Cope’s In-Fighting Deepens As Expelled Willie Madisha Accuses Mosiuoa Lekota of Hijacking Party Structures

• Expelled Cope deputy president Willie Madisha is fighting against his axing for the embattled party
• Madisha has filed a court application against leader Mosiuoa Lekota in which he claims Lekota has hijacked the party structure
• Regardless of a Cope faction announcing Madisha's expulsion, the politician claims he is still the party's deputy president

KEMPTON PARK - The fight for power in the embattled Congress of the People (COPE) is heating up.

Expelled, or not so expelled, deputy president Willie Madisha has railed against his alleged axing from the party by taking his fight to court.

Willie Madisha files legal bid against Cope leader Mosiua Lekota

On Monday, 17 July, Madisha revealed that he was still the DP of Cope and had initiated a legal bid against party leader Mosiuoa Lekota.

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Madisha claimed the court application would not only clean up his image but prove that Lekota has hijacked the party's decision-making structures, News24 reported.

Willie Madisha insists he is still the deputy president of Cope

A report from eNCA revealed that in June, a faction allegedly aligned to Lekota announced Madisha's expulsion, and a letter written by Cope's secretary-general Eric Mohlapamaswi claimed Madisha would lose his seat in Parliament.

However, Madisha continues to remain defiant, and at the media briefing, declared:

"I am the deputy president of the party, duly elected by the people, elected in the national congress by the people. A rented choir will not remove us without a political mandate."

South Africans have their say on Cope's factional battles

Below are some comments.

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@Patricia_Bantom said:

"Imagine being expelled from a dying organisation. People think they are powerful with one seat. COPE is finished mos."

@tseka_vincent joked:

"Tjo, Madisha le Lekota again, Cope is not coping."

@KhayaSibeko1 speculated:

"After this, he'll probably be consigned to the black plastic bags of history."

@J0zigirl cautioned:

"This party has like five members, so they need to be careful with all these terminations."

Cope no longer recognised as a company by CIPC, South Africans have a field day: “They couldn’t cope?”

In another story, Briefly News reported that the Congress of the People's (COPE) troubles just keep increasing.

The political organisation has been deregistered with the Companies Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) under the Companies Act, meaning it is longer classified as a company.

According to SABC News, lawyers sent a letter to former party member Willie Madisha to approach the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to understand the party's standing with the electoral body.

Source: Briefly News