The new leadership of the Congress of the People (Cope) says they have learnt from the mistakes of the African National Congress and do not want to repeat them.

Addressing journalists at a press briefing on the last day of Cope's inaugural conference at the University of the Free State, the party's newly elected treasurer Hilda Ndude said South Africa had lost its credibility because of the mistakes of the ANC and "the kind of leadership elected in Polokwane".

"I left politics in 1998 because I felt at the time that what needed to be done had been done...but I was mistaken.

"The scales of South Africa's credibility had dropped... and we now need to take the scales even higher."

Ndude, a former ANC MP turned businesswoman, urged people not to be afraid of change.

"How are you going to know new faces if you don't give them a chance?" she asked.

Ndude said Cope intended taking South Africa to new heights with an across the board equality system.

"I have never in my history with the ANC seen the kind of response of white people to any party than to this organisation... This is the spirit that we all should take to show the differences between Cope and the ANC... that colour does not matter."

The party's second deputy president Lynda Odendaal said it was a privilege for her to serve Cope and South Africa.

"There is equality for all of us in Cope and... [we] will continue to collaborate with other political parties and enter into dialogue with them."

Secretary-general Charlotte Lobe said: "We should focus our efforts now on the election campaign... because it's our main task."