Anti-apartheid veteran Lekota dies at 77; funeral details to follow

South Africa’s Congress of the People (COPE) says it will provide details of funeral and memorial arrangements following the death of its co-founder and long-time leader Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, who died aged 77.

COPE said Lekota died in the early hours of Wednesday after a period of illness, prompting tributes across South Africa’s political landscape for a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle who later became a senior government minister.

Lekota was best known in government for serving as South Africa’s minister of defence during former President Thabo Mbeki’s administration. In party politics, he became a central figure in one of the most notable post-1994 splits inside the governing African National Congress (ANC), helping launch COPE in 2008 after Mbeki was forced from office.

In its first national election contest in 2009, COPE emerged as a significant new opposition force, but the party later declined amid internal disputes and shrinking electoral support. It was reported that COPE failed to win parliamentary seats in the 2024 general election, and that Lekota had stepped away from active politics in 2025 for health reasons, after which the party appointed an acting leader.

Beyond his later role in opposition politics, Lekota’s death is also renewing focus on his decades-long political trajectory from activism under apartheid to time in prison on Robben Island. It was reported he was imprisoned there from 1974 to 1982 alongside other anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela.

As COPE prepares to announce funeral plans, South African leaders have also been issuing official condolences. A statement carried by AllAfrica said President Cyril Ramaphosa conveyed condolences and noted Lekota’s service as a former premier, defence minister and COPE co-founder.