Lekota may have blown Cope’s hopes

Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota got the country talking this week with his accusation that President Cyril Ramaphosa was an apartheid-era “sellout”. Lekota claimed that, in 1975, Ramaphosa wrote to the Special Branch telling them his fellow detained activists – including Lekota – were putting “communist ideas” in his head.

Lekota told Ramaphosa in parliament: “I say this to you because the Special Branch rewarded you … and they sent you home, and we headed to Robben Island. We should have travelled together to the island to serve years for the struggle of our people. You made your choice then.”

Lekota’s sole support for his claim was a supposed letter, shown to him by lawyers, which Ramaphosa had allegedly written. He has not been forthcoming with any other evidence. Ramaphosa responded calmly, pointing out that, if he was indeed a spy, then he would not have been detained in solitary confinement for six months. One of Lekota’s co-accused, activist Dr Saths Cooper, has dismissed the Cope leader’s claims as false and as politicking.

One wonders why Lekota chose to bring up the issue decades after it happened, on the eve of a crucial election. Even more curious is the fact that the information has been seized upon by both the EFF and the Zuma faction in the ANC as ammunition to use against Ramaphosa. Both those entities are hardly friends of Cope.

Lekota has also opened up deep old wounds. Many people have died – by committing suicide or being murdered by angry community members – after being labelled sellouts.

Was he trying to win back black voters – who believe he is selling out currently by associating with white right wingers – by emphasising his own, undeniable, commitment to South African liberation? Who knows?

It might turn out that Lekota has sold out his own party’s election chances.