General Lambert Moloi, born Lehlohonolo Moloi OMSS, MMM, was a South African military commander, and a former commander of the

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

's military wing, Umkhonto weSizwe.

Military career

General Moloi was born in 1932, in Quting, Lesotho. In 1940 his family moved to South Africa to join his father, who was a railway worker in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. He attended school in Soweto until 1963, when he left the country to join the

's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He returned to

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

, where he lived in exile, and worked there with assassinated

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

general secretary Chris Hani until he was transferred 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 ab ...

in the early 1980s. He served as an MK commander the entire time. Moloi worked in MK's operations department, responsible for the deployment and infiltration of members into the country. On his return to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, he played a major role in the negotiations to ensure MK members were integrated into the then newly-formed

SANDF The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) comprises the armed forces of South Africa. The commander of the SANDF is appointed by the President of South Africa from one of the armed services. They are in turn accountable to the Ministe ...

, which he joined as a general officer. At the time of his death Moloi was a member of the newly-established Defence Service Commission, which was formed to look after the conditions of service of members.

Chair of Cell C

Moloi Co-founded the

Cell C Cell C Limited (stylised as Cell ©) is as a private mobile operator based in Sandstone, South Africa. It was founded in November 2001 by Lambert Moloi. As of August 2019, the Company’s current CEO is Douglas Craigie Stevenson Douglas may re ...

, CellSAF and 3C Telecommunications company in 1998 and was appointed as its chairman.

Awards and decorations

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moloi, Lambert South African Army generals UMkhonto we Sizwe personnel Anti-apartheid activists 1932 births 2013 deaths