19 November 2008
Inspired, enlightened and hopeful was how some Stellenbosch business leaders described their mood after a meeting with Congress of the People (COPE) chairman Mosiuoa Lekota.
Lekota on Tuesday addressed around 200 people, including business and student representatives and lecturers at the University of Stellenbosch.
The meeting was scheduled for 2pm, but only started after 4pm as Lekota had to deal with the withdrawal of his police protection in Johannesburg.
He told the meeting that he had to confront acting police commissioner's Tim Williams' decision to withdraw his police protection.
Lekota said while ministers were allowed protection until 30 days after their resignations, he needed an extension as he felt his life was under threat. He resigned on September 25.
Lekota said he was waiting for a response from Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa after writing a letter about his security situation.
Businessman David Rabie told the Cape Argus that business leaders had met in Stellenbosch on November 8, and resolved to meet Lekota.
"We had invited 140 companies, many of them are represented here, but some people had to leave because Lekota arrived late," he said.
Rabie said the decision to invite Lekota was to see "who is going to be the saving grace in this country".
"We just wanted to hear if there is hope for this country. We need to believe there's a future and that we are not going to the dogs," said Rabie before describing Lekota as an honourable man of integrity.
Another Stellenbosch resident, Glen Barkhuizen said Lekota had "over-delivered" in his address.
"This is a man, who, when everybody kept quiet, stood up. We need to get behind the initiative and work really hard."
Barkhuizen said they were ready to send the message.
"We will be having caucus meetings. We are looking for full representation of the Boland community, working towards next year's elections."
Lekota spoke at length about promoting unity, "intellectualism" and the need for the country to promote excellence.
He opened the meeting, which had a proportional mix of black and white people, by making reference to the 1990s' convention for a democratic South Africa process and how it was meant as a move from the past to focus on the future.
Lekota said COPE branches would not necessarily be ward or region-based but sector based.
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