ANC first secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane says Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota belongs to the ANC despite him defecting in 2008 to form his own political party.
Lekota left the ANC after the infamous 2007 Polokwane elective conference that saw former president Jacob Zuma emerge as the party’s leader after former president Thabo Mbeki. He reportedly warned that the ANC under Zuma will collapse the country.
The formation of Cope was the first and biggest ANC split in democratic times.
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At his memorial service in Soweto on Wednesday, Mokonyane said that while Lekota’s life was tied to different political movements, he had a long history with the ANC.
“We are quite grateful for his contributions to the liberation struggle of our country. As the saying goes, history has no blank pages. He may be claimed to be a member of Cope, he may have come from the Black Consciousness Movement, but he also belongs to us,” she said.
Cope and ANC work together
Mokonyane said the ANC was among the first to be told of Lekota’s passing, something that he would have also wanted.
Mokonyane said Cope, the ANC and the City of Johannesburg had worked together to ensure that the memorial service becomes a success.
Mokonyane described Lekota as a principled person who believed in democracy and accountability.
“He believed that leaders must speak honestly even when it is difficult and he believed in putting the interests of the people first,” she said.
Mokonyane thanked the Lekota family for sharing him with the rest of the country. She also thanked them for sharing him with the mass democratic movement and the ANC.
“As it has been properly defined that it is a struggle that we are pursuing, and contradictions will always emerge, but those contradictions will never undermine the role that he played as a member of the Black Consciousness Movement who found the ANC in prison, who came out and built the United Democratic Front,” she said.
Role in shaping the new South Africa
Mokonyane said Lekota played a critical role before the establishment of a democratic state in 1994, participating in consultations and decision-making processes that shaped the transition to democracy.
“He worked tirelessly with us in the ANC on the ready to govern programme, he was among those who assisted in ensuring that we all work together and he also embraced the fact that we didn’t take this country through arms, but through a negotiated settlement,” she said.
Mokonyane said that Lekota participated in various ANC conferences. She described him as been one with a strong opinion on political and organisational matters.
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