South Africa’s Congress of the People (COPE) appears to be setting itself up as a watchdog for all sorts of political malfeasance and thus to be positioning itself as the legitimate opposition party to the African National Congress (ANC). In recent days COPE has both defended the ANC’s Kader Asmal against supposed hate speech from deputy police minister Fikile Mbalula and the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) and plans to lodge a complaint against police Minister Nathi Mthethwa over the minister’s stay at two luxury hotels on the public account. If these actions represent a systematic attempt to set the party up as a true advocate for “the people” (scare quotation marks included because, let’s face it – what party does not claim to represent the people?) I’d say it is a smart leap forward for a political party with considerable promise but much distance to travel.