Cope is not considering forming a coalition with the ANC after the general elections, its presidential candidate Mvume Dandala said on Wednesday.

Dandala told a packed auditorium at the University of Pretoria that media reports stating otherwise were examples of how "some people listen selectively".

He had previously said when he was asked if a coalition with any other party was on the cards: "This is not the time to talk about coalitions yet."

When pressed on an affiliation with the African National Congress, he said the party's eyes were set on winning the elections but that a coalition with any party that "implicitly" held the same values as the Congress of the People could be considered.

However, Dandala on Wednesday went further to explain just how much the ANC's values differed from its own.

"Given what we were expecting over the past 15 years [of ANC rule], does anyone here honestly believe that the ANC can live up to these values that we are talking about?" he asked the crowd to loud applause and whistling.

He said it was beyond optimistic for the ANC to try, in the six weeks leading up to the general elections on April 22, to convince voters that it had succeeded in its efforts to improve the lives of South Africans.

Dandala's earlier comments, prompted Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille last week to challenge Cope on whether this was their intention after the elections.

"I do believe there is a possibility that Cope may form a coalition with the ANC... Dandala's statement about going into coalition lends credence to that belief, as does his general attitude towards the ANC," she said at the time.

In a statement on Wednesday, Cope spokesman Onkgopotse JJ Tabane said the party sadly noted the DA's distortion of this position for cheap political gain.

He said the party was seeking to fuel baseless conspiracy theories suggesting that Cope was another.

Voters would see such propaganda for what it really was.

"Cope will continue to propagate for a change in government and prepare itself to provide South Africa with alternative government," he said.

Dandala also told the gathering in Pretoria that a sense of professionalism needed to be reclaimed by the country and a "clean" government must be tasked with its leadership.

"Now is the time to give South Africans hope and energy to reclaim the dream of 1994.

"But for this to happen we need a new government," he said to loud applause.

He said at the heart of the country's problems were corruption and accountability.

"Corruption eats into the moral fibre of our nation. It takes away resources from the poor and lines the pockets of the greedy."

Dandala said "if, no when" he was president he would take instructions from the people of South Africa and not act as a puppet of his party.

"When I become president of the republic of South Africa I will be head of government and head of state and I will be taking my instructions from Parliament.

"Mr [Terror] Lekota, the president of Cope, will be leading our troops to influence the decisions of Parliament. That decision ceases to become the decision of the party but of the people."

This roused the crowd to their feet, including his son, actor Hlomla Dandala, who clapped loudly and whistled.