Cope parliamentary leader Mvume Dandala had offered to step down amid leadership squabbles in the new opposition party, The Star newspaper reported on Thursday.

"At a stage where it was becoming unclear whether the decision for the office of a presidential candidate and parliamentary leader was a transparent decision of the structures, I said to the members that if it will assist our party to become stronger, I am ready to step down," Dandala said in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

He said Cope's former second deputy president, Lynda Odendaal, had asked him to step down.

"Her reason was that the presence and the election of a presidential candidate was not part of the decisions of the Congress of the People," said Dandala.

However, Cope leaders had explained to him that his election was legitimate, The Star quoted Dandala as saying.

Odendaal resigned from the party last month. She complained about Dandala being chosen as parliamentary leader over the party's co-founder Terror Lekota, claiming that this happened without Lekota's knowledge.

Earlier this month, co-founder Mluleki George admitted there were problems in the fledgling opposition party's leadership.

"Our biggest challenge as Cope is to be a strong organisation, to do what Cope was founded for, because the problems of Cope are not on the ground, the problems of Cope are in the leadership which, to me, even that one is a temporary problem," said George.

Former African National Congress veterans Mbhazima Shilowa, Lekota and former deputy defence minister George broke away from the ruling party late last year to form Cope.