Thozamile Botha (born 16 June 1948) is a South African

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

.Naki, Eric. "Shock as Botha Decides to Quit." The Daily Dispatch. 16 Oct. 1997. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. . He started his political career as a trade unionist and was an executive member of the

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU or Cosatu) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union ...

. Due to 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 ...

government he went into exile in 1980 to

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 ...

where he worked with

Chris Hani Chris Hani (28 June 194210 April 1993; born Martin Thembisile Hani ) was a South African military commander, politician and revolutionary who served as the leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and chief of staff of uMkhonto we S ...

. He later moved to

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 ...

before completing a master's degree in political science and public administration at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. He returned to South Africa when 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 ...

was unbanned in 1990 and was elected head of the ANC's Department of Local and Regional Government.

References

External links

Interview with Tozamile Botha by Bertil Högberg within the project Nordic Documentation on the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa
- dated 25 July 2005 1948 births Living people Alumni of the University of Essex African National Congress politicians South African exiles Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2009–2014 {{SouthAfrica-politician-stub