The ANC is in the process of raising its concerns over the name Congress of the People with the Independent Electoral Commission, spokesperson Carl Niehaus said on Monday.

On Friday, the ANC said it would oppose attempts to appropriate its political heritage, on the grounds that the original Congress of the People was an ANC event marking the Freedom Charter's adoption in 1955.

In terms of the Electoral Act, a party can object to another's similar name or logo.

The ANC initially lodged a court application to contest the first name chosen by the breakaway party — the SA National Convention.

When the new party discovered its second choice, the SA Democratic Congress, was already taken, it settled on Congress of the People (Cope).

Niehaus said the ANC would wait for an IEC finding on its concerns before deciding whether to return to the courts. "We will see how it goes from there," he said.

Waiting for an apology

The ANC is still demanding an apology from The Times newspaper over an article indicating that the party planned to axe a personal assistant accused of giving Cope strategic information.

Niehaus said Vuyisa Manyandela was back at her desk, as was ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte, and described the claim as "hot air".

The Times on Monday stood by its story.

Meanwhile, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has found himself in the spotlight again for his comments about Cope co-leader Mbhazima Shilowa.

Malema called him a bad father over child maintenance payments, and took a dig at his position as a security guard at The Star newspaper, before becoming Congress of SA Trade Unions president and Gauteng premier.

Shilowa was recently in the news for contesting paternity of a child with a former partner. He reportedly began maintenance payments after tests confirmed the biological link.

Malema also reportedly urged students at the University of Limpopo not to allow Cope to lobby on their campus.

ANC president Jacob Zuma reportedly spoke to Malema over his latest public statements.

Niehaus said Zuma had been reiterating the ANC's stance of political tolerance to all its members.

Disruptive members

In response, Cope's Terror Lekota said ANC members were disrupting his meetings in a manner that reminded him of apartheid.

At the SA national convention, where the formation of a new party was agreed on, Lekota said the ANC was taking on some of the worst characteristics of apartheid.

The ANC had not received any official complaints about the behaviour of its members at Cope meetings, but said it would investigate if they received them.

ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said although he had not been present at Malema's speeches, he said his comments about Shilowa were "observations" known to be true.

In a later statement he said the league reaffirmed its commitment to ANC values, but any suggestions from outside the ANC that they were unruly was "pathetically opportunistic".

The League had a level of relative autonomy but was not micro-managed by the ANC.

'Defaming game'

"The Sowetan and some in the media seem to be consciously playing the defaming game through distortion and sensational reporting on the character and statements of the ANCYL," he said, referring to a Sowetan headline "ANC can't gag us".

He said the league took advice from the ANC, but was not forced to listen.

However, Niehaus said, although the league had autonomy, "there is also the issue of who is the senior party".

"It's good for a child to listen to the mother party," quipped Niehaus.

Melissa Moore, head of the law clinic at the Freedom of Expression Institute, said that in the run-up to elections, politicians could make fair comment, but would need to back up with fact any claims they made about political opponents.

"Otherwise they could open themselves up to a defamation suit," said Moore.

Sapa