Joseph Mbuku Nhlanhla (4 December 1936 – 2 July 2008) was an

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

national executive and the former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n Intelligence Minister.

Early life

Born in

Sophiatown Sophiatown , also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a poor multi-racial area and a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid. It produced some of South Africa's most famous writ ...

, near

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, Nhlanhla attended the Ikage Primary School in

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

and later matriculated from Kilnerton Training Institute in 1956. He joined the ANC's youth wing, the

ANC Youth League The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC). As set out in its constitution, the ANC Youth League is led by a National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (N ...

, in 1957. He was elected onto the ANCYL's Transvaal executive a year later. In early 1964, he travelled to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to study, completing a Master's degree in economics in 1969. However he never worked as an economist.

ANC career

In 1969 he was appointed head of the ANC's youth and student headquarters in

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, a post he served in for five years before being chosen as the organisation's chief representative in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and the Middle East in 1973. In 1978, the ANC posted him to its

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

headquarters as national administrative secretary. In 1981 Nhlanhla became a member of the ANC national executive committee. In 1986, he joined the organisation's intelligence directorate after serving a three-year stint as secretary to the political military council. The following year he became the ANC's intelligence chief, in which capacity, two years later, he was a member of the ANC group headed by

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

which made contact with South Africa's then-apartheid government. In 1995, Nhlanhla became Deputy Minister in the Justice Ministry, responsible for Intelligence Affairs. 1999 Nhlanhla was appointed by President Mbeki as Minister of Intelligence.

Death

Joe Nhlanhla, aged 71, died at the

Milpark Hospital The Milpark Hospital is a private hospital in western Parktown, Johannesburg, in the area known as Milpark, and owned by Netcare Limited. It has a level 1 accredited trauma unit, and cardiology and cardio-thoracic services. It has 346 beds, o ...

in Johannesburg, after more than one month in a comatose state. No further details of his death were made public.

External links

* http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-07-02-former-intelligence-minister-joe-nhlanhla-dies * https://web.archive.org/web/20080518075441/http://www.alexandra.co.za/photogallery/heritage/community/community.htm

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nhlanhla, Joe 1936 births 2008 deaths South African anti-apartheid activists Politicians from Johannesburg African National Congress politicians Members of the African National Congress Government ministers of South Africa South African expatriates in the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Luthuli Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004