Acting Congress of the People (Cope) president Mbhazima Shilowa adjourned the party's national congress on Sunday afternoon pending an urgent court appeal to overturn ousted president Mosiuoa Lekota's attempt to prevent elections.

On Saturday, Lekota won an interdict to halt elections based on the grounds that the Congress National Committee had resolved that elections could not go ahead at the policy conference.

"From where I sit, it appears that the judgment was misdirected. It is for this reason that we have today [Sunday] briefed senior counsel and given them a mandate to appear in court on an urgent basis on our behalf," Shilowa said.

He was speaking hours after Lekota affirmed his position as president of the party after the congress passed a vote of no confidence in him.

"I remain firmly the president of Cope," Lekota told journalists at a briefing in Kempton Park.

Lekota was adamant that the congress had no right to pass the vote.

He said that regulations and procedures to remove members of the Cope leadership structure, the Congress National Committee (CNC), did not exist in the party's constitution.

"Such regulations have not been developed and adopted by our organisation," he said.

Cope now has an acting president and a president, both believing that they are the rightful leaders of the party.

A statement issued by Sipho Ngwema, allied to Shilowa, sought to clear up the confusion about the "status and powers" of the conference and to illustrate that Lekota was no longer president.

"All the resolutions, motions and other decisions of congress, save those related to internal elections, are the positions of Cope."

Lekota said that Cope had not split despite the difficulties it faced.

"We are committed to unity at all cost... but we are not committed to that unity at any cost."

He explained that he was committed to unity provided that he would not have to compromise the principals the party stood for.

"It is not possible to compromise principle... I mean that there are bounds... perimetres beyond which unity is not possible."

Unfortunately, he added, the differences between the two factions did in fact go "down to differences of principle".

He hoped to discuss the differences with the other side in a meeting of the CNC, which he would request soon.

Lekota also did not rule out litigation to overturn the vote of no confidence taken in him.