Lekota stood firm when others stayed silent
· Citizen
There are some people on the political landscape who will mischievously choose to remember Mosiuoa Patrick Lekota based on his last two decades in South African politics.
This period, unfortunately, is not a true reflection of the immense contribution that the former defence minister, who died last week, made to the building of democracy in this country.
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History will show that after he formed the Congress of the People (Cope) political party on 16 December, 2008, with fellow ex-ANC stalwarts Mluleki George and Mbhazima Shilowa, his political fortunes took a turn for the worse.
At the time of his death, Cope had lost all of the over one million votes they won in the 2009 national elections.
But those who knew Lekota and his exploits prior to democracy will attest to a very principled leader who fought apartheid fearlessly and with very little care for personal comfort or benefits.
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Although some view the pinnacle of his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle as his imprisonment on Robben Island, it was his costly decision to stand on principle and oppose the dawn of the “nine wasted years” of former president Jacob Zuma by speaking out when he could have chosen the perks of Cabinet and stayed silent.
He chose not to join the dominant Ngoku (Now!) chorus that wanted then president Thabo Mbeki gone from the presidency with immediate effect.
When Mbeki had been seen as past his sellby date by the majority of the ANC national executive committee (NEC), Lekota and a few others chose the path least travelled.
They chose to forsake all sense of comfort and the protection of a ruling party to keep their careers going, opting for what Economic Freedom Fighters’ president Julius Malema referred to as “It is cold outside the ANC”.
They chose the cold that lay waiting for them outside the movement of their youth.
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Lekota’s choice to resign when the ANC ousted Mbeki through a “recall” must be seen for exactly what it was, a stand against allowing a culture of looting of public resources to continue unabated.
Those who formed Cope were often described as bitter and it was alternatively referred to as the movement of the disgruntled.
But history has shown that the warnings they gave back then about an “alien” culture that had invaded the ANC were spot-on.
While Mbeki chose the path of least resistance to spare the country and his beloved movement the indignity of close public scrutiny and instability, it was common knowledge that those who wanted Mbeki gone had become as close to a frenzied mob as possible.
Lekota and his comrades chose to face that frenzied mob head-on from within the NEC and outside through the formation of Cope.
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He is said to have got the nickname “Terror” because of how he terrorised defenders out on the soccer pitch, but he might as well have earned it for his political principles of never being willing to sell out his fellow citizens.
When state capture was in full swing during the nine wasted years, Lekota’s voice was one of very few voices from the left of the political divide who had no qualms about standing up to Zuma in parliament.
It was Lekota who had the freedom to exhort all his former comrades in parliament to refuse to vote “for someone who lied and stole from our people”.
That someone who lied and stole, according to Lekota, was Zuma.
People might look to Lekota’s struggle exploits for his courage, but it was in standing up against his former friends and comrades that he displayed his utmost courage.
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