Mosiuoa Lekota

This Constitution says we are all South Africans. Who will you take the land from whom, and to whom will you give it? If you are going to give the land to our people, please tell us: Who is not our people in this country? Am I not one of you?~ Mosiuoa Lekota speech in parliament as published by News24 on the 19th of February 2019 [1]

Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota (born 13 August 1948) is a South African politician, who currently serves as the President and Leader of the Congress of the People since 16 December 2008. Previously as a member of the African National Congress, under President Thabo Mbeki, he served in the Cabinet of South Africa as Minister of Defence from 17 June 1999 to 25 September 2008. His nickname Terror Lekota comes from his playing style on the soccer field. He was a leader of the United Democratic Front and a key defendant in the Delmas Treason Trial, 1985 to 1988.

Quotes

• We, the so-called Bantu speaking South Africans, came from the North, from the Great Lakes, we over-ran territory here which was occupied by the Khoi and the San. There was no title, we just occupied that land, we were not even the original residents here. The people we call Baroa, the People of the South – Ba boroa, the People of the South, it’s the Khoi, the people we found here.
  • Mosiuoa Lekota (leader of the South African COPE political party) speaking to Radio 702 in April 2017

• The people who have now taken power in the name of the ANC are working very hard to destroy the legacy of Mandela, to destroy the constitution that we achieved. And it calls upon us now that to take a stand to say no, but we cannot accept that you destroy our constitutional order.
  • Mosiuoa Lekota in September 2018, as quoted in AfriForum, COPE team up to fight land expropriation without compensation, eNCA (10 September 2018)

• Afrikaans is an African language and has the right to exist, [be] protected and defended, just like all South Africa’s official languages and cultures. We need to come together and tell those who wish to do harm on South Africans that, united, we will successfully pave a path of prosperity for all South Africans and that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black or white, Indian or coloured. And we strive to build a nation that is vibrant, successful and united. Our opponents are stuck in the past, self-entitled, and have fallen back into a routine that ensures that we as a nation do not move forward.
  • During his 2019 election campaign as published in The Citizen 8 May 2019 [2]

• We are not going to give you money [while] you’re sitting at home every day doing nothing. We must give you jobs [and] we must give you money, because when you work you develop self-respect and dignity
  • During his 2019 election campaign as published by ENCA on 3 May 2019 [3]