Veteran politician and anti-apartheid activist Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota has died in a Johannesburg hospital in the early hours of Wednesday, 4 March.
The 77-year-old stepped down from politics in August last year to focus on his health after battling an undisclosed illness.
Lekota’s political activism began at the University of the North, where he served as Permanent Organiser for the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO). In 1974, he was arrested with eight other SASO members for organising celebrations around Mozambique’s independence and was imprisoned on Robben Island.
He later became a defendant in the 1985 Delmas Treason Trial, where he was initially sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. The conviction was later overturned by the Appellate Division, but he served four years before his release.
His nickname “Terror” came from his fierce playing style on the soccer field.
After South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, Lekota became the first Premier of the Free State Provincial Government, serving from May 1994 to December 1996.
He then served as Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces from February 1997 to June 1999.
In 1997, Lekota was elected national chairman of the African National Congress (ANC) at the party’s 50th national conference in Mafikeng, defeating Steve Tshwete with 1 775 votes to 859.
Under President Thabo Mbeki, Lekota served as Minister of Defence from June 1999 until September 2008, a position he held for nearly a decade. He was tasked with consolidating the post-apartheid military and expanded South Africa’s peacekeeping role in Africa, supporting the African Union agenda.
Lekota was also a founder member of the United Democratic Front (UDF), a key anti-apartheid organisation.
In 2008, he left the ANC to form the Congress of the People (COPE), becoming its president on 16 December 2008. The party won 7% of the overall national vote in its first election.
However, conflict between Lekota as president and Sam Shilowa as deputy president divided the party, from which it never recovered.
The family has requested privacy during this time.
