Lekota died on March 4 at the age of 77 in a Johannesburg hospital.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Deputy President Paul Mashatile will deliver the eulogy on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Republic. The Presidency said the decision to grant Lekota a Special Official Funeral Category 2 honours his \u201cdistinguished contribution to SA\u2019s liberation struggle and democratic development.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lekota was a prominent figure in SA\u2019s political landscape for over four decades. He served as the first Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces after the democratic transition, later becoming Premier of the Free State and Minister of Defence under President Thabo Mbeki. In 2008 he co\u2011founded COPE, emerging as one of the most recognisable voices in post\u2011apartheid politics.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Throughout the week, memorial services were held across the country, where comrades, family members and political leaders paid tribute to his dedication, courage and steadfast commitment to democracy. Speakers remembered him as a principled organiser, a powerful orator and a leader who remained deeply committed to constitutionalism.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A number of high\u2011profile dignitaries are expected to attend the funeral, including former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, alongside senior government officials, MPs, liberation struggle veterans and COPE supporters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–SABC–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28757,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-28746","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africans are gathering at the Old Grey Sports Ground in Bloemfontein, in the country's Free State province, on Saturday morning for the Special Official Funeral Category 2 of Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick \u201cTerror\u201d Lekota, the former Minister of Defence, founding President of the Congress of the People (COPE) and veteran of the liberation struggle. ","published_date":"","news_description":"South Africans are gathering at the Old Grey Sports Ground in Bloemfontein, in the country's Free State province, on Saturday morning for the Special Official Funeral Category 2 of Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick \u201cTerror\u201d Lekota, the former Minister of Defence, founding President of the Congress of the People (COPE) and veteran of the liberation struggle. ","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28747,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28746\/revisions\/28747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}