COPE CO-FOUNDER AND FIRST FREE STATE PREMIER MOSIUOA "TERROR" LEKOTA DIES

Mosioua "Terror" Lekota

By: Staff Reporter

Congress of the People (COPE) leader and co-founder Mosiuoa "Terror" Lekota has died, aged 77.

Lekota died at a Johannesburg hospital in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The party confirmed the news, adding that the family had requested privacy during this difficult time.

Lekota served as Minister of Defence from 1999 to 2008.

He also served as the Premier of the Free State after the country's first fully democratic elections in 1994.

Lekota grew up in Kroonstad, Free State.

He was expelled from the University of the North due to his political involvement with the Student Representative Council and the Black Consciousness Movement.

While the elected Permanent Organiser for the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO), he was imprisoned on Robben Island in 1974.