“We said to him 'comrade please, go and stay home, respect the outcomes of the CNC [congress national committee] because you're suspended via the constitution of the party and therefore you have no right to speak on behalf of the party',” he said.
Mxolisi said they forced their way in because there was an instruction given to hotel management not to allow COPE members inside the venue.
“They've instructed management not to allow us to come in here. If it was the real COPE, why are they saying some people must not come in?” he said.
Lekota said he was disappointed about the message the violent scenes conveyed to the party's voters.
Fist fights break out at Mosiuoa Lekota's COPE briefing
Image: Alaister Russell
Fists and chairs flew as violence erupted at a Congress of the People (COPE) briefing on Wednesday by the party's suspended president Mosiuoa Lekota.
Lekota, accompanied by other national party leaders, spoke on his apparent suspension announced by the now suspended deputy president Willie Madisha on Monday.
Lekota said the suspension was bogus as Madisha, along with secretary for communications Dennis Bloem and COPE secretary for elections Mzwandile Hleko, had been suspended on August 26.
As the briefing continued, three men stormed into one of the rooms at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg demanding it be stopped and a fight broke out.
The men were clad in COPE T-shirts screaming Lekota had no authority to address the media because he was suspended.
Takalani Raidani, who said he was the leader of COPE's Youth Movement, was adamant Lekota would not finish his term.
Another one of the disrupters, identified as Mxolisi from Tshwane, said they had told Lekota to respect the decision to suspend him.
“We said to him 'comrade please, go and stay home, respect the outcomes of the CNC [congress national committee] because you're suspended via the constitution of the party and therefore you have no right to speak on behalf of the party',” he said.
Mxolisi said they forced their way in because there was an instruction given to hotel management not to allow COPE members inside the venue.
“They've instructed management not to allow us to come in here. If it was the real COPE, why are they saying some people must not come in?” he said.
Lekota said he was disappointed about the message the violent scenes conveyed to the party's voters.
IN PICS | Brawling Cope members trade blows at press conference
The party has been on an electoral decline with its seats in parliament having dwindled to only two, one of which is occupied by Lekota.
COPE Student Movement president Ndou Tyson labelled the group “disrupters”.
“These people are hired. We don’t know them. Only learnt one of them is working in one of the COPE member’s office and are in Madisha’s cabal. All they’re trying to do is save salaries.”
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