Breaking away is tough - as the SA Democratic Congress (Sadec) suddenly realised when it discovered that the name it had chosen to contest the next election had already been taken.

Breaking away is tough - as the SA Democratic Congress (Sadec) suddenly realised when it discovered that the name it had chosen to contest the next election had already been taken.

An existing party named the SA Democratic Congress (Sadeco) wants to engage with the soon-to-be-registered political movement of Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa to discuss the similarity of their parties' names.

Shilowa had earlier announced that they had decided to call their new party by the same name.

But Sadeco general secretary Samuel Kennedy said the name Sadeco was registered early this year by a group that had broken away from the National Democratic Convention. Only the acronyms, Sadeco and the proposed Sadec, differ.

Electoral law states that the names and logos of various parties should not be confusingly similar.

"I am disappointed that we have not been able to finalise this issue of the names," said the new movement's spokesman, Mbulelo Ncedana.

"We are not going to fight over names, but we had hoped to use it to contest the December 10 by-elections."

In an earlier statement announcing their choice Sadec said: "The name embodies the newness and change of the South African political landscape." - Sapa