Mvume Dandala, the parliamentary leader of the Congress of the People, and that party’s presidential candidate in South Africa’s recent elections, recently offered to resign his leadership post in the beleaguered and fractured party. The party requested his offer, which was probably wise. Dandala was clearly not the best choice for party standard bearer, but if COPE is going to grow into a legitimate opposition party (and for all of its problems, I still see COPE as the most viable official opposition to the African National Congress going forward) it needs stability starting at the top. COPE needs to build a legitimate party infrastructure – which is a lot less glamorous than the dreams of instant glory that percolated soon after the party seemed to gain viability — and to ascertain what, precisely, it stands for beyond simply not being the ANC. If it does those things, COPE will become a viable national party. If not, it will fall by the wayside and become little more than a footnote in South African political history.
