Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founder of theCongress of the People | |
| President of theCongress of the People | |
| Assumed office 16 December 2008 | |
| Deputy | Mbhazima Shilowa Lynda Odendaal William Mothipa Madisha |
| Preceded by | post created |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 26 June 1999 – 25 September 2008 | |
| President | Thabo Mbeki |
| Preceded by | Joe Modise |
| Succeeded by | Charles Nqakula |
| 1stChairperson of the National Council of Provinces | |
| In office 6 February 1997 – 21 June 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Naledi Pandor |
| 1stPremier of the Free State | |
| In office 7 May 1994 – 18 December 1996 | |
| Succeeded by | Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota (1948-08-13)13 August 1948 (age 77) |
| Party | Congress of the People (2008–present) |
| Other political affiliations | African National Congress (1999–2008) |
| Spouse | Cynthia Lekota |
| Children | 4 |
| Occupation |
|
| Nickname | Terror Lekota |
Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota (born 13 August 1948) is a South Africananti-Apartheid revolutionary for theAfrican National Congress (ANC) who served jail time withNelson Mandela from 1985 and who left the ANC to form theCongress of the People (Cope) splinter party in 2008. He has served as its President since 16 December 2008.[1]
Previously as a member of theAfrican National Congress, under PresidentThabo Mbeki, he served in the Cabinet of South Africa asMinister of Defence from 17 June 1999 to 25 September 2008. His nicknameTerror Lekota comes from his playing style on thesoccer field. He was a leader of the United Democratic Front and a key defendant in theDelmas Treason Trial, 1985 to 1988.[2]
Lekota was born inKroonstad. He had his primary education at Susanna Farm School and most of his secondary education at Mariazel High School inMatatiele. However, he matriculated at St. Francis College in Mariannhill in 1969. Although he enrolled for a social science degree at theUniversity of the North, Lekota was expelled due to his Student Representative Council- and Black Consciousness Movement-alignedSouth African Students' Organisation (SASO) activities in 1972.
Lekota became a permanent organiser for SASO in 1974, butwas imprisoned atRobben 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.[3] He was released from prison in 1982.[4]
After his release, he was elected publicity secretary of theUnited Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983. In 1985, Lekota was detained and later sentenced in theDelmas Treason Trial. However, he was released in 1989 after theAppeal Court reviewed the sentence.[4]
The Delmas Treason Trial was one of the most important treason trials in the last days of apartheid. It enunciated policies to be embodied in the post-apartheid society like non-racial equality before the law, reconciliation with major politicians who had supported apartheid and respect for the rule of law.[2]
In 1990, Lekota becameconvenor of theAfrican National Congress in SouthernNatal and,in 1991, was elected to the ANC'sNational Executive Committee (NEC) and its National Working Committee (NWC).[4] He was appointed as the ANC's Chief of Intelligence in 1991 and elected as secretary for the organisation's electoral commission in 1992. After thefirst fully democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, Lekota was electedpremier of theFree State province. He held this position until 1996.
Lekota subsequently served as thechairperson of theNational Council of Provinces from 1997 to 1999, before being appointed Minister of Defence. In this position he was responsible for ordering eight A400M military transport aircraft from Airbus by the Armscor parastatal in 2005, for a price of R17bn. He was also elected as National Chairperson of the ANC in December 1997, a position which he held until 2007. He was succeeded byBaleka Mbete.
Following the resignation of PresidentThabo Mbeki in September 2008, Lekota was one of ten ministers who submitted their resignations, on 23 September.[5]
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 thePan 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 theSouth African Communist Party. However, the announcement of a new party for disaffected members of the ANC was welcomed by opposition party leaders, includingHelen Zille of theDemocratic Alliance andBantu Holomisa of theUnited Democratic Movement.
On 14 October, the ANC suspended both Lekota's andMluleki George's memberships.[6] After a further bout of legal squabbling with the ANC, it was decided that the new party be named theCongress of the People (COPE).
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 andLynda Odendaal, were also announced.
On 20 February 2009, Lekota lost the battle for his party's presidential candidacy to the former presiding bishop of theMethodist 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.[7] Lekota's defeat in the leadership race was described as "a humiliating defeat [to a] political novice" by the influentialMail & Guardian newspaper.[8]
Although, for some time subsequent to Dandala's victory, Lekota kept mum on the matter, on 5 February 2009, on hisFacebook 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.[9]
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 forThe 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-generalMathews 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 atJacob Zuma. "Do not kill this country for one man," he urged hisFacebook supporters, making ill-veiled reference to the promises ofANC Youth League leaderJulius Malema to take up arms and murder for the ANC President. "Vote for hope, Vote COPE".[10] Later, having cast his ballot, he announced:
my voteis [sic] not a secret. I voted for change, unity, anti corrupt government, better service delivery and hope for all. Do like wise [sic]. Vote COPE![11]
His son Prince did not follow in his father's footsteps, however, voting openly for the ANC.[12]
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-GeneralCharlotte Lobe.[13]
Due to infighting in the party, COPE suffered multiple defections in the run-up to the2014 general elections.[14] The party won only three seats in the National Assembly at the election, down from the 30 it had won in 2009.[15] The party's support declined further in the2019 general elections when it won only two seats in the National Assembly.[16] COPE lost its parliamentary representation in the2024 general election.[17]
As of 2014[update], Lekota is married and has had seven children, four with his wife Cynthia (one of whom died in 1996), one with former Cape Nature deputy chairwoman Yasmina Pandy, and two from other relationships.[18][19][20]
On 25 February 2009, with elections just two months away, Lekota toldNews24journalist Verashni Pillay that he could not say for certain thatHIV causes AIDS. He said:
Look I am not an expert onHIV andAIDS and I don't want to venture an opinion on whether it does or not. I am not amedical doctor, so I will not comment on that.[21]
The comments were widely criticised, with one national newspaper editor labelling them as "depressing" and "Thabo Mbeki's Aids denalism all over again".[22] Under severe pressure to recant, Lekota told theBBC that "[t]he virus causes AIDS [...] I accept that."[23]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas Administrator of theOrange Free State | Premier of the Free State 7 May 1994 – 18 December 1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Defence (South Africa) 1999 – 2008 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of theAfrican National Congress 1997 – 2007 | Succeeded by |
| New political party | President of theCongress of the People 2008 – present | Incumbent |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
