Alfred Baphethuxolo Nzo
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Alfred Baphethuxolo Nzo | |
---|---|
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 1994–1999 | |
President | Nelson Mandela |
Preceded by | Pik Botha |
Succeeded by | Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma |
Secretary General of the ANC | |
In office 1969–1991 | |
Succeeded by | Cyril Ramaphosa |
Personal details | |
Born | Transvaal | 19 June 1925
Died | 13 January 2000 Johannesburg | (aged 74)
Resting place | Westpark Cemetery, Johannesburg |
Nationality | South African |
Political party | African National Congress |
Alfred Baphethuxolo Nzo (19 June 1925 – 13 January 2000
Political career
He was sent off to the Eastern Cape to receive missionary education. After completing his matric, he enrolled for BSc degree at
As health inspector, Nzo developed much understanding of the lives of millions of South Africans in the 1950s. He got actively involved in the organising of the Defiance Campaign in 1952. He was also involved in the campaign to interview people about the kind of society in which they would like to live. It was this campaign that culminated in the Congress of the People in 1955, at which the Freedom Charter was adopted.
In 1956 Nzo was elected the chairperson of ANC branch in
In 1958, Nzo was elected to the regional and national executive committees of the ANC. In 1962, he was placed under 24-hour house arrest and in June 1963 detained for a period of 238 days. The following year, Nzo went into exile and took up posts in various countries including Egypt, India, Zambia and Tanzania.
In 1969, Nzo was elected ANC Secretary-General at the Morogoro Conference in Tanzania, and re-elected to this position at the Kwabe Conference in 1985.
On 30 December 1979 he and Oliver Tambo met Tim Jenkin, Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris, ANC members and escapees from incarceration at Pretoria Central Prison as political prisoners. Their presence was officially announced by the ANC in early January and Tambo introduced them at a press conference on 2 January 1980.[2]
After the unbanning of the liberation movements in 1989, Nzo formed part of the ANC delegation that entered into deliberations with the National Party government.[3] Nzo lost the position of Secretary-General to Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC July 1991 National Conference held in South Africa for the first time after the unbanning of the liberation movements. He was then elected deputy head of the ANC's security department. After the first democratic elections in 1994, Nzo was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Nelson Mandela.
After the 1999 national elections, Nzo retired from politics and in December of the same year he died of a stroke and he was survived by his wife Regina Nzo who died on 27 September 2011 at the ages of 81 years old. He was buried at the Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg.
See also
References
- ^ "Alfred Baphetuxolo Nzo | South African History Online".
- ^ Jenkin, Tim (1987). "Escape from Pretoria" (PDF). South African History Online. pp. 155–184. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "The death of Cde Alfred Nzo". Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.