JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African anti-apartheid veteran and former defense minister Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota has died at the age of 77 after a long illness, his political party said on Wednesday.

Lekota was a prominent activist against white minority rule in South Africa and served eight years in prison on Robben Island alongside other jailed anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela, from 1974 to 1982.

Lekota was a fiery member of various political youth organizations during apartheid and was jailed even after he was released from Robben Island for his continued anti-apartheid activism.

He served as South Africa’s minister of defense from 1999 to 2008 and was also the national chairperson of the African National Congress, which governed the country after the first democratic election in 1994.

Lekota’s relationship with the ANC soured after former President Thabo Mbeki was removed as the country’s president in 2008, having lost the presidency of the ANC to former President Jacob Zuma in 2007.