ANC EXTENDS ITS CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF KGOSI LUCAS MANGOPE

The African National Congress has received the news of the passing of Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope -  the former leader of the then Bophuthatswana. He was 94 years old. 

Mr Mangope was among the African personalities that emerged in the 1970s as leaders of the Bantustan territories created by the apartheid regime as part of its strategy to consolidate, in the name of self-governance, tribal homelands that sustained the apartheid social engineering of ethnic division.

Although Mr. Mangope was an outspoken opponent of the democratisation project in South Africa as led by the ANC, the ANC continued to maintain a tone of respect and willingness to engage in search of a common objective of national liberation and democracy in South Africa. 

Mr Mangope was also the founder and leader of the United Christian Democratic Party which eventually contested elections in a democratic South Africa. 

The African National Congress extends condolences to the Mangope family, their friends and all people who held Mr Mangope in close regard.

Statement issued by Zizi Kodwa, African National Congress, 19 January 2018