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yesterday

Anti-Apartheid Veteran and COPE Founder Mosiuoa Lekota Dies at 77

COPE will announce memorial plans following a family request for privacy.

FILE -Mosiuoa Lekota, a former defense minister and co-founder of Cope (Congress of the People), breakaway faction of South Africa's African National Congress, reacts, as he is named the leader of the new party, at the final session of Cope's three-day founding conference in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Dec. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota. Picture: Wikus de Wet / AFP
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Overview

  • COPE confirmed that Lekota died on Wednesday morning in a Johannesburg hospital after a long illness.
  • Lekota stepped back from public life after the 2024 election due to ill health, and Teboho Loate has been serving in an interim leadership role.
  • President Cyril Ramaphosa praised Lekota as a patriot and servant of the people, joining a broad chorus of tributes from political leaders and the public.
  • A veteran of the liberation struggle, Lekota spent eight years on Robben Island, helped build the UDF, and later served as Free State premier, NCOP chair and defence minister.
  • After breaking with the ANC in 2008 to form COPE, he led the party through its early parliamentary gains and subsequent decline, culminating in the loss of all national seats in 2024.