The Pretoria High Court on Friday dismissed with costs an application by the ANC to stop a breakaway group using the name Congress of the People to contest the elections next year.

The ANC had argued that the group, which intended launching as a party next week, used the name to gain instant credibility, because it was also the name of the event in 1955 which gave birth to the ruling party's Freedom Charter.

The first signs of a breakaway came when former defence minister and ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota said he felt the party was moving away from its founding principles and that a "divorce" was imminent.

The complaint revolved mainly around the ANC's support for its president Jacob Zuma during the corruption investigation against him.

Lekota, his former defence deputy Mluleki George and former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa, all resigned from the party and threw their weight behind a new movement — also citing unhappiness over the way former president Thabo Mbeki had been treated.

Mbeki was asked to resign after corruption charges against Zuma were set aside.

Cope was the movement's third choice of name after it learnt that the names SA National Convention and SA Democratic Congress were already taken.

Sapa