Sizakele Sigxashe
Sizakele Sigxashe | |
---|---|
Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency | |
In office 1 January 1995 – 20 October 1999 | |
President | Nelson Mandela |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Vusi Mavimbela |
Personal details | |
Born | Sizakele Whitmore Sigxashe 21 June 1937 |
Died | 14 December 2011 | (aged 74)
Political party | PhD ) |
Sizakele Whitmore Sigxashe (21 June 1937 – 14 December 2011) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and intelligence officer. He was the inaugural director-general of the post-apartheid National Intelligence Agency between 1995 and 1999.
During apartheid, Sigxashe worked for the African National Congress (ANC) in exile, notably as head of intelligence evaluation for Umkhonto we Sizwe's Department of National Intelligence and Security between 1983 and 1990. During this period, he was also a member of the ANC's National Executive Committee and of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party.
Early life and activism
Sigxashe was born on 21 June 1937.
Upon his return to Southern Africa, Sigxashe joined the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), in 1970.[1] He lived in Tanzania, where he worked as a lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam and did underground work for the ANC.[1]
Apartheid-era intelligence career
In 1978, Sigxashe joined MK's intelligence arm, the Department of National Intelligence and Security (NAT), as a military intelligence researcher;[3] he also served as a member of the ANC's Revolutionary Council and later its Politico-Military Council.[4] During the same period, he was a member of the exiled South African Communist Party, eventually gaining election to its Central Committee in 1984.[5] The Mail & Guardian later described Sigxashe's role in MK as the role of "one of its low-key background boys rather than a high-profile activist".[2]
In 1983, Sigxashe was appointed to a senior position in NAT, then led by Mzwai Piliso. He succeeded Simon Makana as head of the processing and information sub-directorate, one of three main wings of NAT; his sub-directorate was renamed as the Central Intelligence Evaluation Sector (CIES).[4] In that capacity, in 1984, Sigxashe was appointed – with Aziz Pahad and Mtu Jwili – to Hermanus Loots's Stuart Commission, which investigated the causes of the Mkatashinga mutiny in MK's camp at Viana, Angola.[1][4]
At the ANC's
Post-apartheid intelligence career
After the
In the June 1999 general election, Mandela was succeeded as president by Thabo Mbeki, who announced on 20 October 1999 that his former security adviser, Vusi Mavimbela, would replace Sigxashe as director-general of the NIA.[9] The government explained the change by pointing out that Sigxashe would reach retirement age in 2000;[8] the opposition Democratic Party welcomed his removal from the position.[9] He was retained as a special adviser to Minister Nhlanhla.[10]
In 2003, Sigxashe was appointed as chairperson of the Intelligence Services Council, which was established to advise Lindiwe Sisulu, Nhlanhla's successor as Intelligence Minister, on employment conditions and policies in the intelligence community.[11]
Personal life and death
Sigxashe was married and had children. In October 1995, while Sigxashe was NIA Director-General, the South African Police Service intervened in a domestic quarrel at his home; the NIA denied media reports that the police had been summoned after Sigxashe threatened to shoot his wife and children, suggesting that journalists were being fed false information amid internecine battles in the intelligence community.[2]
Sigxashe died on 14 December 2011.[12][13]
Honours
On 28 April 2016, President Jacob Zuma admitted Sigxashe posthumously to the Order of Mendi.[14] He was awarded the Order of Mendi for Bravery in Silver for "His excellent contribution to the fight against the oppression of the people of South Africa".[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Dr Sizakele Sigxashe (Posthumous)". The Presidency. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ a b c d "NIA denies domestic violence". The Mail & Guardian. 20 October 1995. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ "Zuma pays tribute to Sigxashe". IOL. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f African National Congress (1997). "Appendix: ANC structures and personnel". Further submissions and responses by the African National Congress to questions raised by the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation. Pretoria: Department of Justice.
- ^ ISSN 0001-9909.
- ISBN 978-0719566752.
- ^ "Who are the silly buggers". The Mail & Guardian. 12 January 1996. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ a b "Thabo's man to debug the NIA". The Mail & Guardian. 29 October 1999. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ a b "DP unhappy with new NIA chief". IOL. SAPA. 20 October 1999. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
- ^ "Mass exodus of the DGs". The Mail & Guardian. 22 October 1999. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ "Spy council appointed". The Mail & Guardian. 20 June 2003. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ "DG of NIA passes away". South African Government News Agency. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ "President pays tribute to former Intelligence Head". South African Government. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ Quintal, Genevieve (28 April 2016). "Zuma bestows national orders on Madikizela-Mandela, Maharaj". News24. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
External links
- Eulogy to Sizakele Sigxashe by Nomvula Mokonyane (2011)
- "Taxation robs the African people" in the African Communist (1971)