Podcasts about mosiuoa lekota

Congress of the People leader, Mosiuoa Lekota has called for an amendment to South Africa's constitution, adding that an amendment to the constitution will allow for the people to truly govern. While the party has struggled for relevance since its inception in 2008, Lekota says the time has come for COPE to make a meaningful impact during the 2024 general elections. Speaking to members of the media earlier today, Lekota called for the electorate to realise that they hold power with their votes.

The Congress of the People (Cope) is calling for the direct election of South Africa's president, to give credence to the mantra that the people shall govern. On Tuesday, Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota addressed a press briefing in Johannesburg, where he made it clear that citizens should govern and should be seen to govern. "We want to amplify once again our call for a constitutional amendment for voters to directly elect the president of our country, instead of using the procedures under the current party list system that promotes party interests above the interests of the people of our land. "This change should also apply to premiers and mayors. We adopted this position in 2008 and consistently repeated it in all our election manifestos," he said. Lekota's comments come months ahead of South Africa's seventh democratic elections, which is set to be held between May and August this year. The Constitution does not allow for the direct election of the head of state. According to Lekota, retaining the present electoral system will give South Africans more abysmal failures as presidents. "The national debt has soared, and the debt servicing costs, according to the National Treasury of South Africa, will, as a percentage of the main budget revenue, increase from 18% in 2022/23 to 19.8% in 2025/26 - and is expected to average R366.8-billion a year over the medium-term. "In other words, R1 out of every R5 collected in taxes must be paid as interest on the debt. With only 80% of revenue left and the massive size of government draining much of what remains, service delivery and infrastructure development will be negatively impacted," he said. Furthermore, Lekota said public services and several state-owned enterprises had collapsed. "Over many years, the Auditor-General's reports have been shelved, allowing failure and corruption to continue without consequences. The president has failed to hold ministers accountable for their lack of performance and has lacked the moral courage to disclose their performance outcomes. This violates the values of openness, accountability and responsiveness," he said. Lekota said the trust deficit between political leaders and ordinary South Africans had reached stratospheric levels. "According to the 2023 South African Reconciliation Barometer, 79% of South Africans believe that leaders cannot be trusted to do what is right. "Fikile Mbalula has just admitted how those at the helm of the leadership of our country misled Parliament. SoNA will be just another charade. South Africa would have been better off if a vote of no confidence debate kickstarted the new parliamentary year," he said. In a lengthy post on X, Mbalula explained his comments. "Other than members of the opposition and sworn enemies of the ANC, anyone who understood or interpreted the SG's remarks yesterday in Mpumalanga as an admission that the ANC assisted, abetted, aided or attempted to assist, abet or aid the former president in defrauding the government must have his/her head checked. The remarks must also be understood as political rally rhetoric and polemics," he said. But Lekota was unfazed by the African National Congress's explanation. He said if a new government was elected in the current electoral system, the paralysis in government would worsen. "The economy will be damaged even more. Joblessness will increase. Any state-owned entity that has not yet been brought to its knees will be pulled down. Ministers will remain as consumed by political infighting as ever, and incompetence mingled with corruption will continue longer," he said.

Former City of Joburg speaker Colleen Makhubele says her axing from COPE was disingenuous, and blamed party president Mosiuoa Lekota for "lying" about her.  
 COPE terminated Makhubele's membership on Monday after she joined the South African Rainbow Alliance (Sara), an alliance of smaller parties who seek to jointly contest next year's elections. She said Lekota "blatantly lied" about her involvement and the party's involvement in Sara, including his own.  Makhubele was speaking to ENCA reporter Thami Ngubeni on Wednesday. 

Disgruntled and expelled members of the Congress of the People, COPE held a meeting last night following the expulsion of party deputy president Willie Madisha and elections secretary Mzwandile Hleko. The duo's membership were terminated at the party's national committee meeting over the weekend. Madisha, Hleko and COPE spokesperson Dennis Bloem have been accused of leading a faction pushing for the removal of party leader Mosiuoa Lekota. In a press briefing yesterday COPE said the fate of Bloem will also be finalised soon. For more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to former COPE elections secretary Mzwandile Hleko

'n Suid-Afrikaanse politieke ontleder, Ralph Mathekga, sê die verdeling in die Congress of the People bedreig die party se voortbestaan. Ontevrede partylede het 'n mediakonferensie van die geskorste president, Mosiuoa Lekota, ontwrig. Die party het die eerste keer in 2009 aan 'n nasionale verkiesing deelgeneem en toe 1,3 miljoen stemme gekry. Maar in 2019 kon Cope net 4 000 op hom verenig, met 'n skamele twee setels in die Parlement. Mathekga sê Cope is in ernstige politieke moeilikheid:

COPE leader, Mosiuoa Lekota says whether or not he continues to be the leader of the party depends on the entire membership of the Congress of the People. He says the constitution of the party stipulates that a leader can only take two terms as president. But, he told a media briefing in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, that, if COPE members feel they still need him to be the president, he will consider that. However, his media briefing was marred by chaos, after some COPE members stormed in, trying to stop Lekota from speaking to journalists. Elvis Presslin spoke to COPE's acting General Secretary, Eric Mohlapamaswi

Die geskorste Cope-leier, Mosiuoa Lekota, sê hy is teleurgesteld oor die optrede van sommige van sy ontevrede lede nadat 'n vuisgeveg vandag op sy nuuskonferensie in Boksburg, Gauteng, uitgebreek het. Volgens die lede het hy geen reg om die party toe te spreek nie. Lekota, wat Maandag geskors is, word daarvan beskuldig dat hy parallelle strukture binne die party gevorm en korrupsie gepleeg het. Hy bly egter by sy standpunt dat hy nie geskors is nie.

Guest: Dennis Bloem |See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following a public spat that culminated in a series of tit-for-tat suspensions on Monday, the faction within Cope pushing for the axing of party leader Mosiuoa Lekota has extended an olive branch to its rivals "for the sake of the party's future". "Above all else, we [as rival leaders] must save Cope. There is no way that we should priorities anything but the party," Cope's secretary for communications Dennis Bloem told News24 on Tuesday morning. Bloem was one of the leaders who announced Lekota's precautionary suspension on Monday. "We are not enemies, as comrades in Cope. There may be differences, but those differences need to be sorted out around a table [and should] not play themselves out in public. The president of the party (Lekota) is the father of the party. As the father of the party, he must call his children and say, 'You have made mistakes here', or he must admit that he has made mistakes. All of us are not immune to making mistakes but what should be a priority is the party," Bloem said. Despite extending an olive branch, Bloem and his faction said Lekota and Cope's national chairperson Teboho Loate were misleading the country. Bloem said Cope's congress national committee (CNC) had the power to suspend members. He added that the announcement of Lekota's suspension was valid as the decision had been taken by a properly constituted CNC. "We, as the CNC, had a meeting on Sunday, which was duly constituted. By this, I mean the meeting met the necessary quorum, given that six of the nine provinces were there. Seven directly elected members, as well as the youth and women's leagues were present. At this meeting...we took the decision to suspend Mr Lekota," said Bloem. Cope's youth league as well as its Gauteng and Western Cape leaders told News24 that representatives from six provinces attended the meeting, along with the youth and women's leagues. According to them, the meeting met the minimum required attendance to take the decision. The six provinces at the meeting were Gauteng, Free State, Western Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, and North West. On Monday, Lekota and Loate rubbished the party leader's suspension, saying Lekota had the confidence and full support of the CNC. Loate also alleged that the media briefing by Cope deputy president Willie Madisha, secretary for elections Mzwandile Hleko, and Bloem amounted to a "hallucination" by "Madisha and his clique". "The facts of the matter are that a clique of only three leaders in the CNC has been engaged in conduct that is unconstitutional, ambitious, and irrational for some time," said Loate. Loate and Lekota then announced that the CNC had in fact suspended Madisha, Bloem and Hleko. There was, however, no evidence that the two held a meeting with the CNC and that the CNC had approved such a decision. Bloem denied claims by Loate that he had been issued with a suspension letter or received any communication from Cope's legal representatives at the behest of Lekota or Loate, as claimed by the two. "I don't know these other rumours that are going on that I've been suspended. I have been looking through my emails, and this letter which they purport to have sent announcing my suspension, is not there. "Besides this, who are the 'we' that Lekota and Loate claim endorsed our suspension, as the CNC is the only structure empowered to do so," said Bloem. News24 understands that Cope members want Madisha to replace Lekota in Parliament as they believe the party's fortunes may be revived under his leadership. A decision may be announced as soon as next week. Lekota and Loate were not readily available for comment despite numerous attempts by News24.

The Congress of the People is in serious trouble as internal divisions and in-fighting spell their early end. Yesterday, party Deputy President Willie Madisha announced that it had suspended President Mosiuoa Lekota. A few hours later, Lekota and national chairperson Teboho Loate announced that they had suspended Madisha, spokesperson Dennis Bloem and secretary for elections Mzwandile Hleko. The party has become the laughingstock of South African politics as the Twitterverse responded to the announcements. Theo Venter spoke to Radio Islam International this morning and said he has no idea who is right and gave a retrospective view of the issues the party has been facing since its inception.

  Clement is joined by Clement is speaking to COPE Deputy President Madisha where he declares that the suspension of the party's leader Mosiuoa Lekota is legitimate – meanwhile the national chairperson of the party Tebogo Laote says proper processes were not followed when they suspended LekotaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Congress of the People's (Cope's) national committee (CNC), its highest decision-making body, has placed party President Mosiuoa Lekota on precautionary suspension. The announcement was made by Cope's deputy president, Willie Madisha, during a media briefing on Monday in Kempton Park. Reasons cited for Lekota's suspension include the role he played in dividing the party and the meetings he convenes to form parallel structures within Cope. Lekota has been Cope's president since 2008.

COPE has suspended party president Mosiuoa Lekota.

Members of the Congress of the People (COPE) Constituency Congress Committees in Gauteng have called for the party president, Mosiuoa Lekota, to step down. This was resolved in a July meeting addressing challenges of growth, rebuilding, and renewal in the party. For more on this, Elvis Presslin spoke to COPE's Ekurhuleni Secretary Mxolisi Ntobela

The Congress of the People - COPE - wants all its Councillors to be trained so that they understand and implement the Public Finance Management Act. This was one of the promises made by party president, Mosiuoa Lekota during the party's manifesto launch in Johannesburg last month. The party, which is a splinter group from the ruling African National Congress, only won 0.67% of the popular mandate and 3 seats in the 2014 general elections.

I interview Jarrod Delport: a Congress of the People (COPE) candidate for parliament, teacher, writer, online political commentator, constitutionalist and Social Democrat. The Congress of the People is a South African political party formed in 2008 by former members of the African National Congress (ANC). The party was founded by former ANC members Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and Mluleki George to contest the 2009 general election.

Some South African are still shocked this afternoon following accusations by COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota that president Cyril Ramaphosa gave information to the apartheid special branch about his comrades and that he was in turn rewarded by spending less time in prison. He said this happened during their arrest in 1976 as young anti-apartheid activists. Lekota made the claim during the debate on Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address in Parliament.

Struggle hero, former cabinet minister, and current President of COPE, Mosiuoa Lekota joins the hosts this week. Lekota argues for non-racialism by highlighting his personal history and engagement with the ideas of Black Consciousness, as well as CODESA, which led to his position. Roman teases out COPE's position on expropriation without compensation, and Jonathan queries the party's prospects in the 2019 election.

National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has announced that the State-of-the-Nation-Address, which was due to be delivered on Thursday, has been postponed to a date yet to be announced. The postponement comes after various opposition parties wrote to Mbete requesting that President Jacob Zuma not be allowed to deliver the address. They want the ANC to resolve whether the President will serve the remainder of his term. The EFF has been calling for a special sitting to allow for a motion of no confidence in Zuma. The debate for the motion has been set for 22 of this month. Elvis Presslin spoke to EFF Secretary General Gordrich Gardee/COPE Leader, Mosiuoa Lekota & political analyst and former ANC MP Melanie Vervoerd

Congress of the People (COPE) has withdrawn from parliamentary activities. This follows a meeting of the party's Congress Executive Committee in Johannesburg yesterday to consider the recent Constitutional Court judgment on President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home. For more Bongi Gwala spoke to COPE president Mosiuoa Lekota

President Jacob Zuma sê die land kan nie langer bekostig om twee hoofstede te hê nie. Zuma het in sy negende staatsrede gesê daar sal binnekort besluit moet word of die Parlement in Kaapstad óf Pretoria gesetel moet wees. Die toespraak is kort-kort onderbreek deur lede van die EFF, wat die huis verlaat het nadat die Cope-leier, Mosiuoa Lekota, vroeër uitgestap het. NWU politieke wetenskaplike, dr. Ina Gouws, en prof. Anthonie van Nieuwkerk van Wits se skool vir regeerkunde gee hulle indrukke.