April conference was meant to be Mosioua Lekota’s swansong

2026-03-04 - 12:33

For the first time since the formation of the Congress of the People (COPE) the party will go to a national elective congress next month without Mosioua Lekota. A congress where he was meant to announce his resignation as leader. Lekota died on Wednesday in Johannesburg after suffering from a long illness. Lekota was first elected as president at the party’s founding congress in 2008, then at the party’s second congress in 2014, and again at another congress in 2019. Some factions of the party had accused Lekota of clinging to power and evading democracy. The battle for power inside COPE saw the party dropping from 30 seats in the national assembly in 2009 to just 3 in 2014. The decline continued when COPE received 2 seats in 2019 and no seats at all in the 2024 elections. According to his party’s spokesperson, Pakes Dikgetsi, Lekota had agreed to step back and allow the party to elect its leaders at a congress. Decision to step down The Citizen can confirm that COPE was scheduled to hold an elective congress in 2025, but that was delayed due to Lekota’s ill health. “We have been planning this congress for months because we believe in democratic values.” Lekota announced his desire to step back as early as 2024, and the Congress National Committee accepted it. We believe that a true leader must be elected by the people of their organisation. “So, we said to him he must wait until we go to a congress to replace him, so we have been in the process of preparing for this for some time,” he said. Call for former members to return Dikgetsi said the party may further postpone the conference in the aftermath of Lekota’s death, but this would only be confirmed once the party’s leaders had met to chart a way forward. There is also concern that several provinces have not yet convened their congresses. He indicated that the party could also use the current opportunity to call all those who had left the party for various issues to return and form part of the anticipated elective congress. ALSO READ: ‘Desist immediately’: ANC warns PM27 supporters and funders to stop presidential campaign Can COPE rebuild again? Dikgetsi said he believes COPE remains a good political brand despite the challenges the party has faced since its formation in 2008. “We have done our own internal surveys, and the COPE brand is still strong. We acknowledge that we disappointed people, but as a mainstream political party, we are still young. We did not have systems in place, and we did not have institutional capacity in place. We did not have a proper procedure in place, so some people have been sent to the party to come and disrupt,” he said. Dikgetsi said the party’s remaining leadership has matured and is ready to take the party forward. Political analyst from the University of Free State (UFS), Theo Neethling, told The Citizen that COPE is responsible for its own downfall because of the internal battles over leadership positions He said now the party is no longer a significant political party in South Africa and may have little support in this year’s local government elections. “Initially, COPE won about 7% of the vote in the 2009 elections, but today it holds no seats in the National Assembly, indicating that it suffered a severe decline in support. “The party suffers from prolonged leadership disputes and factionalism, which severely weakened the party and eroded public confidence. Other parties have absorbed much of the political space once occupied by COPE. “So, the party doesn’t hold meaningful promise as a political party of significance in the future,” he said. Neethling said Lekota will be remembered as a principled but politically tragic figure in South African politics. “He was someone with moral courage, but his strategic decisions produced mixed political results for him personally. He helped found the Congress of the People (COPE) in late 2008 after the ANC recalled President Thabo Mbeki. “He and other founders felt the ANC had become factional, undemocratic, and prone to corruption. COPE aimed to offer a non-racial, constitutionalist alternative focused on the rule of law, accountability, and better governance,” he said. What does the ANC have to say? Lekota’s former party, the ANC, paid tribute to him after the news of his death broke. “Undeniably, Mr Lekota played a sterling role in the demise of apartheid, leading to the dawn of democracy in 1994. “History has in its annals a man committed to the lives of the people, their dignity and freedom. For his role in the liberation struggle, he was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to Robben Island for a period of eight years,” said party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu. ALSO READ: He warned the country – Mosiuoa Lekota’s close friend