Joe Nhlanhla

Joseph Mbuku Nhlanhla , Joe Nhlanhla for short (born December 4, 1936 in Sophiatown , Johannesburg , † July 2, 2008 in Johannesburg) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician of the African National Congress (ANC). In the late phase of the South African apartheid state , he headed the ANC intelligence service from exile and took part in important negotiations on the democratic transition that enabled him to influence the restructuring of the intelligence sector.

Life

Nhlanhla was born in Sophiatown Township , which at that time and several decades later was considered one of the political hot spots on the northwestern periphery of Johannesburg. He and four other siblings were the children of the shoemaker Samuel Nhlanhla and his wife Christina Toli (née Buhali). His father was also a priest in one of the informal African churches.

Nhlanhla began his school days at Ikage Primary School when he was seven in Alexandra , an equally politicized township in northeast Johannesburg. Here Nhlanhla spent his first school years until he moved to Kilnerton High School in Pretoria , where he took his matric in 1956 at this Wesleyan- run educational institution .

His political interest was already aroused in Alexandra, as it was here that he began his membership in the ANC through the youth organization Alexandra Youth League . During this phase of his life he came into contact with the actions of the anti-passport campaign and in 1957 with the protests in the course of the bus and potato boycotts . His involvement as a youth led to the position of Secretary of the Alexandra Youth League , finally to the board of directors for the Transvaal of the ANC Youth League . Here he was arrested on March 28th as one of the first activists during the 1960 state of emergency . He was released a few days before the state of emergency was lifted, but on condition that he be only in the Johannesburg administrative district.

After the ban of the ANC, Nhlanhla went underground, turned to Tanzania and joined the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). Here he was one of the young members that the liberation movement ANC delegated to study abroad. Nhlanhla traveled to the Soviet Union and studied economics at the Plekhanov Institute in Moscow . This higher education institution developed into one of the leading academic training institutions in the country in the 1960s. He stayed here from October 1964 to 1969. During this time he also led the ANC youth group at the university and directed other student structures of the ANC in the Soviet Union. In the course of these functions, Nhlanhla organized nationwide conferences for these ANC students. He left Moscow in 1969 with a master's degree in economics .

In 1970 he returned to Tanzania, from there headed the ANC youth and student work until 1973. He was then appointed as the ANC representative for Egypt and the Middle East . In this role he represented the ANC in the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization . After a few years, the ANC called him to its headquarters in Lusaka , where Nhlanhla took over the role of executive administrative secretary in the organization in 1978. Eventually in 1981 he became a member of the ANC ( National Executive Committee ). His experience and skills were valued, so Nhlanhla 1983 Secretary of the Political-Military Council ( Political-Military Council was) the ANC elected, which dealt with mobilization opportunities within South Africa. When the ANC section for security and intelligence ( intelligence directorate ) was reorganized in 1987 , Nhlanhla took over the leadership of the Department of Intelligence and Security in the ANC after a successful election .

Following the legalization of the ANC in 1990, he returned to his home country in April of the same year. Nhlanhla had previously entered into clandestine contacts with the government in the late 1980s after the ANC received discreet signals that could enable negotiations to come to an understanding with the apartheid government. Finally, Nhlanhla became a member of the steering committee preparing the Groote-Schuur talks between the ANC and the South African government of President De Klerk , which took place in May 1990. He himself took part in these meetings as a member of the delegation. Nhlanhla was later involved in the CODESA negotiations in December 1992, where he participated in a working group to end the previous government structure. Finally, the ANC sent him to the negotiating group that had to deal with the future of the South African intelligence services.

Nhlanhla ran for the April 1994 elections to the National Assembly and won a seat in parliament. In July 1994 it was announced that he would take over the office of the Deputy Minister ( Safety and Security ) for the field of intelligence services, to which he was appointed on February 22, 1995 by President Mandela . In this ministerial office he was in front of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee , which had to control the four intelligence services at the time. At the time, these were the domestic intelligence service, the National Intelligence Agency , the foreign intelligence service , the South African Secret Services, and the security services of the police and the military.

In 1999, President Thabo Mbeki appointed him to the Ministry of Intelligence Services . He kept this position until his resignation for health reasons. Lindiwe Sisulu succeeded him in office .

Joe Nhlanhla died after several months in a coma of complications from diabetes during a stay at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, one year after the death of his son Leonard.

Honors

• June 2004: Order of Luthuli in silver by Thabo Mbeki .

• July 2008: His funeral took place after a family funeral service as a state ceremony on July 12, 2008 in the West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg under the direction of the then Minister for Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu, who had taken over his ministerial post in 2001. A funeral speech was given by President Thabo Mbeki.

Personal

Nhlanhla was married to Mmabatho Nhlanhla. The couple had a son. They lived in old age in Kempton Park in the metropolitan parish of Ekurhuleni , where he suffered a stroke in 2000 , which severely impaired his ability to speak due to paralysis.

Most recently, he lived in a wheelchair in isolation from many of his former comrades in arms and was even scorned. The ANC's turning away from him created a lonely and depressing final phase of life. Some former comrades had collected money for the nurse who looked after him, but she stopped working when she could no longer pay.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Shelagh Gastrow: Who's Who in South African Politics, Number 5 . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1995, pp. 234-235
2. ^ ^{A b c d} South African History Online : Joseph (Joe) Mbuku Nhlanhla . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b} Sapa: Former intelligence minister Joe Nhlanhla dies . Message from Mail & Guardian dated July 2, 2008 at www.mg.co.za (English)
4. ^ Republic of South Africa. Department of Foreign Affairs: Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa . on www.dirco.gov.za (English)
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Mpikeleni Duma: nhlanhla laid to rest . News from the Sowetan from July 14, 2008 live on www.sowetanlive.co.za (English)
6. ^ The Presidency: Joseph (Joe) Mbuku Nhlanhla (1936-) . on www.thepresidency.gov.za (English)
7. ↑ Carol Hills: Zuma: Nhlanhla left legacy of discipline for ANC . Message from Mail & Guardian of July 9, 2008 on www.mg.co.za (English)
8. ^ The Presidency: Transcript of the oration by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki at the official funeral service of the late Mr Joseph Mbuku Nhlanhla . www.polity.org.za (English) Text of the funeral speech of the South African President