When there is a rift in the ANC, you rarely hear anyone say: ANC is dying due to the power struggle. It is as if ANC has the right to have challenges and other political parties have no right to have internal differences.

When this tussles happen in ANC it's a succession debate, when they happen say in COPE, then is power struggle. How convenient?

It is unfortunate that some Cope members have come to believe this twisted perception that seeks to slow us down. Some of the challenges identified by Cope members are isolated, distant and lacks congruency. This does not mean this challenges are not real or do not exist. However, the way these challenges are picked out is dangerous and gives a wrong picture on how COPE is doing and why Cope is at the state is in now.

It is similar with the misplaced Ipsos Markinor survey, they says that at this point Cope's support has dropped to 2%, meaning that Cope has lost 5% (see here). This type of information is ill conceived, it may not be wrong, but it's put out in a poisonous manner. I agree with Cope's statement that without comparative results with other political parties, this information is useless and not worth the paper it's written on. It could be that, as it is ANC support is sitting at 40%, DA at 5%, and so on. But we won't know since Markinor's main goal was to prove that Cope is dying at all costs.

When you pick up a verse in the bible that says: Don't have SEX, you are not wrong. But you in essence present a wrong picture all together. Maybe the correct quote would be to say: Don't have SEX before marriage. This then opens up one's mind and presents a much better picture.

What this means is that, you can't critique the performance without elaborating as to in what conditions was the performance done? The conditions must be thoroughly elaborated upon so that the reviewer of the performance can be objective.

In his article titled" Bleeding and floundering Cope in need of new direction" (The Sunday Independent December 13 2009), Sipho Ngwema says: by and large Cope has been a damp squib, he further says: so far the organization seems to be a let down.

These assertions of course are dangerous because they are silent on how Cope should be performing now. For me to really absorb that Cope is a let down, a damp squib for that matter, I need to first understand as to what is expected of Cope now? Once that is articulated, I then need to know, does Cope have resources and the infrastructure to perform as anticipated? If so, will Cope still have those resources to run the local elections successfully?

It must be understood that Cope just fought a fierce election in April, where Cope leadership was going to all corners of the country. Indeed, even at this point we did not have resources. I can convincingly say most regional and provincial leaders where operating out of their own pockets.

Does it mean that Sipho Ngwama's article is wrong and off the mark? Not really, in fact his article could have more truth than I care to mention. However, for its truth to really stand out certain things would have to be articulated e.g. historical evolution of political parties, the life cycle of a new party. He could further, give us example on how other political parties with almost similar resources and constrains have performed since April elections.

Of course as Cope members we are developing a certain level of self hatred, maybe due to the fact that we committed certain errors in the run-up to the April elections and have performed below expectations. Now anyone who is everyone willing to tell us how incompetent we are we applaud them at the blink of an eye.

In his article titled "Cope has to rise to the occasion and stop the rot" (December 19 2009) JJ Tabane says: At the heart of the deferred dream of an alternative government - is the failure of visionary, pragmatic and organized leadership within Cope. He further says that, being absent from national discourse or being disorganized in parliament is certainly not how one wins hearts and minds.

This then does not elaborate as to how exactly the dream is deferred. Is there any particular activity that would suggest that the dream is deferred? If this was said after the local elections and we had performed poorly, I would say that indeed he is correct. But this assertion comes out of nowhere. They come from the fact that, some Cope members had high expectations, expectations of which are not met. It is not established as to whether those expectations were realistic or just emotional vibrations.

Tabane expresses his dismay on the poor performance of COPE MP's, in this instance, he is the adviser of COPE's parliamentary leader Mvume Dandala. Why can't he drastically apply this wisdom of Organized and pragmatic leadership here in parliament?

All these assertions are not necessarily wrong. But it's very worrying when a leader asserts itself through an article while analyzing such a complex subject. In my view, there was suppose to be a document that will elaborate on where we come from, the challenges we faced our flops and how could we do better here going forward.

In this instance it must be noted that Sipho Ngwema is also Gauteng head of communications, a very powerful leadership role.

Here then we are having top Cope leaders complaining and expressing their dissatisfaction to the membership and to the voter community. The concerns that they have are mostly shared with ordinary members. So, then who must answer who. We seem to all have questions.

Cope needs a fair chance and I agree its leadership in totality must RISE to the occasion, this does not mean that there is any ROT, it just mean that we must find a way to stay ahead or be at par with the most effective organizations.

If there are any serious flops in COPE, at whose door step must they be placed? The NWC, or CNC, or at Provincial leadership, youth leadership, student leadership or women leadership? If any of these structures are performing excellently maybe that is the structure that must take the lead. If none of these COPE structures are functional, then maybe a deeper look must be taken? Maybe there is a much more complex challenge that cannot be identified by me sitting here writing an article.

At the end of the day we still need our leaders as they themselves are active COPE members. We need to show then support while also indicating to them where improvements could be made.

Even Julius Malema does not go around lambasting ANC leadership; even such a reckless politician knows that he needs to give his party's leadership support.

Could some of these debates be intended to set a tone for the up and coming conference? If I am a leader and lambaste the leadership, members may just be sympathetic to me. Could this be part of the negative lobbying? I don't know and I don't want to suggest that it is.

I personally believe that while these concerns may be badly put, but they are worth noting. But to make a conclusive judgment based only on this concerns it would be fatal and self defeating a broader picture need to be painted.

The reality is that this analysis coming from JJ Tabane and Sipho Ngwema is more credible than that coming from anyone else. As such it becomes extremely dangerous. So, with the local elections coming, this will be used by our rivals against us. It is something else when I say these things, as I'm just an ordinary COPE member. The leadership can refute it, but when these things are said by people who are close to leadership and have worked in their capacities as spokespersons and Chief communications offices, it becomes completely impossible to deal with.

At times if you are a leader, it's one thing for one to accept one's flaws, this is positive. But, if you publicise these flaws in front of the public while having no plan to deal with them you are destroying yourself. It is suicidal.

It's time now for all of us to protect Cope with all our might. The biggest enemy to Cope is not ANC or the Media, it is ourselves. We therefore need to observe ourselves closely.

When we go about lobbying for the upcoming conferences, we must be careful not to destroy each other thereby destroying the movement.

Now our focus is on establishing democratic structures, let's focus on that, why suddenly are people digging out the old worn out problems at the point where some of us have moved on and are looking forward to the different conferences that are coming up.

Is it not time for us to be working and not mourning. Is it not the time for us to build our party? Let's build our party and have an opportunity to elect the leadership we believe in.

Sefu Sekgala is a member of COPE (Congress of the people) and writes here in his personal capacity.

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