Bitter infighting in the Congress of the People (Cope) party continued on Thursday with the party's general secretary Charlotte Lobe accusing its president Mosiuoa Lekota of trying to derail a national conference scheduled for the end of May.

In a letter to Cope members, Lobe wrote that she would recommend "stern action" against leaders who were turning the party's Congress National Committee (CNC) into "liars" and "bringing the organisation into disrepute".

"As general secretary, I will have an obligation to recommend stern action against leaders who are turning the entire CNC into liars and bringing the organisation into disrepute," she wrote.

Lobe was "alarmed" at suggestions by some senior of the party's leaders "especially the president and the head of policy (Smuts Ngonyama)" that the organisation is not ready for the conference.

"At a CNC meeting where the president chaired and Mr Ngonyama was present, the Cope leadership unanimously... gave a green light for the conference to proceed without hindrance," Lobe wrote.

"The congress will ultimately have to pronounce on this kind of ill-discipline of members of the leadership of Cope."

"The only conclusion we can arrive at is that this is a deliberate ploy to disrupt preparations for the conference and defocus delegates who are preparing themselves for this historic inaugural elective conference.

Last month Lekota publicly suggested that his deputy Mbhazima Shilowa had mismanaged R20-million allocated to the party by Parliament. Lekota later apologised to Shilowa for the outburst.

Lobe said that Cope's books were being audited at its head office and in Parliament.

"Both processes are going on very smoothly. In fact, the CNC has already approved preliminary the treasurer's report that will serve next week in front of the congress."

According to Lobe, 2 316 branches had passed a membership audit and could send delegates to congress.

"There is no basis for any new audit of our membership and Cope rejects outright any calls for such an audit from whatever quarters are being made."

On Monday, the party's Free State chapter claimed that less than 50% of the branches in all provinces, barring the Eastern Cape, were accredited to attend. It also wanted a recount of its membership forms.

Branches in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Free State, Limpopo and the Northern Cape were also reported to want the congress postponed.

According to an audit of Cope's membership, the party has 74 631 members nationally, 2 052 of whom would participate in the congress.

The congress will be the party's first elective conference. Its current leadership was elected by consensus at a launch conference in Bloemfontein in 2008.

Cope obtained 30 seats in Parliament in the 2009 general election.