The final send-off of late former Congress of the People (Cope) co-founder Mosiuoa Lekota brought together figures from the political spectrum who gathered in Bloemfontein yesterday to pay their last respects to the anti-apartheid activist who was fondly known as “Terror”, due to his football skills in his heyday as a dribbling wizard.
In a moving farewell, hordes of people, who included ANC, EFF, UDM, and Cope politicians, paid homage to Lekota, who was hailed as a national treasure. Among those who attended the high-profile funeral were former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe.
Lekota, who was afforded a Special Official Funeral in Category 2, was lauded as a resilient activist who worked tirelessly to ensure that marginalised South Africans attain their freedom from apartheid oppression.
One of his close friends and comrades, Trevor Manuel, said that Lekota had been anointed to serve the country.
“Comrade Terror was premier for a short two years, and he was recalled after he went on the radio and called out the bad behaviour of some of his comrades at the time. What I can tell you is that this comrade who is sleeping here was loved because he was as honest as he was in all his interactions. He loved this country and its people dearly.”
Lekota, a respected politician and former Robben Island prisoner who became the first democratic premier in his home province, was honoured for his dedication to fighting for liberation.
He was born in Kroonstad, also known as Maokeng, on August 13, 1948.
In his tribute, Deputy President Paul Mashatile described Lekota as a giant whose life was defined by uncompromising dedication to justice and service to the people.
“Ntate Lekota’s political journey traversed the defining epochs of modern South Africa. His journey took him from the ideological awakening of Black Consciousness to the frontlines of the United Democratic Front, the leadership corridors of the ANC’s national executive committee, and ultimately to the founding of the Congress of the People. His life was lived in pursuit of a better South Africa, marked always by honesty, integrity and courage.
“Ntate Lekota understood that leaders are transient, but the ‘Congress’ as an ideal of unity and justice is eternal. He knew that the measure of a leader is not how long he holds office, but how faithfully he serves the covenant of Congress. From Dr AB Xuma’s reminder that ‘to Congress we are loyal’ to the steadfast guardianship of Sisulu and Tambo, that covenant has been passed like a torch across generations,” said Mashatile.
Fellow Free Stater and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told mourners Lekota was a fearless freedom fighter who stood on the front line and confronted the brutality of the apartheid regime head-on.
Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae said that Lekota’s death was a moment of reflection on the life of a man whose journey was “inseparable from the long and painful march of our people toward freedom”.
“Comrade Terror Lekota belonged to that generation of South Africans who confronted injustice not as an abstract idea, but as a daily lived reality. Comrade Terror was among those young South Africans who, when confronted by the injustice and brutality of apartheid, resolved that their lives would not be lived in quiet submission,” said Letsoha-Mathae.
In 2008, Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and others broke away from the ANC to form Cope and contested in the 2009 general election. After those elections, the party secured 30 parliamentary seats. But the party’s decline over the years culminated in it losing all its seats in the 2024 elections.
Lekota’s aide and long-time friend Dennis Bloem said that he had been at the former Cope leader’s bedside since last March, when he was going in and out of the hospital.
“Comrade Terror was a pillar and a giant, and he is leaving a huge void in the country. This man was for the people, as he united the rainbow nation,” said Bloem.
