JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African anti-apartheid veteran and former defense minister Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota has died at the age of 77 after a long illness, his political party said on Wednesday.

Lekota was a prominent activist against white minority rule in South Africa and served eight years in prison on Robben Island alongside other jailed anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela, from 1974 to 1982.

Lekota was a fiery member of various political youth organizations during apartheid and was jailed even after he was released from Robben Island for his continued anti-apartheid activism.

He served as South Africa’s minister of defense from 1999 to 2008 and was also the national chairperson of the African National Congress, which governed the country after the first democratic election in 1994.

However, Lekota’s relationship with the ANC soured after former President Thabo Mbeki was removed as the country’s president in 2008, having lost the presidency of the ANC to former President Jacob Zuma in 2007.

He formed a breakaway party, the Congress of the People (COPE), which contested the 2009 elections. It became the third biggest opposition party with just over 7% of the national vote and 30 seats in South Africa’s 400-member parliament.

The breakaway led to a significant decline in the ANC’s electoral support in 2009, with many former ANC members and leaders leaving the party to join Lekota’s new political outfit.

In 2024, the ANC lost its outright majority for the first time and is now the biggest party in a coalition government.

In addition to his accolades as a political activist, Lekota was well respected as a long-serving lawmaker and political leader who strengthened the voice of opposition parties.

However, factional struggles within COPE led to its gradual decline and its failure to win any parliamentary seats during the 2024 general elections, ending Lekota’s career as a lawmaker.

In 2025 he stepped away from politics for health reasons, with his party appointing an acting leader after his departure.

Tributes have poured in from across South Africa’s political landscape.

“He decided to leave the ANC and formed COPE with other South Africans, by doing so he literally strengthened the opposition parties,” said Bantu Holomisa, South Africa’s deputy minister of defense and leader of the opposition United Democratic Movement party.

“His role was not doubted, because he and others from the ANC did understand the passage of the struggle. And they knew very well what was the original agenda, which seemed to have been hijacked,” Holomisa said.

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