The interim chairman of the Congress of the People (Cope), Mosiuoa Lekota, was due to spell out the political agenda of the breakaway party at its inaugural conference in Bloemfontein on Sunday.

The former defence minister who "served divorce papers" on the ANC in October, on Saturday accused the ruling party of creating a climate of intimidation to stop members defecting to the new movement in ahead of the 2009 elections.

"There are men and women who are terrified to even walk near the hotels where Cope delegates stay or near the University of the Free State," he said, referring to the campus hosting the event.

"We should ask why the fear, especially in poor black communities who have pinned their hopes on the ruling party in the past."

Lekota was speaking as busloads of Cope supporters arrived in Bloemfontein, also the birthplace of the ANC, from across the country to register for the launch which will culminate in a rally on Tuesday.

Some 4000 delegates were expected to attend the launch of the party which claims to have amassed 428 000 paid-up members in a few weeks.

Cope went into the conference buoyed by a Pretoria High Court ruling rejecting an ANC application seeking to stop the party using the name of the historical 1955 meeting that gave birth to the Freedom Charter.

The party will use the conference to name the leaders that will steer it to the polls next year.