Simon Grindrod, a major figure in the Congress of the People (Cope), on Tuesday launched an attack against his party's leadership.

"It is becoming my view, that a great fraud has been perpetrated against the South African electorate and I will no longer be part of leading it," he said in a letter to the party's general secretary.

He was resigning as a member of Cope's national working committee and the party's head of elections, but remained an ordinary party member.

"After eight months of genuine effort to further the work of the party as a member of the national executive, I am now convinced that very little appetite exists to accept, let alone rectify, the very serious challenges which face the party."

Grindrod said the party was beset by problems, ranging from leadership battles between party president Terror Lekota and his deputy Mbhazima Shilowa to party list manipulation, a culture of denialism, an inactive party website to an empty head office in central Johannesburg costing R60 000 a month.

He accused the party leadership of neglecting its long-term viability.

"It very much appears that Cope was, in the light of recent events, little more than an alternative vehicle for the entrenchment of key individuals who now seek to further what are African National Congress (ANC) policies and processes by any other name."

Cope had promised an "agenda for hope and change for all South Africans".

"It is becoming abundantly clear to me that 'hope' is in decline, there is no 'change' from ANC practices, and the only South Africans setting the 'agenda' are current and former ANC members, to the exclusion of all others."