The Congress of the People(COPE), a political party of South Africa, formed in 2008 by former African National Congress (ANC) members. Its leader Mosiuoa “Terror” Lakota played a prominent role within the ANC before opting to start his own political party. During his term under the ANC, he served as Minister of Defense and Premier of the Free State.
Cope received a fair amount of support in the 2009 national elections and secured an overall 13.67 percent. The party lost a significant amount of support in 2014 leaving the party with only 1.20 percent. The municipal elections held in 2011 was no better for the party, and they only secured 2.1 percent. Cope has an inclusive strategy and hoping to better the 2011 results in the August 2016 municipal elections.
The manifesto of COPE should they obtain a victorious win would be to downsize government and use the wasted resources for the investment in the economy. Under the leadership of the ANC, the government structure has grown significantly by creating wasteful positions.
It is the goal of this party to support an environmentally robust economy. The party will promote organic farming to protect both the consumer and the environment.
Education remained a pivotal role of the government and COPE would ensure that the already far too low pass rate for matriculants would be increased. Education will include artisan programs and physical education which would be mandatory for all students. COPE emphasized the importance of teachers and would separate the Union associated with education. COPE highlighted the importance of unions but recalled that the demands from union members conflicted with the free teaching profession.
The health care program would be run by professional managers if COPE was to come into power.
Another factor COPE wants to change is the secrecy bill as it is, according to COPE leaders undermine the freedom of the press and maybe use this law to hide corruption.
COPE have a plan to take the political power and provide better government to the people of South Africa. The party has listed a substantially workable proposal for the country and above all want to eradicate corruption. While Lekota has a large following, his turbulent past still lingers in the minds of many. COPE can deliver a decent governance to the people of South Africa, and the 2016 municipal elections will show how desperate the citizens actually are for change. COPE is promoting clean governance with their inclusive plan.
While COPE ensures that their manifesto is a decent upliftment for the majority of South Africans, there is always the constant reminder that this party was originally part of the governing ANC party. Members are torn between voting for the ANC, who according to the masses deserve their loyalty, and then moving away to another party based on the high corruption within that party. The ANC have failed miserably on service deliveries, and people are looking for a government that will uplift their lives. The option of voting for another party is particularly confusing for most simply because COPE like the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were born out of the ANC and there is the possibility that the ANC policies whether good or bad would linger into the new party.
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