‘Terror’ Lekota laid to rest in Bloemfontein

The reign of “Terror” came to an end in Bloemfontein on Saturday, as COPE founder and ex-defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota was laid to rest. Lekota, who got the nickname “Terror” for his tough style on the soccer field in his younger days, was honoured at Old Grey Sports Club in Willows, where mourners gathered to bid him farewell. Lekota, of Kroonstad,died on Wednesday last week after a lengthy illness.

Among those who paid tribute was former North West premier Popo Molefe. “He was like a bulldog,” Molefe said of the hothead politico who finished his secondary education at St Francis College in Mariannhill, a Catholic school whose former pupils included Robert Mugabe and Steve Biko. Molefe saidLekota, who enrolled at the University of the North after matriculating in 1969 and joined the SA Students’ Organisation there, never gave up on the goals he believed in.

Lekota’s Black Consciousness activism later led to his expulsion from the university in 1972. “He was a resilient guy, tenacious, and in Terror’s vocabulary, the word defeat or failure did not exist,” he said.