The inspirational political life of Mr Govan Mbeki, the late father of Former President Thabo Mbeki, will be celebrated with a Memorial Lecture themed Remembering a true revolutionary and intellectual at the Red Location Museum on Thursday night at 17:30.
This revered national leader of the African National Congress, the oldest liberation movement on the African continent, was once a resident of Red Location – where the museum is situated – and organized political activities from his residence.
Professor Mbulelo Mzamane, a Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, will be delivering the keynote address. Mzamane knew Oom Gov, as he was affectionately known, personally.
Details are as follows:
- Date: Thursday, 7 July
- Time: 17:00 for 17:30
- Venue: Red Location Museum.
Members of the public can RSVP by contacting Nosikhumbuso Hoza at nhoza@mandelametro.gov.za or 041 408 8400.
Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki (9 July 1910 – 30 August 2001) was a South African politician, and father of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki and Moeletsi Mbeki. He was named in honour of Edward Govan, a Scottish missionary who founded Lovedale College, the school that he attended in the Eastern Cape.
He attended Fort Hare University, completing in 1936 a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics and psychology and a teaching diploma, and met other African struggle leaders there.
In 1954, he joined the editorial board of New Age, which was to be the only South African newspaper serving the liberation movement for the eight following years. Mbeki played an immensely important role in ensuring that the pages and columns reflected the conditions of the black peoples, their demands and aspirations. In November 1962, the then Minister of Justice, John Vorster, banned New Age. When the editorial board came out with its successor, Vorster went one step further by banning not the newspaper but its editors and writers.
He was a leader of the African National Congress (ANC) and of the South African Communist Party. After the Rivonia Trial, he was imprisoned for terrorism and treason (1964-1987) with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other ANC leaders.
On June 26, 1980 the Secretary General of the African National Congress, Alfred Nzo, announced the conferring of the Isitwalandwe Medal, the ANC’s highest honour, on Govan Mbeki. Mbeki was not present to receive the award, because he was serving a life imprisonment sentence on Robben Island.
Govan Mbeki was released from custody after serving 24 years in the Robben Island prison on November 5, 1987. He served in South Africa’s post-apartheid Senate from 1994 to 1997 as Deputy President of the Senate, and its successor, the National Council of Provinces from 1997 to 1999.
Mbeki’s remains were the subject of controversy in 2006 when plans were made to exhume them, and place them in a museum. These plans were called off after Mbeki’s family refused the request.
Mbeki received international recognition for his political achievements including the renaming of the recently opened Health building at Glasgow Caledonian University. The Govan Mbeki Health Building was inaugurated in 2001 at a ceremony featuring his son Thabo.
Port Elizabeth’s former Main Street was renamed Govan Mbeki Avenue in his honour.
Alan Straton
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