Following the controversial resignation of Thabo Mbeki in late 2008, former Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and former Premier of Gauteng Mbhazima Shilowa, resigned from the ANC. They formed a new political party, which was named Congress of the People (Cope) in November 2008. This has been an important development for South African politics, breaking the cohesive structure of the ruling ANC for the first time since it came to power in 1994. (Werner Beukes, Sapa)
