THE FAMILY of the founder of Cope, Mr. Mosiuoa Lekota, has described the pain he felt when his illness took hold of him in the past two months.
The spokesperson for the family, Mr. Pitso Sekhoto, said that the pain they felt during his illness made him no longer sensitive when he died on Wednesday.
He said this while speaking to the media outside Lekota’s home in the Free State, yesterday.
Sekhoto said that in the past two months, the veil has been revealed.
“We were the ones who took care of him. It was painful to see him in pain. That’s why if you look now, you will see that we are not crying because we know that he is resting from the pain. Instead of crying, we choose to celebrate Lekota’s life.”
Lekota died in Johannesburg, his body was returned to the province where he was born, the Free State, on Wednesday night.
Sekhoto revealed that Lekota’s funeral will take place next Sunday.
“At the moment we are planning Friday or Saturday. We are still waiting for all the family members to arrive so we can complete the funeral preparations. There was a family meeting in Johannesburg but now everything will be done here.”
Sekhoto said they would be happy if Lekota was honored with a state funeral because he was loved by many people.
“We will meet with government officials to find out what level of government funeral Lekota may be given. Lekota was a people person. He was loved by everyone and he loved the people.
“We are still finalizing the preparations to know who will be part of the funeral. Since we know that Lekota was a people person, we know that his funeral should be attended by many people.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa said they will hear from the family what they want the government to help with.
Lekota was once the prime minister of the Free State, and a former defense minister.
He became a member of the ANC for a long time and was the national chairman of the organization for ten years. Lekota defected from the ANC in 2008, and started Cope.