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Govan Mbeki

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This article is about the South African politician. For the local municipality, seeGovan Mbeki Local Municipality.

Govan Mbeki
Under arrest in 1963
Co-Deputy Chairperson ofNational Council of Provinces
*alongsideBulelani Ngcuka
In office
1997–1999
Preceded byposition established
Succeeded byNaledi Pandor
Deputy President ofSenate of South Africa
In office
1994–1997
Preceded byposition established
Succeeded byposition renamed
Secretary ofMK
In office
1961–1963
Preceded byposition established
Succeeded byposition abolished
Personal details
Born
Govan Archibald Mvunyelwa Mbeki

(1910-07-09)9 July 1910
MpukaneLocation,Nqamakwedistrict,Union of South Africa[1]
Died30 August 2001(2001-08-30)(aged 91)
Port Elizabeth,Eastern Cape,Republic of South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
South African Communist Party
Spouse
​
(m.1940)​
ChildrenLinda Mbeki (daughter; born 1941, died 2003)
Thabo Mbeki(son; born 1942)
Moeletsi Mbeki(son; born 1945)
Jama Mbeki (son; born 1948, died 1982)
Occupationanti-apartheidactivist

Govan Archibald Mvunyelwa Mbeki(9 July 1910 – 30 August 2001) was a South Africanpolitician,military commander, Communist leader who served as the Secretary ofUmkhonto 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 formerSouth AfricanpresidentThabo Mbekiand political economistMoeletsi Mbeki.He was a leader of theSouth African Communist Partyand theAfrican National Congress.After theRivonia Trial,he was imprisoned (1963–1987) on charges ofterrorismandtreason,together withNelson Mandela,Walter Sisulu,Raymond Mhlaba,Ahmed Kathradaand 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[edit]

Govan Mbeki was born in theNqamakwedistrict of the Transkei region and was a part of theXhosaethnic 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 attendedFort 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[edit]

For a time Mbeki worked as a teacher, but lost his job because of his political activities.[3]He was a member of theSouth African Communist Party(SACP, then the Communist Party of South Africa, or CPSA) from the late 1930s, and joined theAfrican National Congressin 1935.[4]He then set up aco-operativestore in Idutywa and began a writing career. From 1938 to 1944 he was the editor ofTerritorial 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 theapartheidgovernment, Mbeki remained in theAfrican National Congress(ANC). In 1952 Mbeki was imprisoned together with Raymond Mhlaba andVuyisile Minifor three months inRooi 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 ofNew 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 theGuardian,New Age,Fighting TalkandLiberation,[4]and worked with 'Jock'Harold Strachanin thePort Elizabetharea, and helped him produce the newsletterIzwi Lomzi( "Voice of the People" ).[7][8]Mbeki was meanwhile actively involved in the major campaigns of the day, including the revival of theAfrican National Congressin the 1940s, theDefiance Campaignand theCongress of the People.

Armed struggle and Robben Island[edit]

In 1960, the ANC was banned, and along with the underground SACP, formedUmkhonto 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 likepotassium permanganate,magnesium,glycerolandicing 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,bannedNew Age.When the editorial board came out with its successor publicationSpark,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 theRivonia Trialand sentenced toRobben Island.

Books[edit]

In 1939, Mbeki published his first book,Transkei in the Making.[13]A supporter of the 1950-1961Pondoland peasant revolt,he wrote the pioneering study of the movement,South Africa: The Peasants' Revoltfrom 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]

Govan Mbeki's guitar at Robben Island (Fort Hare Archives, 2016)

Following theRivonia Trial,Mbeki served a long-term onRobben Island,during which he managed to run education classes with prisoners, many onMarxisttheory, 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 publishedThe Struggle For Liberation in South Africa: A Short Historyand in 1996,Sunset at Midday: Latshonilangemini!

Release and post-apartheid role[edit]

Mbeki was released from custody after serving 24 years in theRobben Islandprison on 5 November 1987. He served in South Africa's post-apartheidSenatefrom 1994 to 1997 as Deputy President of the Senate, and then the Senate's successor, theNational Council of Provinces,from 1997 to 1999.

Mbeki died inPort Elizabethon 30 August 2001. He was givenstate funeralduring 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[edit]

Mbeki received an honorary doctorate in the Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam in 1978.[19]His sonMoeletsiattended the ceremony, as Mbeki was imprisoned at Robben Island.[19]

Honorary doctorate, Amsterdam 1978

On 26 June 1980, the Secretary General of the then-illegalAfrican National Congress,Alfred Nzo,announced the conferring of theIsitwalandwe 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 onRobben Island.

Mbeki received international recognition for his political achievements including the renaming (at Mandela's suggestion) of the recently opened health building atGlasgow Caledonian University.[20][21]The Govan Mbeki Health Building was inaugurated in 2001 at a ceremony featuring his sonThabo.[21]

TheGovan Mbeki Local MunicipalityinMpumulangais named in his honour.

Order for Meritorious Servicein gold (2003).

In 2004 he was voted 97th in theSABC 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,NyangaandCrossroadsin Cape Town was renamed Govan Mbeki Road.[22]

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The Health Building at Glasgow Caledonian University, in Glasgow Scotland, is named after him.https:// gcu.ac.uk/aboutgcu/supportservices/conferences/mediagallery/govanmbekibuilding

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Notes

Citations

  1. ^"Govan Archibald Mbeki".The O'Malley Archives.Retrieved19 December2013.
  2. ^abcJames Barron (6 November 1987)."A Chronicler of Revolt, Defiant Behind Bars".The New York Times.Retrieved3 December2018.
  3. ^abc"Biography of Govan Mbeki".SACPwebsite. Archived fromthe originalon 14 July 2014.Retrieved17 September2015.
  4. ^abColin Bundy, 2012,Govan Mbeki,Johannesburg: Jacana, p. 147
  5. ^Mia Roth (20 January 2016).The Communist Party in South Africa: Racism, Eurocentricity and Moscow, 1921-1950.Partridge Africa.ISBN978-1-4828-0964-0.
  6. ^Colin Bundy, 2012,Govan Mbeki,Johannesburg: Jacana, p. 149
  7. ^"Harold Strachan".Sunday Times.10 May 1998.Retrieved29 October2017.
  8. ^Bundy, Colin (2013).Govan Mbeki.Ohio University Press. p. 101.ISBN9780821444597.
  9. ^South African Democracy Education Trust (2004).The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1960-1970.Zebra. pp. 121–123.ISBN9781868729067.
  10. ^Bundy, Colin (2013).Govan Mbeki.Ohio University Press. p. 111.ISBN9780821444597.
  11. ^Cherry, Janet (2012).Spear of the Nation: Umkhonto weSizwe: South Africa's Liberation Army, 1960s–1990s.Ohio University Press. pp. 20–21.ISBN9780821444436.
  12. ^Molver, Zoe (5 March 2007)."Harold Strachan: Bram's Bow-maker".literarytourism.co.za.Retrieved30 October2017.
  13. ^Colin Bundy, 2012, Govan Mbeki, Johannesburg: Jacana, p. 161
  14. ^Govan Mbeki, 1964,South Africa: The Peasants' Revolt, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).
  15. ^Colin Bundy, 2012,Govan Mbeki,Johannesburg: Jacana, p. 93
  16. ^Govan Mbeki, 2015,Learning from Robben Island: The Prison Writings of Govan Mbeki,Cape Town: Kwela Books
  17. ^"Govan Mbeki | South African History Online".sahistory.org.za.Retrieved30 May2020.
  18. ^Helga van Staaden (23 January 2006)."Govan Mbeki reburial called off".News24.Archived fromthe originalon 30 September 2007.
  19. ^abFolia civitatis,v. 31, no. 18 (24 December 1977)
  20. ^"Have You Heard From Johannesburg".clarityfilms.org.Retrieved30 May2020.
  21. ^abKasuka, Bridgette (7 February 2012).Independence Leaders of Africa.Bankole Kamara Taylor.ISBN978-1-4700-4175-5.
  22. ^"Six streets in Cape Town renamed".iol.co.za.Retrieved7 April2021.

External links[edit]

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