Henry Makgothi

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Henry Gordon "Squire" Makgothi (born December 25, 1928 , † March 24, 2011 in Johannesburg ) was a South African politician of the African National Congress (ANC). His nickname "Squire" means " squire " and refers to his position as a loyal employee of the ANC.

Life

Makgothi's father was the teacher Walter Mokowa, his mother Martha Makgothi was a domestic worker. He attended the Pimville Government School in what is now Soweto and from 1942 the St Peter's Secondary School in the Johannesburg district of Rosettenville . There he met Oliver Reginald Tambo . He joined the ANC Youth League in 1944 and worked as Tambos personal assistant. In 1945 Makgothi became chairman of the ANC Youth League in Transvaal . In 1948 he began studying at the South African Native College , from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a teaching degree. He then taught at Pimville High School , where he was dismissed in 1952 for his work for the Defiance Campaign . Instead, he was employed by the accounting firm Isaacs and Kassel . Makgothi was one of the South Africans who, because of their proximity to communists , were invited by Eastern European countries in 1953 . After his illegal departure, he visited the World Youth Festival in Bucharest there . On his return he took part in the planning of the Congress of the People , at which the Freedom Charter was passed in 1955 , and was indicted in the Treason Trial in 1956 along with 155 other opposition members . He contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalized for several months. Finally, in 1958, charges against him were dropped. Since he was persecuted by government agencies, he fled to what was then Bechuanaland . British colonial officials in Northern Rhodesia extradited him to South Africa, where he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for illegally crossing the border and six or eight years in prison for violating the Suppression of Communism Act . He spent the first two years of his imprisonment in Leeuwskop Prison before he was taken to Robben Island .

After his release from prison, he was banned and thus restricted to the Mabopane area near Pretoria . He continued his activities for the ANC underground. When the threat of discovery in 1977, he fled again to the now independent Botswana . There he coordinated the “political mobilization” of the ANC until he had to leave the country again under pressure from South Africa. In 1980 he began to work in Tanzania at the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College as a " political commissioner " and "secretary for education" for the ANC in the region of East Africa. During this time he became seriously ill with malaria .

At the ANC's Kabwe Conference in 1985, Makgothi was elected to the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Alfred Nzo's Deputy General Secretary.

In 1990 Makgothi returned to South Africa. He worked there in the finance department of the ANC and was Chief Whip of the majority party ANC in the National Council of Provinces from 1997 to 1999 . He has also served on several corporate and business bodies, including Zonkizizwe Investments and the National Lottery Board , and was a founding director of Chancellor House , an investment firm of the ANC.

He died in March 2011 after a stroke . South African President Jacob Zuma , who called Makgothi a “national hero” , also took part in his state funeral in the Emmerantia district of Johannesburg .

Makgothi had three sons with the former ambassador Barbara Masekela and was married to Mononosi Makgothi from around 1995.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jackson Mthembu: Henry Makgothi: the softly-spoken freedom fighter. Obituary on the University of Fort Hare website (PDF), accessed September 3, 2017
  2. ^ Gail M. Gerhart: Black Power in South Africa: the evolution of an ideology. University of California Press, Berkeley 1977, ISBN 0520039335 , p. 135. Excerpts from books.google.de
  3. ↑ Ahmed M. Kathrada : Memoirs. Zebra Press, Cape Town 2004, ISBN 1-86872-918-4 , p. 95. Excerpts from books.google.de
  4. ^ The Lusaka years: the ANC in exile in Zambia 1963 to 1994. Jacana Media, Johannesburg 2013, p. 25.
  5. ↑ Henry Gordon Makgothi at sabctrc.saha.org.za (English), accessed on September 4, 2017
  6. ↑ a b c d portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on September 3, 2017
  7. ↑ Farewell to at unassuming hero. terrybellwrites.com, accessed September 4, 2017
  8. ↑ a b Family feud over struggle icon's estate. news24.com of March 10, 2012, accessed on September 5, 2017
  9. ↑ Zuma pays tribute to fallen national hero. ( Memento from September 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) sanews.gov.za (English)
personal data
SURNAME Makgothi, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Makgothi, Henry Gordon (full name); Makgothi, Squire (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1928
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 2011
Place of death Johannesburg