The Congress of the People faces an uphill battle this weekend to carve out an independent identity for itself, political analysts said on Thursday.

The party, led by former defence minister and former ANC chairman Terror Lekota, launches its election manifesto this weekend.

Said Centre for Policy Studies political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi: "What will happen in terms of the content of the manifesto is that it will be difficult to differentiate between the ANC and Cope."

In terms of policy the party would make an attempt to distance itself from their severed roots through emphasising certain areas and also the few areas which differ from that of the ANC - such as re-instating the Scorpions and overhauling the electoral system.

"I suspect they are not going to succeed in hiding their origins," Matshiqi said.

"They will not be able to say ANC policies failed, their policies are similar and their leaders were part of the ANC. So they will say the ANC's policies were good but its implementation is bad.

"Therefore, one of the areas of emphasis for them will be the mechanisms through which they implement policies."

Cope general secretary Charlotte Lobbe earlier this month emphasised the implementation of policies as she released the party's resolutions adopted at its inaugural congress in December.

"Having a policy and implementing a policy are two different issues and we believe that one of the things that we need to really focus on is implementation of the good policies that we currently have in the country," she said.

Constitutional lawyer and political analyst Professor Shadrack Gutto said Cope's identity battle was a tricky one with the ANC labelling it as right-wing and parties such as the Democratic Alliance painting it as "yet another ANC".

"Personally, though, I don't think it has to be one or the other... it's been able to draw or attract a wide range of people in terms of its leadership... it has people with struggle credentials, people from the freedom charter tradition and from that point of view it has liberalist tendencies," he said.

"The manifesto is going to go a long way in helping people begin to see what political animal they [Cope] are really dealing with.

The party has also drawn recruits from the DA, the Independent Democrats and the Freedom Front Plus.

Gutto expected that Cope would use its defence of the Constitution to differentiate itself from other parties.

"It is trying to portray itself as a party which defends the Constitution... its defence stands out a lot more than other parties.

"The ANC manifesto dealt with issues around fighting crime but that is different from really having a robust manifesto that looks at issues of rule of law and strengthening the Constitution," he said.

Steven Friedman, analyst and research associate at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, said he was hesitant to agree that Cope had to be at pains to differentiate itself from the ruling party.

"I don't think they have to do anything to differentiate themselves from the ANC," he said.

Friedman said Cope's manifesto might very well be similar to that of the ANC but this would not matter because, in essence, the party was hoping to appeal to voters who in the past had cast their lot with the ruling party.

"I do think, however, that Mr Zuma's [ANC president] legal troubles will be a major issue... the Scorpions will emerge as a major issue in the manifesto," he said.

Cope launches its manifesto in the hotly contested Eastern Cape on Saturday, hoping to attract around 40,000 people to the Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

Its manifesto is expected to expand on resolutions it took at its inaugural congress in December.

These include stabilising the economy in response to the global financial slowdown and the pending job losses emerging as a consequence of the crisis.

In its resolutions the party also emphasised food security, rural development, criminal justice and electoral reform; including re-instating the Scorpions in line with the Khampepe Commission's resolutions, providing "credible leadership", deepening democratic values, and investment in education and social development.