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| Affiliation | African National Congress |
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| Name | Mathews Phosa |
| Address |
Mbombela, Mpumalanga , South Africa |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
September 01, 1952
(72 years)
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| Contributor | 411 Name Removed |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
Aug 12, 2023 12:40am |
| Tags |
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| Info | Former Premier, Mpumalanga
Former Chairperson, ANC Mpumalanga
Former Member ANC, NEC
When Nakedi Phosa crossed the border into Mozambique in April 1985, he left behind an unusual range of professional and business activities. But MK counter-intelligence had sent him a message that South African security forces were plotting to kill him, using a car bomb. Phosa had a high profile as a lawyer and political campaigner, but he also belonged to an underground ANC cell and worked for MK.
After Phosa arrived in Mozambique the struggle occupied him full time. He became part of a machinery directing political and military activity in the Eastern Transvaal. In 1990 he was among the first cadres sent home to begin negotiations with the apartheid government.
Phosa, who speaks eight languages was born on September 1 1952 in Mbombela township, Nelspruit.
His early years were spent in Potgietersrus under the guidance of his grandfather, learning to till the land and hunting and fishing. The subsequent loss of their land by removals left a scar on his mind. He went to live with his parents in Nelspruit where his father was a teacher. His mother, who was highly political, had been a nurse during World War II, and her stories had a strong impact on him. He decided as a youngster that he should engage the fascists at home on the soil of his people. Of course, his mother also told him about Nelson Mandela in prison on Robben Island. While at boarding school in Acornhoek, he reached a crossroads in his life. Students refused to sing for a special gathering of parents of children from a white school. They were detained by police and interrogated. When they got back to school their headmaster beat them severely.
Having matriculated with a distinction in Agricultural Science, Phosa studied law at Turfloop. Steve Biko and Themba Sono were the heroes of his generation, and Abraham Tiro was at the centre of black consciousness activities on campus. Phosa began publishing poetry in English and Afrikaans. He graduated, completed his articles and started a legal firm of which he is still a senior partner.
Besides serving as national organiser of the Black Lawyers' Association, Phosa was on the board of directors of a business and of a welfare organisation he had founded. When the apartheid government wanted to incorporate KaNgwane into Swaziland, he was a leader in the campaigns against the move. He also led the rent boycotts in the Eastern Transvaal. It was during this time, in the early '80s, he joined MK and the ANC underground.
Phosa returned from exile in 1990 he was one of the first ANC members to return to begin the pre-negotiations talks with the government.
As a lawyer he became involved in defending cadres of the movement, and headed the legal section of the ANC's Department of of Constitutional and Legal Affairs. He was a member of the National Negotiations Commission which planned the strategy for all negotiations, and worked on the Police Board in terms of the Peace Accord.
In the1994 elections Phosa headed the ANC's list in Mpumalanga and when the ANC won 81% of the vote in the province became the premier.
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