Kotane, Moses
(1905–78). Anti-apartheid and political activist. Secretary general of the SACP, 1939–78. Treasurer general of the ANC, 1963–73. Defendant in the 1956 Treason Trial. One of the twenty accused in the Defiance Campaign trial. In 1955 he attended the Bandung Conference in Indonesia. Detained in the 1960 State of Emergency, then placed under house arrest. He went into exile in 1963. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1975.
Kriegler, Johann
(1932–). Judge. Appointed chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), December 1993. The IEC’s mandate was to deliver South Africa’s first elections based on universal adult suffrage. One of the first to be appointed to the Constitutional Court, 1994. His term ended in 2002. Since retirement, has carried out work on five continents for the United Nations, the African Union, the Commonwealth of Nations and a host of non-governmental organisations. Currently deputy chairperson of the Board of Section27, a public interest law centre seeking to achieve equality and social justice in South Africa.
Liebenberg, Chris
(1934–). Banker, politician. Worked his way up from the position of messenger in a bank to become one of the top bankers in South Africa, serving as the CEO of Nedbank. Minister of finance under President Mandela 1994–96. Mandela asked him to take over from Derek Keys who resigned as finance minister months into his presidency.
Luthuli, Chief Albert John Mvumbi
(1898–1967). Teacher, anti-apartheid activist and minister of religion. Chief of Groutville Reserve. President general of the ANC, 1952–67. From 1953 he was confined to his home by government bans. Defendant in the 1956 Treason Trial. Sentenced to six months (suspended) in 1960 after publicly burning his passbook and calling for a national day of mourning following the Sharpeville Massacre. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for his non-violent role in the struggle against apartheid. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1955 at the Congress of the People.
Machel, Graça (née Simbine)
(1945–) Mozambican teacher, human rights activist, international advocate for women’s and children’s rights, and politician. Married Nelson Mandela, July 1998. Widow of Mozambican president Samora Machel (d. 1986). Member of the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) which fought for and won independence from Portugal in 1975. Mozambican minister for education and culture after independence. Among numerous awards she has received the United Nations’ Nansen Medal in recognition of her long-standing humanitarian work, particularly on behalf of refugee children.
Madikizela-Mandela, Nomzamo Winifred (Winnie)
(1936–). Social worker and anti-apartheid and women’s rights activist. Member of the ANC. Married to Nelson Mandela, 1958–96 (separated 1992). Mother of Zenani and Zindziswa Mandela. First qualified black medical social worker at the Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg. Held in solitary confinement for seventeen months in 1969. Placed under house arrest from 1970 and subjected to a series of banning orders from 1962 to 1987. Established the Black Women’s Federation, 1975, and the Black Parents’ Association, 1976, in response to the Soweto Uprising. President of the ANCWL, 1993–2003. ANC MP.
Maharaj, Satyandranath (Mac)
(1935–). Academic, politician, political and anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner and MP. Leading member of the ANC, SACP and MK. Convicted of sabotage in 1964 and sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment which he served on Robben Island. Helped to secretly transcribe Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and smuggled it out of prison when he was released in 1976. Commanded Operation Vulindlela (Vula), an ANC underground operation to establish an internal underground leadership. Maharaj served on the secretariat of CODESA. Minister of transport, 1994–99. Envoy to President Jacob Zuma.
Malan, Magnus
(1930–2011). Military commander and politician. Cadet in South Africa’s permanent force in 1949, serving in the navy and, at one time, as a marine on Robben Island before joining the army as a lieutenant. Chief of the army, 1973. Chief of the South African Defence Force, 1976. Minister of defence, 1980–91. President de Klerk removed him from his post in July 1991 after a scandal involving secret government funding to the Inkatha Freedom Party and other opponents of the ANC. Charged with other officers for the 1987 murder of thirteen people, including seven children, in November 1995. All were acquitted after a seven-month trial. President Mandela urged the public to respect the court’s decision.
Mandela, Winnie
(See Madikizela-Mandela, Nomzamo Winifred.)
Manuel, Trevor
(1956–). Anti-apartheid activist and politician. Appointed regional secretary and national executive member of the UDF, 1983. Between 1985 and 1990, he was repeatedly detained without trial or placed under house arrest for his political activities. Elected to Parliament in 1994 and appointed minister of trade and industry by Mandela. South Africa’s longest-serving finance minister, he served under Mandela in 1996 and also served under Thabo Mbeki and then Kgalema Motlanthe until 2009. Between 2009 and 2014 he served as minister in the presidency for the National Planning Commission under Jacob Zuma. Chaired the International Monetary Fund’s Development Committee. Special envoy for development finance for UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon. Co-chaired the Transitional Committee of the Green Climate Fund, 2011, a UN fund to help poorer nations combat and adapt to climate change.
Marcus, Gill
(1949–). Political activist, politician, banker. Born to political activist parents who left South Africa for exile in 1969, Marcus began working full-time for the ANC in London in 1970. Elected to Parliament in 1994 and served as the first chairperson on the Joint Standing Committee on Finance. Deputy minister of finance in Mandela’s government from 1996 until 1999 when she left government to take up the position of deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank. She held the post for five years and then became professor of policy, leadership and gender studies at the Gordon Institute for Business Science before going into business. Governor of the South African Reserve Bank from July 2009 to November 2014.
Masekela, Barbara Mosima Joyce
(1941–). Political activist, academic and ambassador. Left South Africa in the 1960s and studied in Botswana, Swaziland and Ghana. Graduated with a BA from Ohio State University and was assistant professor of English literature at Staten Island Community College, New York, and then at Rutgers University, New Jersey, until 1982. Served as the chair of the US regional political committee of the African National Congress. Headed the ANC’s Department of Arts and Culture, 1983. Returned to South Africa in 1990 and was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in 1991. Became Mandela’s personal assistant in 1990. Has served as South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States, France and UNESCO.
Masemola, Jafta Kgalabi (Jeff)
(1929–90). Teacher and member of the ANC Youth League, then the PAC. Known as the ‘Tiger of Azania’, he was a founder of the armed wing of the PAC. After being arrested in 1962 and charged with sabotage for blowing up power lines and smuggling freedom fighters out of South Africa he was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 1963. On 13 October 1989, while still in prison, he met with Nelson Mandela at Victor Verster Prison. It was rumoured that they discussed unity between the ANC and the PAC. Released from prison on 15 October 1989, and on 17 April 1990 he was killed in a mysterious car accident.
Mbeki, Archibald Mvuyelwa Govan (clan name, Zizi)
(1910–2001). Historian and anti-apartheid activist. Leading member of the ANC and the SACP. Served on the High Command of MK. Father of Thabo Mbeki (president of South Africa, 1999–2008). Convicted in the Rivonia Trial and sentenced to life imprisonment. Released from Robben Island Prison, 1987. Served in South Africa’s post-apartheid Senate, 1994–97, as deputy president of the Senate, and as a member of its successor, the National Council of Provinces, 1997–99. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1980.
Mbeki, Mvuyelwa T
habo
(1942–). Politician and anti-apartheid activist. President of South Africa, 1999–2008. Deputy president, 1994–99. Son of Govan Mbeki. Joined the ANCYL in 1956 at the age of fourteen. Left South Africa with other students in 1962. He quickly rose through the ranks of the ANC in exile, and underwent military training in the Soviet Union. He worked closely with OR Tambo and led the ANC delegation that held secret talks with the South African government, participating in all subsequent interactions with the South African government. He served as president of the ANC, 1997–2007.
Mboweni, Tito Titus
(1959–). Anti-apartheid activist, politician and banker. Left South Africa in 1980 and joined the ANC in exile in Lesotho. Returned to South Africa in 1990 after the unbanning of the ANC. Minister of labour in Mandela’s cabinet from 1994 to July 1998. Appointed head of the ANC’s Policy Department, 1998, which was responsible for managing ANC policy processes. Upon joining the South African Reserve Bank in July 1998 as adviser to the governor, he resigned all of his elected and appointed positions in the ANC. Appointed governor in 1999. Appointed international adviser of Goldman Sachs International, June 2010.
Meiring, Georg
(1939–). Military commander. Joined the South African army in 1963 after obtaining an MSc in physics from the University of the Orange Free State. Chief of the South African Defence Force, 1990–93 with the rank of lieutenant general. Appointed first chief of the South African National Defence Force, 1993–98.
Mhlaba, Raymond (clan name, Ndobe)
(1920–2005). Anti-apartheid activist, politician, diplomat and political prisoner. Leading member of ANC and SACP. Commander-in-chief of MK. Arrested in 1963 at Rivonia and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial. Imprisoned on Robben Island until he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in 1982. Released in 1989. He was involved in the negotiations with the National Party government leading to the democratisation of South Africa. Member of the ANC National Executive Committee, 1991. Premier of the Eastern Cape, 1994. South African high commissioner to Uganda, 1997. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1992.
MK
(See Umkhonto weSizwe.)
Mkwayi, Wilton Zimasile (clan name, Mbona; nickname, Bri Bri)
(1923–2004). Trade unionist, political activist and political prisoner. Member of the ANC and the South Africa Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). Union organiser for African Textile Workers in Port Elizabeth. Volunteer in the 1952 Defiance Campaign, and later active in the campaign for the Congress of the People. Escaped during the 1956 Treason Trial and went to Lesotho. Joined Umkhonto weSizwe and had military training in the People’s Republic of China. Became MK’s commander-in-chief after the arrests at Liliesleaf Farm. Convicted and sentenced to life in what became known as the ‘Little Rivonia Trial’. He served his sentence on Robben Island. Released October 1989. Elected to the Senate in the National Parliament in 1994, then deployed to the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature, where he served until his retirement from public life in 1999. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1992.
Mlangeni, Andrew Mokete (clan name, Motlokwa; nickname, Mpandla)
(1926–). Anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner and MP. Member of the ANCYL, ANC and MK. Convicted at the Rivonia Trial in 1963 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Served eighteen years on Robben Island and was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in 1982. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1992.
Modise, Johannes (Joe)
(1929–2001). Bus driver, anti-apartheid activist and politician. Charged with Mandela and 155 others in the Treason Trial of 1956. All were acquitted. Became a freedom fighter in the 1960s and rose to the position of commander-in-chief of MK, the armed wing of the ANC, holding this position for twenty-five years from 1965 to 1990. After Mandela’s release from prison, Modise returned to South Africa and joined the ANC’s negotiating team in discussions with the ruling National Party. The initial discussion resulted in the Groote Schuur Minute, which paved the way for the return of all exiles and a negotiated end to the apartheid system. Minister of defence in Mandela’s cabinet, 1994–99.
Mokaba, Peter
(1959–2002). Political activist and politician. After working for a short time as a teacher, Peter Mokaba was arrested in 1982 and convicted of possessing weapons and undergoing military training as a member of MK in Mozambique and Angola. He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment but was released after a year, following a successful appeal. Founding member of the South African Youth Congress, and later the organisation’s first president in 1987, Mokaba was hero-worshipped by a large section of South Africa’s youth. President of the ANCYL, 1991–94. Deputy minister of environmental affairs and tourism in Mandela’s cabinet.
Moosa, Mohammed Valli (Valli)
(1957–). Anti-apartheid activist, politician and businessman. Member of the UDF. Participated in the multiparty negotiations to end white minority rule. Deputy minister for provincial and constitutional affairs in Mandela’s cabinet. After the National Party left the GNU in 1996, he became minister in this department. From 1999 he became environment and tourism minister. He went into business after leaving government.
Moroka, Dr James Sebe
(1892–1985). Medical doctor, politician and anti-apartheid activist. President of the ANC, 1949–52. Convicted in the Defiance Campaign Trial in 1952. During the trial he appointed his own lawyer, disassociated himself from the ANC and pleaded for mitigation. As a consequence he was not re-elected president of the ANC, and was replaced by Chief Luthuli.
Mothopeng, Zephania Lekoame (Zeph)
(1913–90). Teacher and anti-apartheid activist. Joined the ANCYL, 1940. Joined the PAC and was elected its president in 1989 while in prison. Jailed for two years in 1960, and again in 1964, and spent time on Robben Island in the same section as Mandela. Arrested again in 1976 and sentenced to fifteen years in jail. He was released early, in 1988, after he was diagnosed with cancer. Under his leadership, the PAC refused to join the multiparty negotiations for a democratic South Africa.
Motsoaledi, Elias (clan name, Mokoni)
(1924–94). Trade unionist, anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. Member of the ANC, SACP and Council of Non-European Trade Unions (CNETU). Banned after the 1952 Defiance Campaign. Helped to establish the South Africa Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) in 1955. Imprisoned for four months during the 1960 State of Emergency and detained again under the ninety-day detention laws of 1963. Sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial and imprisoned on Robben Island from 1964 to 1989. Elected to the ANC’s National Executive Committee following his release. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1992.
Mpetha, Oscar Mafakafaka
(1909–94). Trade unionist, political activist and a member of the ANC. Detained for four years following the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March 1960. Sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 1983 after being convicted of terrorism and for inciting a riot. In the same year, he was elected co-president of the newly formed UDF. He spent the last period of his detention under guard at Groote Schuur Hospital. He was a diabetic and had his leg amputated and was confined to a wheelchair. Released on 15 October 1989, along with a group of political prisoners, following Mandela’s official request that they be released.
Mufamadi, Fohlisani Sydney
(1959–). Anti-apartheid activist, politician, trade unionist and teacher. Joined the ANC, 1977. Founding member of Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO), 1978. Joined the SACP, 1981. Elected Transvaal publicity secretary for the UDF, 1983, a position he held until 1990. Elected assistant general secretary of COSATU, 1985. Minister of safety and security in Mandela’s cabinet until 1999. Minister of provincial and local government, 1999–2008.
Naidoo, Jayaseelan (Jay)
(1954–). Politician and trade unionist. As a student he became active in the South African Students Organisation that was banned in 1977 just afte
r its leader Steve Biko was murdered in police detention. Became a community-based organiser and joined the trade union movement. Elected the first general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions at its launch in 1975. Served as minister without portfolio in President Nelson Mandela’s cabinet with responsibility for co-ordinating the Reconstruction and Development Programme. Later served as minister of posts, telecommunications and broadcasting. Chair of the board of directors and of the partnership council of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.
National Party
Conservative South African political party established in Bloemfontein in 1914 by Afrikaner nationalists. Governing party of South Africa, June 1948 to May 1994. Enforced apartheid, a system of legal racial segregation that favoured minority rule by the white population. Disbanded in 2004.
Netshitenzhe, Joel Khathutshelo
(1956–). Anti-apartheid activist and politician. Spent many years in exile from South Africa, working for the ANC. Head of communications in President Mandela’s office. Head of South Africa’s Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), 1998–2006, before heading the Policy Unit in the presidency. Served on South Africa’s first National Planning Commission, 2010–15. Executive director and board vice-chairperson of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA).
Ngoyi, Lilian Masediba
(1911–80). Politician, anti-apartheid and women’s rights activist, and orator. Leading member of the ANC. First woman elected to the ANC Executive Committee, 1956. President of the ANC Women’s League. President of Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW), 1956. Led the Women’s March against pass laws, 1956. Charged and acquitted in the Treason Trial. Detained in the 1960 State of Emergency. Detained and held in solitary confinement for seventy-one days in 1963 under the ninety-day detention law. Continuously subjected to banning orders. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1982.
Nkobi, Thomas Titus
(1922–94). Anti-apartheid activist, treasurer, member of Parliament. Joined ANC, 1950, and participated in the Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws and the 1955 Congress of the People. National organiser of the ANC, 1958. Arrested during the 1960 State of Emergency for his role as one of the initiators of the Mandela M-Plan to establish underground networks of the ANC. Went into exile, 1963, mainly living in Lusaka. ANC treasurer general, 1968–73. Returned to South Africa, 1990, and was re-elected as treasurer general of the ANC and as a member of Parliament.
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