ANC elections head Fikile Mbalula's open letter to Thabo Mbeki confirms that "vilification, lies and political insults" are used by the ANC to deal with political issues within its ranks, Cope said on Wednesday.

"Fikile Mbalula's open letter to former president Thabo Mbeki aims to draw the Congress of the People into the ongoing factionalism that bedevils the ruling party," it said in a statement.

"It seeks to portray Cope as part of a divided ANC house.

"For the record: Thabo Mbeki is a member of the ANC, and had no role whatsoever in the formation of the party, Cope.

"Cope is an independent political party that seeks to restore the dignity of our constitutional order," it said.

Mbalula's diatribe against Mbeki was really just a sorry attempt to justify what had in fact taken place under ANC president Jacob Zuma's leadership of the ANC ? undermining of the rule of law, undermining of the constitution, and the subordination of the interests of the nation to "one man and his merry band of fellow conspirators".

It was a further sign of panic aimed at forcing the "perceived" internal supporters of Cope into the open after the public endorsement of the party by senior ANC member, former public enterprises minister Alec Erwin.

Instead of dealing with the pertinent issues Erwin raised, Mbalula had unleashed a characteristic vitriol aimed at one of their own, Mbeki, essentially branding him an enemy of the "revolution."

"History will judge Mbalula"

Yet the party had no shame claiming the progress of the past fifteen years in its manifesto and elections campaigns.

"This progress, which all the leaders of the ANC mouth all the time on television and as they criss-cross the country in their campaign, was apparently achieved under the leadership of Thabo Mbeki, a man Mbalula and his party have reserved nothing but hatred.

"History will judge Mbalula and his NEC for destroying the ANC ? the one hope people of South Africa had for a better life. Now it is a party of a 'better life for the members of the NEC elite'," Cope said.

Mbeki's other crime was that he refused to endorse and campaign for Zuma's ANC.

"Who really can blame him? The first thing Zuma said after the NPA (National Prosecutions Authority) got him off the hook, was to go for the Constitutional Court calling for its powers to be reviewed and striking ruthlessly at the very heart of our constitutional order.

"No self respecting democrat can identify with such irresponsibility."

Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota, on behalf of a number of individuals, foresaw all this when he served "divorce" papers on the ANC late last year.

"Mbalula's letter rubbishes all these principles"

The reasons he put forward were that the ANC had deviated from the principles, values and tradition that once defined the South African liberation movement.

These included respect for the Constitution, valuing democracy and defending the rule of law and the principle defined in the Freedom Charter that all shall be equal before the law.

"Mbalula's letter rubbishes all these principles, and instead confirms that vilification, lies and political insults are the methods to be employed by the ruling party in dealing with political issues within its ranks," Cope said.

Nothing that had happened in recent weeks had proved any political conspiracy against Zuma, any executive interference in the work of the NPA, or any wrongdoing by Mbeki.

"Instead, all we have are alleged tapes, excerpts from these alleged tapes and unexplained trading of information between the NIA (National Intelligence Agency) and Jacob Zuma's attorneys.

"Cope still awaits the release of all the tapes to the public, it awaits an explanation of how Jacob Zuma's attorneys came to possess these tapes and it still awaits an explanation from the NPA as to whether any of its officials met any representative of Jacob Zuma to discuss the terms of this political deal that has been struck between the NPA and the ANC leadership.

"No amount of noise by Mbalula will cover up the lie that has been sold to the public by the NPA," Cope said.