Letsau Nelson Diale (1 January 1936 – 8 January 2015) was a South African politician and

anti-apartheid activist The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid, apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by ...

from

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

. He joined 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 ...

(ANC) in 1956 and served eight years' imprisonment on

Robben Island Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) 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 word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...

, from 1964 to 1972, for his work with Umkhonto we Sizwe. After the end of apartheid, he represented the ANC in the

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to ma ...

from 1994 to 1999 and in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

from 1999 to 2014.

Early life and career

He was born on 1 January 1936 at GaMasemola in Limpopo in the former

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

. He did not complete his schooling but instead, in 1952, left the village to take up work as a waiter at a hotel in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. He joined the

(ANC) in 1956 and the Domestic Workers' Union, an affiliate of the

South African Congress of Trade Unions The South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The federation was established in March 1955, after right wing unions dissolved the South African Trades and Labour Council in 1954 to ...

, in 1958. The ANC was banned in 1960 by the

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

government, but Diale covertly joined the party's new armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and underwent military training. In January 1964, his unit was arrested; after being severely tortured, they were convicted of sabotage and imprisoned on

. Diale served eight years and was released in 1972. After his release, Diale was subject to a

banning order __NOTOC__ This list of people subject to banning orders under apartheid lists a selection of people subject to a "banning order" by the apartheid-era South African government. Banning was a Political repression, repressive and Extrajudicial punis ...

which, for the next four years, restricted his movements and political activities. He nonetheless continued to work underground for the ANC. In the mid-1970s, he was arrested again but on that occasion was acquitted and served with another banning order. In the 1980s, he helped

Aaron Motsoaledi Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi (born 7 August 1958, in Transvaal, now Limpopo) is the Minister of Home Affairs in the Cabinet of South Africa. He was previously the Minister of Health from 2009 to 2019. He was a MEC in Limpopo province for agriculture ...

establish the

Sekhukhune Sekhukhune I (Matsebe; circa 1814 – 13 August 1882) was the paramount King of the Marota, more commonly known as the Bapedi, from 21 September 1861 until his assassination on 13 August 1882 by his rival and half-brother, Mampuru II. As the Pedi ...

Advice Office, which provided logistical and financial advice to detained or injured activists and their families.

Legislative career: 1994–2014

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Diale was elected to represent the ANC in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

(soon to become the

), the upper house of the

South African Parliament 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 ...

. In the next general election in 1999, he was elected to represent the new

constituency in the

, and he was re-elected to his seat in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

before retiring in 2014.

Honours and death

In April 2011, President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

awarded Diale the

Order of Luthuli The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003, and is granted by the President (government title), president of South Africa, for contributions to South Africa in the following fields: (i) the struggle for ...

in Silver for "his excellent contribution to the struggle against apartheid and for his selfless sacrifices for the attainment of freedom for all in South Africa". He died on 8 January 2015 in Sekhukhune in Limpopo. Zuma granted him a special official funeral.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diale, Nelson African National Congress politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 21st-century South African politicians 1936 births 2015 deaths People from Sekhukhune District Municipality Inmates of Robben Island Members of the Senate of South Africa Members of the National Council of Provinces UMkhonto we Sizwe personnel