Thomas Nkobi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Nkobi and Alfred Nzo (1977)

Thomas Titus Nkobi (born October 22, 1922 in Plumtree , Southern Rhodesia , † September 25, 1994 in Johannesburg , South Africa ) was a leading politician of the South African African National Congress (ANC) and a key figure in the anti- apartheid movement. Until his death he was treasurer and member of parliament for the ANC.

Life

Thomas Nkobi, called Comrade TG ("Comrade TG" or "Comrade TG") was born in southern Matabeleland in what is now Zimbabwe . At the age of ten he moved to South Africa, where his father worked as a migrant miner. He attended the Adams College , founded in 1853 near Amanzimtoti in Natal , together with Joshua Nkomo , later a high-ranking politician in Zimbabwe. He then attended Bantu High School (later Madibane High School ) in the Western Native Township in Johannesburg in 1946 and began studying at Pius XII College in Roma in Basutoland . There he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree .

Thomas Nkobi (middle, 1977)

Nkobi became politically active for the first time in 1944 in the non-violent bus boycott in Alexandra , a district of Johannesburg. In 1950 he became a member of the ANC and played a leading role in the Defiance Campaign, launched in 1952 . Like many other volunteers, he traveled from village to village and asked the black residents about their ideas so that they could be included in the Freedom Charter . Nkobi took part as Alexandra's delegate at the People's Congress in Kliptown , where the Freedom Charter was passed.

In 1957, Nkobi became well known when he headed the Second Alexandra Peoples Transport Committee , which coordinated another bus boycott in the townships around Johannesburg and Pretoria after the fare was increased by 25 percent was. The bus boycott was one of the few successful acts of resistance by blacks against the apartheid regime. In the same year he was arrested for participating in the nationwide boycott of potatoes . In 1958, Nkobi was entrusted with the implementation of the Mandela Plan , which should make the political work of the ANC more effective through local small groups. He was arrested during the state of emergency declared in 1960 . After his release and the 1960 ban on the ANC, he worked underground as a national organizer. In 1961 he was banned himself and placed under house arrest in 1962 . In April 1963 he fled into exile in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania ; the following year he moved to the Zambian Lusaka , where he remained until 1968 Chief Representative had (about "highest representative") of the ANC.

From 1968 to 1973 he was deputy treasurer of the ANC under Moses Kotane . In 1973 he took over his position on a provisional basis, formally from 1977 onwards and was always re-elected at the following national conferences. He participated in almost all bilateral meetings with Swedish support groups from 1974 to 1993 . After the ANC was legalized in South Africa, Nkobi returned there. He remained treasurer and received a seat each on the National Executive Committee and the National Working Committee of the ANC. Nkobi administered the ANC budget for the first free election in 1994 , which the ANC won, and won a seat in the National Assembly in that election .

After a stroke , Thomas Nkobi died on September 25, 1994, just a few months after the election. He was buried in the Heroes' Acre in Soweto , part of the Avalon Cemetery .

Honors

In 2004 Nkobi received the Order of Luthuli in gold posthumously . He was honored for his "extraordinary and selfless contribution to the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist, free and democratic South Africa". The South Park Cemetery in Boksburg has been renamed the Thomas Titus Nkobi Memorial Park .

literature

  • Tor Sellström: Liberation in Southern Africa: regional and Swedish voices. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala 1999, ISBN 9171064389 , curriculum vitae Nkobis: Digitized

Movies

  • Hold up the Sun: The ANC and Popular Power in the Making. Ulibambe lingashoni . Episode 3: Submit or fight [1958–1969] (52 min.): Interview with Thomas Nkobi. Ster-Kinekor Video, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 1993.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The Order of Luthuli in Gold Awarded to Thomas Titus Nkobi ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English, archive version from September 27, 2007), accessed on August 6, 2013
  2. ↑ a b c d e portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on August 7, 2013
  3. ^ A b c Tor Sellström: Liberation in Southern Africa: regional and Swedish voices. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala 1999, ISBN 9171064389 , curriculum vitae Nkobis: Digitized
  4. ^ South African Democracy Education Trust (Ed.): The road to democracy in South Africa. Vol.1: 1960-1970. New Holland Publishers, London 2004, ISBN 1868729060 Digitized version , accessed August 6, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Nkobi, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nkobi, Thomas Titus (full name); Comrade TG (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Plumtree , Southern Rhodesia
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 1994
Place of death Johannesburg