Cope on Monday hastily promised to remove from its website so-called "press releases" which were in fact Sapa wire service news reports.

The Sapa copy had been plagiarised and edited to reflect Cope's election campaign activities in a positive light.

The party reacted within minutes of a lunchtime call from Sapa to lodge a complaint and demand that the illicit content be removed immediately.

"Once we started looking at it more closely, we were appalled to discover Sapa news stories, going back days, had been pirated and turned into Cope spin," Sapa editor Mark van der Velden said.

Party spokeswoman Palesa Morudu called back to confirm an instruction had been issued to the website's operators to remove the Sapa-originated content as a matter of urgency.

"I don't know what happened - we've been upgrading the website - but we've told them to remove all Sapa content," she said.

Sapa would be sent a formal written apology.

Van der Velden said Cope's speedy reaction and assurance that it would correct matters was appreciated.

The agency, however, viewed content piracy of this sort in a very serious light, as it was hugely damaging to Sapa's credibility for neutral, factual news reports.

The news agency would continue to monitor what was posted on the party's website, www.copewebsite.co.za.

"As long as nothing's changed, this is one Sapa story Cope can put up on its website with our blessing," Van der Velden said.