Tlou Theophilus Cholo

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Tlou Theophilus "Theo" Cholo (* 1926 in Kgakana, today Limpopo Province ; former code name Muti Rengha ) is a former South African anti-apartheid fighter and companion of Nelson Mandela and Govan Mbeki . He spent 15 years with them in Robben Island Prison , as he was part of the armed arm of the African National Congress (ANC), the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He was a member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature from 2004 to 2014 .

Life

Cholo's father was a member of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union . In order to support his family, in which he was the eldest of eight siblings, Theophilus Cholo had to go to Johannesburg at the age of 19 , where he worked in a nursery. Because he was exploited by his employer, he was active in the trade union movement and in the ANC from 1948. In 1952 he joined the banned Communist Party of South Africa . In 1961 he was one of the first activists to decide to join the MK. Since he was supposed to work as a commander in a guerrilla , he went for training via Bechuanaland to China and the Soviet Union , for a total of three years. According to other sources, he and Joe Modise set up the first MK training camp in what would later become Tanzania in 1962 .

On his return to South Africa, he was arrested in Bechuanaland and sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for attempting to smuggle in pistols. After the end of his sentence, he fled to Swaziland . In 1969 he took part in the “ Morogoro Conference” of the MK in Tanzania . In 1971 he illegally crossed the border with five other members of a cell and from then on lived underground under the code name Muti Rengha; After five months he was arrested again in 1972, subsequently tortured and sentenced to 16 years imprisonment on Robben Island in 1973 as part of the Great Pretoria Six for "terrorism". In 1988 he was released; he moved to Czechoslovakia for resistance training until he was called back by the ANC. Among other things, he became ANC chairman in his home town of Soshanguve , a township from the apartheid period that belongs to the City of Tshwane . From 2004 to 2014 he was a member of the Provincial Legislature of Limpopo.

Cholo is married and had two sons, one of whom was murdered by robbery.

Honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on October 26, 2015
  2. ^ ANC found home away from home. The Citizen of December 18, 2013, accessed October 26, 2015
  3. ↑ List of MPs in the provinces (PDF), accessed on October 26, 2015
  4. ↑ Oliver Kuhn: With Mandela in prison , Cicero 2008, accessed on October 26, 2015
  5. ↑ List of recipients of the medal , accessed on October 26, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Cholo, Tlou Theophilus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cholo, Theo (short form); Rengha, Muti (alias)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African anti apartheid fighter
DATE OF BIRTH 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Kgakana, Limpopo