Supporters of the new faction tore up ANC membership cards and t-shirts [EPA]

More than 7,000 people gathered for the two-day convention, which began on Saturday, to draft policies for the new party.

The size of the crowd exceeded organisers' expectations and about one third of them were not able to fit into the convention hall.

Mosiuoa Lekota, the former defence minister, opened the convention with a traditional ANC chant "Amandla!" - or "Power!" - and led the crowd in cheering, "Forward with the convention, forward!"

"We have no apology to anybody. We have decided and we are ready to fight as messengers and representatives of hope for the people," he said.

The new party, which is expected to challenge the ANC in polls next year, is due to be officially launched in December, officials of the movement said.

ANC domination

The ANC has dominated South African politics since the end of apartheid in 1994.

But the bitter split created when the ANC forced Thabo Mbeki, the then president of South Africa, to resign before the end of his second term threatens to create an a viable alternative.

The meeting follows an attempt by the ANC to block the formation of the breakaway party.

Lekota, former ANC chairman and Mbeki ally, leads the breakaway movement [AFP]

Late on Friday, a Pretoria high court deferred ruling on an application filed by the ANC "to prevent the use of names or designations that may be confusingly similar to the name and trademark of the ANC".

The new party does not yet have name.

Lekota officially resigned from the party on Friday over its treatment of Mbeki. He had already been suspended by the ANC after he suggested he may might form the new party.

Mbeki's resignation

Mbeki has distanced himself from Lekota's move, but in letter published in The Star newspaper on friday he refused to endorse the ANC and asked that his name not be used during its election campaign.

Mbeki stepped down in September after a judge suggested he may have interfered in the prosecution of Jacob Zuma, his successor as ANC president and the man widely tipped to be South Africa's next president.

Mbeki strongly denied the claims.

The ANC won more than two-thirds of votes in the last election and controls a strong majority in parliament.

General elections are due to be held in South Africa in the first half of next year.

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