South African politician (1910?2001)
Govan Archibald Mvunyelwa Mbeki
(9 July 1910 ? 30 August 2001) was a South African
politician
, military commander, Communist leader who served as the Secretary of
Umkhonto we Sizwe
, at its inception in 1961. He was also the son of Chief Sikelewu Mbeki and Johanna Mahala and also the father of the former
South African
president
Thabo Mbeki
and political economist
Moeletsi Mbeki
. He was a leader of the
South African Communist Party
and the
African National Congress
. After the
Rivonia Trial
, he was imprisoned (1963?1987) on charges of
terrorism
and
treason
, together with
Nelson Mandela
,
Walter Sisulu
,
Raymond Mhlaba
,
Ahmed Kathrada
and other eminent ANC leaders, for their role in the ANC's armed wing,
Umkhonto we Sizwe
(MK). He was sometimes mentioned by his nickname "
Oom Gov
".
Early years
[
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]
Govan Mbeki was born in the
Nqamakwe
district of the Transkei region and was a part of the
Xhosa
ethnic group. As a teenager, Mbeki worked as a newsboy and messenger in the cities, and because of this, he saw the poverty urban black Africans lived in, and the constant police raids they endured. He attended
Fort Hare University
, completing in 1936 a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics and psychology and a teaching diploma.
[2]
Mbeki met other African struggle leaders while attending the university.
Teacher, trader and communist
[
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]
For a time Mbeki worked as a teacher, but lost his job because of his political activities.
[3]
He was a member of the
South African Communist Party
(SACP, then the Communist Party of South Africa, or CPSA) from the late 1930s, and joined the
African National Congress
in 1935.
[4]
He then set up a
co-operative
store in Idutywa and began a writing career. From 1938 to 1944 he was the editor of
Territorial Magazine
/
Inkundla Ya Bantu
.
Mbeki left journalism in 1944 and became a government-nominated member of the Transkei Territorial Authorities General Council until 1950. His role in the CPSA/ SACP was clandestine at the time, which helps explain why he received the nomination. Mbeki disparagingly referred to the council as a 'toy telephone': "You can say what you like, but your words have no effect because the wires are not connected to an exchange".
[2]
In 1948 Mbeki stood as a candidate for the Natives Representative Council but lost the election.
[5]
When the CPSA/ SACP was banned in 1950 by the
apartheid
government, Mbeki remained in the
African National Congress
(ANC). In 1952 Mbeki was imprisoned together with Raymond Mhlaba and
Vuyisile Mini
for three months in
Rooi Hel
('Red Hell' or North End Prison, Port Elizabeth) for disobeying apartheid laws by participating in the 'Campaign of Defiance against Injustice Laws' (Defiance Campaign). In 1954, a tornado destroyed his store, and Mbeki was dismissed from teaching again (he would lose his job three times, and be blacklisted from others, from the 1930s onwards).
[6]
Mbeki moved to Port Elizabeth and joined the editorial board of
New Age
, a prominent leftist newspaper linked to underground CPSA/ SACP networks.
[2]
Mbeki played a crucial role in ensuring that the pages and columns reflected the conditions, demands, and aspirations of black working-class people, particularly in the countryside.
[3]
He also worked on the
Guardian
,
New Age
,
Fighting Talk
and
Liberation
,
[4]
and worked with 'Jock'
Harold Strachan
in the
Port Elizabeth
area, and helped him produce the newsletter
Izwi Lomzi
("Voice of the People").
[7]
[8]
Mbeki was meanwhile actively involved in the major campaigns of the day, including the revival of the
African National Congress
in the 1940s, the
Defiance Campaign
and the
Congress of the People
.
Armed struggle and Robben Island
[
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]
In 1960, the ANC was banned, and along with the underground SACP, formed
Umkhonto we Sizwe
(MK), which became ANC's armed wing. Mbeki was involved, and, at his urging, Strachan assisted MK by turning his hand to improvised explosive devices based on substances like
potassium permanganate
,
magnesium
,
glycerol
and
icing sugar
.
[9]
[10]
[11]
...this was our job ? devices and explosives. So I said, for God’s sake, why me? And they said, no well, you were a bomber pilot in the war, you see, so you must know how to make bombs. I said, but for Christ’s sake, Govan, (Mbeki) we didn’t make our own bombs. And they said, but you know about those things and I said, no, bombs were made in bloody factories, I don’t know. So he said, anyway, you’re appointed. We did a good job, actually.
?
Strachan, quoted by Zoe Mulder.
[12]
Meanwhile, in November 1962, the then-Minister of Justice,
John Vorster
, banned
New Age
. When the editorial board came out with its successor publication
Spark
, Vorster went one step further by banning not the newspaper but its editors and writers.
[3]
This effectively ended Mbeki's role as editor and journalist in the country. On 11 July 1963, he was arrested with other MK high commanders. In 1964, he was an accused in the
Rivonia Trial
and sentenced to
Robben Island
.
Books
[
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]
In 1939, Mbeki published his first book,
Transkei in the Making
.
[13]
A supporter of the 1950-1961
Pondoland peasant revolt
, he wrote the pioneering study of the movement,
South Africa: The Peasants' Revolt
from 1958, which was published in 1964.
[14]
Much of the book is an analysis of the political economy of the Transkei, rather than the revolt itself.
[15]
Following the
Rivonia Trial
, Mbeki served a long-term on
Robben Island
, during which he managed to run education classes with prisoners, many on
Marxist
theory, and wrote a number of significant analyses jail, which were kept on the island and used for discussions. The surviving copies have since been published.
[16]
In 1992, he published
The Struggle For Liberation in South Africa: A Short History
and in 1996,
Sunset at Midday: Latshonilangemini!
Release and post-apartheid role
[
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]
Mbeki was released from custody after serving 24 years in the
Robben Island
prison on 5 November 1987. He served in South Africa's post-
apartheid
Senate
from 1994 to 1997 as Deputy President of the Senate, and then the Senate's successor, the
National Council of Provinces
, from 1997 to 1999.
Mbeki died in
Port Elizabeth
on 30 August 2001. He was given
state funeral
during his son's presidency (
Thabo
) on 8 September 2001.
[17]
His remains were the subject of controversy in 2006 when plans were made to exhume them, and place them in a museum. These plans were called off after Mbeki's family refused the request.
[18]
Awards and honours
[
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]
Mbeki received an honorary doctorate in the Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam in 1978.
[19]
His son
Moeletsi
attended the ceremony, as Mbeki was imprisoned at Robben Island.
[19]
On 26 June 1980, the Secretary General of the then-illegal
African National Congress
,
Alfred Nzo
, announced the conferring of the
Isitwalandwe Medal
, the ANC's highest honour, on Mbeki. Mbeki was, however, not present to receive the award, because he was serving a life imprisonment sentence on
Robben Island
.
Mbeki received international recognition for his political achievements including the renaming (at Mandela's suggestion) of the recently opened health building at
Glasgow Caledonian University
.
[20]
[21]
The Govan Mbeki Health Building was inaugurated in 2001 at a ceremony featuring his son
Thabo
.
[21]
The
Govan Mbeki Local Municipality
in
Mpumulanga
is named in his honour.
Order for Meritorious Service
in gold (2003).
In 2004 he was voted 97th in the
SABC 3's Great South Africans
.
In 2013 a large section of road between Swartklip and Baden Powell Road, running between the neighborhoods of Browns Farm,
Gugulethu
,
Nyanga
and
Crossroads
in Cape Town was renamed Govan Mbeki Road.
[22]
The Health Building at Glasgow Caledonian University, in Glasgow Scotland, is named after him.
https://www.gcu.ac.uk/aboutgcu/supportservices/conferences/mediagallery/govanmbekibuilding
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
Notes
Citations
- ^
"Govan Archibald Mbeki"
. The O'Malley Archives
. Retrieved
19 December
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
James Barron (6 November 1987).
"A Chronicler of Revolt, Defiant Behind Bars"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
3 December
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Biography of Govan Mbeki"
.
SACP
website. Archived from
the original
on 14 July 2014
. Retrieved
17 September
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Colin Bundy, 2012,
Govan Mbeki
, Johannesburg: Jacana, p. 147
- ^
Mia Roth (20 January 2016).
The Communist Party in South Africa: Racism, Eurocentricity and Moscow, 1921-1950
. Partridge Africa.
ISBN
978-1-4828-0964-0
.
- ^
Colin Bundy, 2012,
Govan Mbeki
, Johannesburg: Jacana, p. 149
- ^
"Harold Strachan"
.
Sunday Times
. 10 May 1998
. Retrieved
29 October
2017
.
- ^
Bundy, Colin (2013).
Govan Mbeki
. Ohio University Press. p. 101.
ISBN
9780821444597
.
- ^
South African Democracy Education Trust (2004).
The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1960-1970
. Zebra. pp. 121?123.
ISBN
9781868729067
.
- ^
Bundy, Colin (2013).
Govan Mbeki
. Ohio University Press. p. 111.
ISBN
9780821444597
.
- ^
Cherry, Janet (2012).
Spear of the Nation: Umkhonto weSizwe: South Africa's Liberation Army, 1960s?1990s
. Ohio University Press. pp. 20?21.
ISBN
9780821444436
.
- ^
Molver, Zoe (5 March 2007).
"Harold Strachan: Bram's Bow-maker"
. literarytourism.co.za
. Retrieved
30 October
2017
.
- ^
Colin Bundy, 2012, Govan Mbeki, Johannesburg: Jacana, p. 161
- ^
Govan Mbeki, 1964,
South Africa: The Peasants' Revolt, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).
- ^
Colin Bundy, 2012,
Govan Mbeki
, Johannesburg: Jacana, p. 93
- ^
Govan Mbeki, 2015,
Learning from Robben Island: The Prison Writings of Govan Mbeki
, Cape Town: Kwela Books
- ^
"Govan Mbeki | South African History Online"
.
www.sahistory.org.za
. Retrieved
30 May
2020
.
- ^
Helga van Staaden (23 January 2006).
"Govan Mbeki reburial called off"
.
News24.com
. Archived from
the original
on 30 September 2007.
- ^
a
b
Folia civitatis
, v. 31, no. 18 (24 December 1977)
- ^
"Have You Heard From Johannesburg"
.
www.clarityfilms.org
. Retrieved
30 May
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Kasuka, Bridgette (7 February 2012).
Independence Leaders of Africa
. Bankole Kamara Taylor.
ISBN
978-1-4700-4175-5
.
- ^
"Six streets in Cape Town renamed"
.
www.iol.co.za
. Retrieved
7 April
2021
.
External links
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