31 August 2022
Suspended Congress of the People (COPE) leader Mosiuoa Lekota has expressed his willingness to vacate office but only if party members call on him to do so.
A scuffle broke out during a COPE media briefing in Boksburg east of Johannesburg, on Wednesday in which Lekota confirmed that he was still leading the party.
Members, who are against Lekota’s leadership, interrupted his address where he was detailing his struggle with prostate cancer.
Lekota says he is also prepared to continue serving until his term is over.
“I want to tell COPE members that I am still ready to serve the party, if you as members would like me to do so. But if, for any reason, you feel, ‘maybe we should release you’ then I will say thank you. Don’t accept any story or believe that I steal money and I am corrupt – all these things they are saying about me, I cannot keep quiet.”
The party suspended Lekota for what some say was the role he allegedly played in dividing the party.
“I have to say that when I came back full swing and the work of the party, I discovered that there had been other developments that I was not kept abreast of and certainly which did not have authorisation by the Congress National Committee and the matter was about to go to the courts.”
The members who disrupted the briefing explain their grievances.
