With elections done and dusted the Congress of the People (Cope) has admitted that the appointment of Mvume Dandala as the party’s presidential candidate during its campaign was a mistake.
”Looking back, some of the things that we could’ve handled better were the BEE debate and the leadership issues,” said Cope national spokesperson and MP Philip Dexter.
”The bringing in of Dandala was not a good idea, not because there is anything wrong with him as a person — he is a very capable leader. But the majority pushed for it, so we had to go with it.”
Dexter said the party did not have sufficient time to introduce a new leader in the short time before the elections. Others in the party also admitted that the sudden shift in presidential candidates was a mistake.
”While we’d made progress with Terror Lekota, we had to come back a few more steps and explain why we chose Dandala and not Terror,” said an MP who cannot be identified, after complaints in the party about people speaking out of turn.
A funder of Cope told the Mail &Guardian the decision to appoint Dandala — now the party’s parliamentary leader — had been driven by powerful party figures, including funders, who ”did not like Terror”.
”They went and looked for him [Dandala] and brought him to the leadership to oppose Lekota.”
Officially, the party blames its poor performance on funding and time constraints.
”Apart from limited time, limited resources, the newness of the party and a limited number of trained party agents, some of the decisions and debates raised by the party did not assist in its efforts,” said Cope in a statement released after its extended congress national committee (CNC) meeting at the weekend.
At the CNC the party appointed Simon Grindrod as its new head of elections.
Cope’s chief whip in Parliament, first deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa, said the party would establish constituencies and increase its visibility to build its profile.
Shilowa said the CNC had decided that it would become a ”patriotic opposition party that would raise issues with the ruling party in a mature and fair manner.
”If the government does something that we think is correct, we will be the first to applaud that. If there are mistakes, we should be upfront and challenge and condemn such things.
”We don’t want to simply stand up and shout at the ANC. If we point out shortcomings, we should be able to come up with possible solutions.”
Cope will deploy representatives on several portfolio committees in Parliament next Tuesday. In DA style, it will also appoint spokespeople for each Cabinet portfolio.
The ANC ignored Cope when it appointed people to chair of portfolio committees, despite the fact that it is the third-largest parliamentary party, with 30 seats. The ruling party said it needed to develop a relationship with the ”new animal” first.
Shilowa said that while the ANC might look at Cope as an enemy, his party would treat the ANC as an opponent.
”We accept that we are an opposition party among many others. But in reality the ANC has demonstrated that for them the real opposition party in Parliament is Cope.”