So Many Questions: Mosiuoa Lekota

The Congress of the People plunged from 7.4% (1.3 million) of the votes and 30 seats in parliament in the 2009 national and provincial elections to 0.6% (about 120 000) and three seats this week.

Are you surprised?

Well, yes, I must say that we expected much, much better. I am on record as saying that we would do much better than in 2009, so the drop has been very shocking.

What were your polls telling you?

We did not have the funds to run polls of our own. But we assessed various communities in which we had support and we got reports from our structures in the provinces.

And these reports and assessments were all telling you that you would get more than 1.3million votes?

Yes, certainly.

How could they have got it so badly wrong?

We hold firmly the view that something must have intervened, because the mood in the communities was extremely positive.

What do you think intervened?

It is difficult to say at this time, because we have not sat with our structures to hear what their sense is. But when we finished the legal problems that we had with the anarchists that were among us, it was rather late in the day from the point of view of the elections.

Who do you think your votes went to?

No, really, I am afraid we cannot tell.

Mostly to the ANC?

I would not say to the ANC. There may have been some significant or observable names that went to the ANC, but clearly parties like the DA, like the EFF, which made significant gains, would have benefited.

Was it your message that had no impact or more a lack of infrastructure and funding?

I most definitely do not think it was the message. The message of the party was very welcomed all round. The problem may well have been our late recovery from the leadership spat. We were putting up structures starting about October. Many of those structures had new people who were inexperienced. We did not have time to drill them in the policy positions of the party. And as far as reaching out into the communities, a considerable number of the leadership of our branches were newer people - younger people still learning. So I think going forward we are going to perform much better.

So it is worth keeping COPE together?

I do not have the slightest doubt about that, because the future is going to be about political parties which can first of all put forward strong policy positions, which can observe the values of society, the constitution of the country, and men and women more attuned to governing.

Your track record does not inspire much confidence in your own ability to govern, does it?

Let me say this. To start a party from the ground, to cultivate a working national team ... this is a vast country and to get that machine operating as it should is one of the most challenging and difficult issues. Especially in the case of the Congress of the People, where we discovered almost every month or week individuals who were clearly planted to undermine the unity of the party. [With] all the money that was tied up in legal costs and so on, I am very proud that we have come to where we have come.

You think you can rebuild?

I am really convinced about it. South Africa needs a competitive democracy where you have a number of political parties. Where you have contestation, competent parties will rise to the occasion. But they can only do so where there is a competitive atmosphere, and COPE is a very important element of that.

Would you not contribute more to a competitive atmosphere if you teamed up with the DA?

Our party took a decision that we must seek to collaborate with other parties, and I was mandated to lead that. Nobody can be in any doubt that we tried as much as we could to coordinate opposition parties.

Will you continue negotiations?

We definitely remain open to engagement with other parties.

Is there anything that separates you from the DA from a policy point of view?

When we were saying that we should have cooperation and work together and so on, they took a position that they did not want to work with us. So we did not reject them; they rejected us.

Given where you are at now, would it not make sense to dissolve and join them?

No, dissolution is out, I am afraid.

Do we not have too many small parties?

The issue is not getting rid of COPE - it is about eliminating parties which do not send a representative to parliament. To eliminate parties which are able to mobilise enough support to sit in parliament is not where to start, I think.

Will you be able to attract enough funding to continue?

I am convinced we will be able to raise enough money.

Where from?

The first source of income for any political party is its members.

Why should they trust you with their money after all that has happened?

Because they are our members. This is their organisation.