The Congress of the People has confirmed the death of its leader and co-founder Mosiuoa Lekota, who passed away at the age of 77.
Lekota died at a Johannesburg hospital in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The party said his family has requested privacy as they mourn his passing.
“On behalf of the leadership, membership and supporters of COPE, we extend our deepest condolences to the Lekota family and all South Africans who mourn this loss,” the party said in a statement.
Lekota stepped back from active politics in August last year to focus on his health, with the party confirming at the time that he was battling an undisclosed illness.
Former COPE deputy president Willie Madisha said he was deeply saddened by the news, describing Lekota as a key figure in South Africa’s liberation struggle.
“He has contributed a lot to the struggle to liberate the people of South Africa. History will forever remember him for his contribution,” Madisha said, adding that despite past political differences, he held no ill feelings towards Lekota.
Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa also paid tribute, calling Lekota a credible and principled leader whose departure from the African National Congress helped strengthen opposition politics.
“He led from the front, especially during the UDF era. He will always be remembered for that,” Holomisa said.
Lekota served as South Africa’s Minister of Defence from 1999 to 2008 and was previously Premier of the Free State following the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.
Born and raised in Kroonstad, Lekota became politically active at a young age. He was expelled from the University of the North due to his involvement in student activism and the Black Consciousness Movement.
As an organiser for the South African Students’ Organisation, he was arrested and imprisoned on Robben Island in 1974. After his release, he was later among the accused in the 1985 Delmas Treason Trial and served another four years behind bars.
His death marks the passing of one of the country’s long-standing struggle veterans a figure whose political journey spanned imprisonment, government leadership and opposition politics, leaving an imprint across several chapters of South Africa’s democratic history.