Mosiuoa Lekota

Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota (13 August 1948 – 4 March 2026) was a South African anti-Apartheid revolutionary for the African National Congress (ANC) who served jail time with Nelson Mandela from 1985 and who left the ANC to form the Congress of the People (Cope) splinter party in 2008. He served as its President from 16 December 2008.

Previously as a member of the African National Congress, under President Thabo Mbeki, he served in the Cabinet of South Africa as Minister of Defence from 17 June 1999 to 25 September 2008. His nickname Terror Lekota comes from his playing style on the soccer field. He was a leader of the United Democratic Front and a key defendant in the Delmas Treason Trial, 1985 to 1988.

Early life and education Lekota was born in Kroonstad. He had his primary education at Susanna Farm School and most of his secondary education at Mariazell High School in Matatiele. However, he matriculated at St. Francis College in Mariannhill in 1969. Although he enrolled for a social science degree at the University of the North, Lekota was expelled due to his Student Representative Council- and Black Consciousness Movement-aligned South African Students' Organisation (SASO) activities in 1972.

Career Lekota became a permanent organiser for SASO in 1974, but was imprisoned at Robben Island Prison for "conspiring to commit acts endangering the maintenance of law and order" during the same year. He had organised victory rallies to celebrate the independence of Mozambique. He was released from prison in 1982.

After his release, he was elected publicity secretary of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983. In 1985, Lekota was detained and later sentenced in the Delmas Treason Trial. However, he was released in 1989 after the Appeal Court reviewed the sentence.

Announcement of new party

On 8 October 2008, Lekota announced that the faction of the party that was loyal to Mbeki would serve "divorce papers", indicating a secession from the ANC and the creation of a new political party. This was duly carried out, making it the first mass schism from the ANC since the creation of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania in 1959 during the apartheid period.

The announcement was both rejected and played down by leaders of the ANC, with heavy derision coming from the South African Communist Party. However, the announcement of a new party for disaffected members of the ANC was welcomed by opposition party leaders, including Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance and Bantu Holomisa of the United Democratic Movement.

On 14 October, the ANC suspended both Lekota's and Mluleki George's memberships. After a further bout of legal squabbling with the ANC, it was decided that the new party be named the Congress of the People (COPE).

Leader of the Congress of the People On 16 December 2008, Lekota announced his candidacy for the leadership of COPE: being the only candidate, he was elected without a vote and announced as the first President of COPE at the convention. His deputies, Mbhazima Shilowa and Lynda Odendaal, were also announced.

On 20 February 2009, Lekota lost the battle for his party's presidential candidacy to the former presiding bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, Mvume Dandala. Media reports suggested that Lekota had failed to endorse Dandala, and that party deputy leader Shilowa had played a key role in elevating Dandala over Lekota. Lekota's defeat in the leadership race was described as "a humiliating defeat [to a] political novice" by the influential Mail & Guardian newspaper.

Although, for some time subsequent to Dandala's victory, Lekota kept mum on the matter, on 5 February 2009, on his Facebook page, he spoke out, urging supporters of the new movement:

We should also not be distracted now by who serves in the interim leadership, because ultimately the people's voice will be heard. They will vote for their leaders, and everyone else will apply for a job and be interviewed to obtain any position.

A week prior to the election, speculation mounted that Lekota was set on repairing back to the ANC, as numerous other COPE defectors already had, but he clarified his stance in emphatic terms for The Sunday Times:

There is no way I can return to the company of men and women who are dead set on destroying the constitutional democracy which I gave most of my life to creating. I will go to the grave a member of the Congress of the People.

On the same day, ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa denied allegations that the ANC had been attempting to entice Lekota back: "Officially, I'm not aware of anyone who has been sent to Terror to ask him to come back. We have never sent people to approach him."

Lekota, for his part, alleged that rumours of a reunion with the ANC, bolstered by a reported SMS and his supposed unhappiness with COPE's internal structures, were fuelled by the ANC in its devious bid to derail its campaign. He had not, he said, held any of the meetings he was alleged to have had with his former party.

At 02:09 on the morning of Election Day, 22 April, Lekota issued a none-too-subtle jibe at Jacob Zuma. "Do not kill this country for one man," he urged his Facebook supporters, making ill-veiled reference to the promises of ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema to take up arms and murder for the ANC President. "Vote for hope, Vote COPE". Later, having cast his ballot, he announced:

my voteis not a secret. I voted for change, unity, anti corrupt government, better service delivery and hope for all. Do like wise . Vote COPE!

His son Prince did not follow in his father's footsteps, however, voting openly for the ANC.

Lekota did not take up a seat in Parliament after the election; instead, COPE decided that he should concentrate on organizing and building the party, together with Secretary-General Charlotte Lobe.

Due to infighting in the party, COPE suffered multiple defections in the run-up to the 2014 general elections. The party won only three seats in the National Assembly at the election, down from the 30 it had won in 2009. The party's support declined further in the 2019 general elections when it won only two seats in the National Assembly. COPE lost its parliamentary representation in the 2024 general election.

Lekota died of cancer on 4 March 2026, at the age of 77.

Controversies

HIV/AIDS controversy On 25 February 2009, with elections just two months away, Lekota told News24 journalist Verashni Pillay that he could not say for certain that HIV causes AIDS. He said:

Look I am not an expert on HIV and AIDS and I don't want to venture an opinion on whether it does or not. I am not a medical doctor, so I will not comment on that.

The comments were widely criticised, with one national newspaper editor labelling them as "depressing" and "Thabo Mbeki's Aids denalism all over again". Under severe pressure to recant, Lekota told the BBC that "he virus causes AIDS [...] I accept that."