Epainette Mbeki, the 92-year-old mother of former president Thabo Mbeki, attended a COPE meeting on Thursday but has not joined the party.
COPE spokesperson Nkosifikile Gqomo said "Ma-Mbeki" was present at an event held by the party in the Eastern Cape but she had not joined the newly-formed party, which emerged after a disgruntled group broke away from the ruling ANC.
"No, we can confirm she was part of our meeting but she did not join yet... joining means signing the papers or filling in application forms for approval and she has not done any of that," he said.
"We appreciate her presence at our meeting... she enjoyed being with us and we enjoyed being with her. We are going to her town tomorrow and we might see her again then."
Gqomo said the party's campaign in the province, where it will launch its manifesto on January 24, was going well and he expected around 50 000 people to attend the launch at the Wolfson Stadium in Kwa Zakhele township in Port Elizabeth. - Sapa