As recently as April and the eve of the South African elections, prominent and controversial former-ANC clergyman-turned Congress of the People-leader Alan Boesak was trying to persuade Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille to abandon her ultimately non-viable party and to join forces with COPE. Zille had no interest of course and instead leads the DA as the official opposition party, a status that COPE sees as a logical next step, but for which it may be ill prepared. Just six months after recahing out to Zille, Boesak has left COPE, allegedly because the party’s “structures are in disarray,” and before even most party officials probably realized Boesak was gone, the ANC was there to meet him with open arms. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, meanwhile, hopes that Boesak finds his true calling in “God’s Party” and rejoins the active clergy. It remains to be seen whether the ANC or God will win the bidding for Boesak’s presence, but at least from the perspective of both appearances and symbolism, COPE emerges as the big loser in the Boesak sweepstakes.
