to already have more than 400 000 signed-up members, charged that the ANC’s strategy was to frustrate an alternative to itself. — Sapa