Steve Vukhile Tshwete (12 November 1938 – 26 April 2002) was a South African politician and activist with the

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 ...

. Involved in

Umkhonto we Sizwe uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to brin ...

, Tshwete was imprisoned by the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

authorities on

Robben Island Robben Island () is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch language, Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrika ...

from February 1964 to 1978. Tshwete resumed activities with the ANC and become a regional coordinator for the new United Democratic Front. He later lived in exile in Zambia. After the first free elections in South Africa in 1994, he became the new government's first Sports Minister and later was Minister of Safety and Security.

Early life

Tshwete was born in Springs, East Rand, on 12 November 1938 to Xhosa parents. He was the eldest of four siblings. While still a baby his parents moved to Peelton (''Nkonkqweni''), a black township near King William’s Town,

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

. He was taught to read by his mother before starting primary school. His political interests were awakened reading the Xhosa newspaper ''Imvo Zabantsundu'' in his youth. He attended Forbes Grant Secondary School in King William's Town and was introduced to the ANC through its publications given out by the principal, Mr. H. Mjamba, and at Welsh High in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

he joined the ANC's African Students' Association. When he left school he continued his work with the ANC.

Political background

As a member of

(MK) Border regional command, he was arrested in June 1963 and sentenced in February 1964 to fifteen years in jail for belonging to a banned organization. He spent his prison time on

and completed a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

, majoring in English and Philosophy from

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

(UNISA). On Robben Island, with his interest in rugby, he organised the prisoners into rugby teams and created a league. He was released in March 1978 and returned to his homeland and became a teacher. By 1983, he became politically active again and joined the United Democratic Front (UDF) becoming the president of the Eastern Cape region. He was arrested that year by the Ciskein police and held for four months and then constantly harassed until he left South Africa for the ANC in exile. He was first in

Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. T ...

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

, and by 1985 he was in

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 ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, resuming his military training with MK. He became a political commissar in MK in August 1987 and authorized the ANC military units in South Africa to attack white civilians by means of a bombing campaign of restaurants and nightclubs in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban. The ANC National Executive Committee distanced themselves from the attacks in August 1988 after the attacks had been condemned by anti-apartheid leaders and church groups usually sympathetic to the ANC cause. Tshwete was transferred from his position as a political commissar in MK and he obtained an appointment in the National Executive. During the 1987, Tshwete was involved in the talks, in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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when white businessmen, Afrikaner intellectuals and leading South African opposition members met the ANC for discussions. He returned to South Africa after the ANC was unbanned in 1990 as a member of their National Executive and negotiating team. After the ANC won the first free election in 1994,

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

appointed him as his Minister of Sports, a position he held from 1994 until 1999. He was tasked with overseeing South Africa's re-entry into international sport, establish development programs for underprivileged blacks sportsmen and women in all sports including rugby and cricket, and de-racializing the national sport teams. As the head of the ANC's Sports Desk he had the task of uniting sports that had been riven by apartheid. He had the knack of "bringing sworn enemies to the negotiating table and sending them away as allies ... he went from one sporting code to the next and fixed the potholes on their roads to unity". Having united South Africa's cricket bodies he travelled with Ali Bacher to London in May 1991 and successfully applied for South Africa's admission to the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

. He started the first Governor's Cup Yacht Race from

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

in 1996. On the retirement of Nelson Mandela, he served in

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 ...

's first government as the Minister of Safety and Security from 1999 until his death in April 2002. He was tasked with restoring the morale of an undermanned, underpaid police force beset with a political history of maintaining apartheid, riddled with corruption and a huge escalation of violent crime in the country. On 24 April 2001, Tshwete, in his capacity of Minister of Safety and Security, announced, on national television, an investigation into an alleged plot to oust the country's president,

, by three high-ranking members of the ANC. They were identified as

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

, Tokyo Sexwale and Mathews Phosa. The opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, described the investigation as an abuse of government powers and a method to neutralize opponents as Mbeki sought a second term as president. The three men were cleared in December 2001 when Tshwete announced the results of the investigation and apologised to the men and their families.

Honours

Steve Tshwete Local Municipality in

Mpumalanga Province Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

is named after him.Steve Vukhile Tshwete biography
at ANC.org.za Order of Luthuli in silver (2004)

Death

It is said he had developed back pain back in March 2002 and was confined to a wheelchair. He was admitted to Voortrekkerhoogte's 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

and

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

failure which occurred after an operation for a spinal problem. He was survived by his wife Pamela, sons Lindela, Mayihlome and daughters Mandlakazi and Yonda. He was honoured with a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

on 4 May 2002 and national flags were flown at half-mast.

References

External links

ANC statement on the death of Steve Tshwete
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tshwete, Steve 1938 births 2002 deaths People from Springs, Gauteng Xhosa people South African exiles University of South Africa alumni Inmates of Robben Island African National Congress politicians South African Ministers for Sport and Recreation 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