Zola Skweyiya

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Zola Skweyiya (2012)

Zola Sidney Themba Skweyiya (born April 14, 1943 in Simon's Town ; † April 11, 2018 in Pretoria ) was a South African anti-apartheid activist , lawyer and, as an ANC member, minister in four governments after 1994. Skweyiya played a key role in negotiations with the government De Klerk on a new South African constitution. In exile he headed the ANC Constitutional Committee since 1985 .

Life

Childhood and school days

Zola Skweyiya was the only child of shipyard worker Simon Skweyiya and his wife Winnie. His childhood was changeable as the family had to move from place to place. He spent his elementary school at a Presbyterian institution . His politicization began at this stage in his life, and his father and uncle's involvement in local citizens' groups also contributed to this. The lack of opportunities to participate in land ownership for blacks in the Cape and in the educational institutions made a formative impression on him at an early stage. Zola Skweyiya showed a keen interest in education since his youth. The family sent him to Lovedale High School with Alice . Here he met his peers like Thabo Mbeki and Chris Hani . The political discourse at the Lovedale Mission Institute was divided into two camps. There were the supporters of the ANC and those of the NEUM . Zola Skweyiya sought proximity to the ANC, which he joined in 1956. During the school holidays, however, he did not return to his parents, but spent the time with his aunt in Port Elizabeth , as the ANC group received instructions for political work from Regional Secretary Govan Mbeki .

Study and political path

After successfully matriculating in 1960, he enrolled in 1961 for a bachelor's degree in English and history from the University of Fort Hare . During this time, the climate at the university was characterized by a particularly intense political and therefore very tense debate, because shortly before the apartheid state had banned the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress and other opposition organizations. The political activists at the facility were punished and Zola Skweyiya lost his second year scholarship. So he left Fort Hare and went to Cape Town from there . A few months later Zola Skweyiya traveled to Johannesburg with Chris Hani ; they came together under police arrest. They decided to cross the border to Botswana , where they met again with Thabo Mbeki and other emigrants who had left South Africa a little earlier. From this circle some people turned to Tanzania , where Oliver Tambo had moved the early ANC headquarters. After Zambia's independence in 1964, Zola Skweyiya took the opportunity to work in the information and public relations department at the new ANC headquarters in Lusaka . Here he edited and organized the magazine Spotlight , the predecessor of the ANC member magazine Sechaba .

In 1968 Zola Skweyiya received a scholarship for training at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig . At this university he studied international and constitutional law . When Zola Skweyiya returned to Zambia in 1973, he worked in the ANC's international relations department. Just one year later he returned to Leipzig to do his doctorate on the topic of racial discrimination in an international context with a special focus on South Africa and Rhodesia . With this thesis he earned an LLD .

Zola Skweyiya returned to Lusaka in 1978 and subsequently worked in the office of the ANC president and in the international cooperation department. Here he mainly dealt with the "land question" and with the human rights situation in southern Africa . In 1981 the ANC sent him to Addis Ababa to act as their representative at the headquarters of the OAU and to set up a liaison office between the two organizations. The aim was to strengthen the ANC's desired position of being recognized internationally as the only legitimate representative of the South African people and to officially establish relations with other African states. Zola Skweyiya was able to achieve in the course of his work in Addis Ababa that the ANC received one hour of broadcasting time per day on the radio station Voice of the Gospel . This station could be received in many African countries.

Towards the end of 1984 the ANC called Zola Skweyiya back to Lusaka to set up a legal department at its headquarters and, together with Jack Simons of the SACP, to found a joint committee on constitutional matters . The primary task was to develop a draft guideline for a future South African constitution. The result of this work was published in 1987. From 1984 to 1993 he also represented the ANC on the UN Human Rights Commission .

During his work in the legal department, the focus developed, which was directed towards a future South Africa. There was support for this from a Swedish initiative called Post-Apartheid South Africa (PASA). Legal and economic aspects were at the center of these activities. Experts from South Africa were present at numerous conferences. Another task of the legal department was to organize legal advice and legal defense support for MK members imprisoned in South Africa , which also required close cooperation with networks of lawyers willing to support them.

With the legalization of the ANC in 1990, the ANC headquarters and its legal department were relocated to Johannesburg and Zola Skweyiya returned to his country of birth in June of the same year. He devoted his time to building up a collaboration with academic institutions aimed at developing new political goals for the ANC to take over government. Zola Skweyiya participated in the establishment of the Center for Development Studies and the South African Legal Defense Fund at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). In collaboration with Abdullah Omar and others, the Community Law Center , later the Dullah Omar Institute (UWC), was created, which played an important role during the transition period (1990–1994) in transforming the judicial sector from an instrument of repression to a service to the citizens.

The ANC's legal department was also active in other areas; it investigated and observed the judiciary in the country, prepared South Africans who had been disenfranchised for decades and prepared the ANC for future democratic elections. Zola Skweyiya coordinated the ANC's community service unit during this time.

When the ANC met for its annual conference in Durban in July 1991 , the delegates elected Zola Skweyiya to the National Executive Committee and reaffirmed him in this role in 1994.

Functions in South Africa after 1994

In the 1994 parliamentary election , Zola Skweyiya won a seat in the National Assembly and was appointed Minister of Public Service and Administration (1994–1999) to President Mandela's cabinet in May . He then served in Cabinet Mbeki I , Cabinet Mbeki II and Cabinet Motlanthe as Minister of Social Development (1999–2009).

During his tenure as Minister for Social Development he created the Child Support Grant , a program to protect and support children in poverty.

In 2009 Zola Skweyiya took over the position of High Commissioner United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in London on the appeal of the President .

Honors

Personal

Zola Skweyiya was married twice. There is a son from his first marriage, Voyo Pamilele. In his second marriage he was married to Thuthukile Skweyiya . Other children are the sons Khethaukuthula and Vukani and the daughters Phila and Mandisa.

He died at the age of 75 after a long illness in Kloof Hospital in Erasmuskloof , Pretoria. His funeral took place on April 21, 2018 with the rank of a special official funeral . His final resting place is in the cemetery of the Christian Revival Church in Pretoria at the corner of Lynnwood road and Solomon Mahlangu Drive .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Nicklaus Kruger: Skweyiya - Nurturing the Constitution . on www.uwc.ac.za (English)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Shelag Gastrow: Who's Who in South African Politics. Number 5 . Johannesburg 1995, pp. 275-277
  3. ↑ a b Citation - Dr ZST Skweyiya . at www.uwc.ac.za (English, PDF document)
  4. ↑ HeraldLIVE: Tribute paid to 'gentle struggle giant' Zola Skweyiya. ANC veteran Zola Skweyiya has died 'just days before his birthday . News from April 12, 2018 on www.heraldlive.co.za (English)
  5. ↑ Zodidi Mhlana: Ex minister and struggle icon Minister Zola Skweyiya . News from April 11, 2018 on www.africanews24-7.co.za (English)
  6. ^ University of the Western Cape: Dullah Omar Institute. History . at www.dullahomarinstitute.org.za (English)
  7. ↑ a b Zolile Menzelwa, Ernest Mabuza: No burial date yet for late ANC veteran Zola Skweyiya . News from April 13, 2018 on www.sowetanlive.co.za (English)
  8. ↑ SABCNewsOnline: ANC stalwart Zola Skweyiya dies . News from April 17, 2018 on www.sabcnews.com (English)
  9. ^ Virginia Keppler: Ramaphosa announces state funeral for Zola Skweyiya . News from April 12, 2018 on www.citizen.co.za (English)
  10. ↑ a b Farren Collins: Hundreds attend funeral service for ANC stalwart Zola Skweyiya . News from April 21, 2018 on www.timeslive.co.za (English)
  11. ↑ Tendani Mulaudzi: ANC passes condolences to Zola Skweyiya's wife, family . on www.ewn.co.za (English)
  12. ^ Mail & Guardian Online: ANC veteran Zola Skweyiya dies at 75 . News from April 11, 2018 on www.mg.co.za (English)
  13. ↑ Avantika Seeth: ANC veteran Zola Skweyiya dies . News from April 11, 2018 on city-press.news24.com (English)
  14. ↑ Phumla Williams: Government declares special official funeral for Dr Zola Skweyiya . on www.gov.za (English)
personal data
SURNAME Skweyiya, Zola
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Skweyiya, Zola Sidney Themba (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African lawyer and minister
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Simon's Town
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 2018
Place of death Pretoria