Congress of the People (COPE) has terminated the membership of its Speaker in the City of Johannesburg, Colleen Makhubele.
Makhubele was seen in pictures of a new organisation which COPE said was in breach of the party’s constitution.
She reportedly encouraged South Africans to vote in her capacity as Chairperson of the South African Rainbow Alliance (SARA) at the weekend.
SARA is a voting bloc that was initially set up to be the umbrella body for political parties that wanted to work with COPE next year ahead of the national elections.
COPE President, Mosiuoa Lekota explains, “I cannot be worried about that when you form a political party, you say to the people things you want to do for them, and they vote for you on the basis of what you have promised them. Now they are not married to you for life in their own minds. There is a condition: if you don’t do that which satisfies us, we are going to live, and I am not surprised at all that people come and go as they grow older and begin to see that some of the things that we thought were going to happen do not happen.”
COPE terminates membership of Joburg Speaker Colleen Makhubele:
In August former COPE Spokesperson, Dennis Bloem resigned from the party.
However, COPE National Chairperson, Teboho Loate, said that the “purported resignation” from COPE by Bloem was an attempt to pre-empt the impact of his logical fate and to save face.
Loate added that Bloem’s membership was terminated by the Congress’ National Committee (CNC) during its meeting held in Bloemfontein over the past weekend of August 19-20, 2023.
The party has been marred by divisions ahead of the 2024 elections.
Makhubele joins Bloem, Willie Madisha and Mzwandile Hleko in the list of persons whose memberships were terminated by the party’s CNC.
COPE | Expulsion of Hleko, Madisha had big influence on my decision to resign: Dennis Bloem:
