Popo Molefe

Popo Simon Molefe (born April 26, 1952 in Sophiatown , Johannesburg ) is a South African politician who is a member of the African National Congress (ANC). He was the Northwest Province's first prime minister from 1994 to 2004 .

Life

Molefe's father was a worker, his mother a domestic worker. They had eight children. Molefe was largely raised by an aunt. He attended Naledi High School in Soweto . In 1973 he joined the opposition Black People's Convention , in 1974 the South African Students' Organization , with which he took part in the 1976 Soweto uprising.

Molefe was a founding member of the Azanian People's Organization (AZAPO) in 1978 , which he left in 1981 because of disagreements over the role of whites in the opposition to apartheid . He then worked as a coordinator for the activities ( Anti-Republic Day Celebration Committee ) of the critics of Republic Day (May 31). From 1982 to 1984 he was a member of the Council of Ten within the Soweto Civic Organization. He was also a leader in founding the opposition movement United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983. Initially, Molefe was appointed UDF secretary for the Transvaal and in August 1983 UDF general secretary. In this function he took a leading role in the opposition movement against the new three-chamber parliament in accordance with the constitutional reform of 1983 .

Molefe was arrested several times for his political activities. He was imprisoned from 1985 to 1988 and sentenced to ten years in prison by Judge Kees van Dijkhorst in the Delmas Treason Trial in 1988 for treason ; it was the second highest of the eleven pronounced prison sentences. The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1989 . After his release, Molefe became a member of the newly legalized ANC. In 1994 he became Prime Minister of the newly created Northwest Province. He was re-elected in 1999 and resigned in 2004. From 2002 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of PetroSA ; he held this position until 2010. He joined Anooraq Resources Corporation in 2004 as an executive, which operates in the platinum mining industry. From 2004 to 2009 he was Chancellor of North-West University . From 2014 to 2017 he headed the Board of Directors of PRASA , since 2018 that of Transnet .

Molefe was married and has four children. The couple divorced in 2003.

Awards

In 2014, Molefe received the Order of Luthuli in silver.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Shelagh Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number 3 . Johannesburg 1990, pp. 222-225, ISBN 0-86975-399-1
2. ↑ Victor Mecoamere: Naledi High turns 50 . In: Sowetan Live , May 27, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013. 
3. ↑ Christopher Wren: South Africa Sentences 4 Dissidents , The New York Times, December 9, 1988.
4. ↑ Popo Molefe joins Canadian platinum miner , Creamer Media's Mining Weekly, July 13, 2004.
5. ↑ Report from SABC ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on April 27, 2014 (English), accessed on August 1, 2014