Nelson Ramodike was a

Lebowa Lebowa was a bantustan ("homeland") located in the Transvaal in northeastern South Africa. Seshego initially acted as Lebowa's capital while the purpose-built Lebowakgomo was being constructed. Granted internal self-government on 2 October ...

government chief minister from 21 October 1987 to 26 April 1994.

Background

Ramodike is a former traffic police officer turned politician who began his political activism with Lebowa People's Party in the 1980s. He became chief minister after the death of then chief minister of the

government

Cedric Phatudi Dr Cedric Namedi Phatudi (27 May 1912 – 7 October 1987) was the Chief Minister of Lebowa, one of the South African bantustans. Early life Born in Ga-Mphahlele, the son of the chief of the Mphahlele tribe. He earned his basic education in m ...

Political affiliation

Ramodike is referred to as a conformist for disbanding his political party, the Lebowa People's Party, to form the United People's Front in order to pave the way for participation in the

Convention for a Democratic South Africa Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law * Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...

(CODESA). He often addressed traditional leadership about political developments in the Lebowa Bantustans. For example, Ramodike addressed the Hananwa traditional authority at a rally. Nelson Ramodike was a member of the United Democratic Front, and later joined the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

for a place in the CODESA negotiations before the 1994 South African general elections. Ramodike was also a spokesperson for the

United Democratic Movement The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is a centre-left, social-democratic, South African political party, formed by a prominent former National Party leader, Roelf Meyer (who has since resigned from the UDM), a former African National Congre ...

in 2001. He quit politics due to illness in May 2007.

Corruption allegations

The De Meyer report presented allegations of corrupt activities in the Lebowa government, with Nelson Ramodike accused of involvement in two illegal liquor licenses. Nelson Ramodike was allegedly involved in corruption activities that involved running state funded business through proxies such as cousins and brothers.

Court cases against government

During his tenure as chief minister, Ramodike introduced a statute referred to as the Lebowa Mineral Act (LMT). As legislation during the

Bantustans A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now ...

period, the LMT sought to place land rights under the former Lebowa administration and mineral rights to the people in the locality. The LMT was later referred to as controversial post 1994, where several debates and discussions took place among members of the

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...

. Through these debates and discussions, it was resolved that the LMT should be abolished because it referred to land rights and mineral rights of a state that was no longer in existence in democratic South Africa. In response to a bill to abolishment of the Lebowa Mineral Act and Trust, Ramodike lodged a court challenge against the government of the

in the early 2000s. The court case was lost to former President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

on 7 April 2001.

Death

Nelson Ramodike died on 3 May 2012 at Tzaneen Mediclinic in Limpopo. Former Limpopo province premier

Cassel Mathale Cassel Mathale (born 23 January 1961) is a South African politician who was the third Premier of Limpopo between March 2009 and July 2013. He is currently the Deputy Minister of Police in the South African government and before that was Deputy ...

lauded Nelson Ramodike for his role in the liberation struggle of South Africa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramodike, Nelson Year of birth missing 2012 deaths Lebowa African National Congress politicians