The Congress of the People (Cope) in KwaZulu-Natal said that it was concerned about mud-slinging in the party ahead of its elective conference.

"We are very concerned about what is happening now. Cope in KwaZulu-Natal is not going to get involved in the mud-slinging," said the party's provincial chairmpperson Lucky Gabela during a provincial policy conference on Saturday.

Cope head of policy Smuts Ngonyama was also in attendance at the conference in Durban.

The race for top positions in Cope is gaining momentum as the party approaches its first elective conference.

It was recently reported that Cope president Terror Lekota seemed to be losing his grip of power because more provinces allegedly backed his deputy Mbhazimi Shilowa to take the reins.

The election conference will take place at the end of May.

The Mail&Guardian reported that the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, the North West, as well as the party's youth division, expressed support for Shilowa.

Gabela said making that pronouncements on preferred candidates was unnecessary; adding that even the credentials of delegates who will attend the conference had yet to be finalised.

Ngonyama also addressed Saturday's conference, saying that fighting for positions in the party needed to stop.

"We have to elect leaders who are willing to serve our people and not people who want to serve their egos. We must not get it wrong this time around, because we made many sacrifices when we formed this organisation," he said.

Ngonyama said that Cope supported a progressive social democracy when businesses were allowed to do business freely.

It emerged during the conference that Cope in KwaZulu-Natal was struggling to form its branches.

The party has 56 audited branches in the whole province.

Gabela said he believed the slow pace of branch formation was due to intimidation from members of the African National Congress.

" I am undoubtedly aware that some among you are worried that the pace of establishing branches is very slow. I fully agree with you, but we need to know that this is not of our making," said Gabela.