The Congress Working Committee (CWC) of COPE met today at the party headquarters in Braamfontein. The meeting was attended by all the members of the committee. The meeting covered a number of issues relating to the functioning of the party in preparation for the forthcoming Congress National Committee (CNC) meeting. Included among these issues were the preparations for the elective congress, the party's functioning in Parliament, the state of the party's finances and the resolutions of the policy congress of May this year.

All of these issues will be processed by the CNC when it meets next week.

The CWC also resolved that JJ Tabane and Sipho Ngwema are not, and never have been mandated spokespersons of COPE. As such a letter will be sent to them from the office of the General Secretary today instructing these individuals to desist from speaking on behalf of COPE, or creating the impression that they are duly mandated to speak on behalf of the Congress of the People.

Statement issued by Philip Dexter, COPE national spokesperson, August 24 2010

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