Raymond Mhlaba: Anti-apartheid veteran jailed with Mandela
Raymond Mhlaba, who has died aged 85, dedicated his formidable talents
to the struggle against apartheid. A member of the Rivonia group with
Nelson Mandela, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, but emerged to
take office in 1994 after South Africa's first democratic elections. His
kindly manner brought him the nickname "Oom Ray" - Uncle Ray in
Afrikaans.
Born in Mazoka, a village in the Beaufort district of the Eastern
Cape province, Mhlaba was forced to drop out of Healdtown secondary
school because his family lacked money. Working in a dry-cleaning
factory in Port Elizabeth turned him into a committed trade unionist and
political activist, initially as a leader of the Non-European Laundry
Workers' Union.
In 1943, he joined the South African Communist party (SACP), in which he was active until it was banned in 1950. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944. This was also the period in which he married his first wife, Joyce Meke, who was also from the Fort Beaufort area. In their 17 years together, before her death in a car accident in 1960, they had three children.
As chairman of the Port Elizabeth ANC branch, Mhlaba was the first person to be arrested in the 1952 non-violent campaign against the apartheid laws. He achieved this distinction by leading a group of volunteers into the "Europeans Only" entrance of the city's New Brighton police station, an action that earned him the Xhosa nickname "Vulindlela" - "he who opens the way".
After the ANC was banned in 1960, he went to China for military training. On returning to South Africa in 1962, he became a commander of the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Following a raid by the security forces on the ANC's underground headquarters at Liliesleaf farm, in Rivonia, northern Johannesburg, a year later, Mandela, Mhlaba and nine others - including Walter Sisulu (obituary, May 7 2003) and Govan Mbeki, the father of the current South African president Thabo Mbeki - stood trial for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. In June 1964, eight of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, and all but the white Dennis Goldberg were sent to Robben Island.
read more on:www.south african political lagends.com
In 1943, he joined the South African Communist party (SACP), in which he was active until it was banned in 1950. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944. This was also the period in which he married his first wife, Joyce Meke, who was also from the Fort Beaufort area. In their 17 years together, before her death in a car accident in 1960, they had three children.
As chairman of the Port Elizabeth ANC branch, Mhlaba was the first person to be arrested in the 1952 non-violent campaign against the apartheid laws. He achieved this distinction by leading a group of volunteers into the "Europeans Only" entrance of the city's New Brighton police station, an action that earned him the Xhosa nickname "Vulindlela" - "he who opens the way".
After the ANC was banned in 1960, he went to China for military training. On returning to South Africa in 1962, he became a commander of the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Following a raid by the security forces on the ANC's underground headquarters at Liliesleaf farm, in Rivonia, northern Johannesburg, a year later, Mandela, Mhlaba and nine others - including Walter Sisulu (obituary, May 7 2003) and Govan Mbeki, the father of the current South African president Thabo Mbeki - stood trial for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. In June 1964, eight of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, and all but the white Dennis Goldberg were sent to Robben Island.
read more on:www.south african political lagends.com
this man has worked very hard i hope that the recent leaders see an example in this person
ReplyDeleteThis is the hero!
ReplyDeleteHe is a big thing and he deserve an honer as others
ReplyDelete