Zweledinga Pallo Jordan (born 22 May 1942) is a South African politician. He was a member of the National Executive Committee 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 ...

, and was a cabinet minister from 1994 until 2009.

Early life

Jordan is the son of the academics

Archibald Campbell Jordan Archibald Campbell Mzolisa "A.C." Jordan (30 October 1906 – 20 October 1968) was a novelist, literary historian and intellectual pioneer of African studies in South Africa. Early life He was born at the Mbokothwane Mission in the Tsolo distric ...

and Phyllis Ntantala-Jordan. Like his parents, Jordan was active in the

Non-European Unity Movement The Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) is a Trotskyist organisation formed in South Africa in 1943. It had links to the Workers Party of South Africa (WPSA), the first countrywide Trotskyist organisation, and was initially conceived as a broad p ...

against

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 ...

. He then joined the

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

and went into exile, studying in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and the

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.Zweledinga Pallo Jordan

South African History Online The South African History Project (2001-2004) was established and initiated by Professor Kader Asmal, former Minister of Education in South Africa. This initiative followed after the publication of the Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy ...

Political career

Jordan worked for the ANC in London and in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n states. In 1982 he narrowly escaped the detonation of the letter bomb which the apartheid regime had sent to

Ruth First Heloise Ruth First (4 May 1925 – 17 August 1982) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar. She was assassinated in Mozambique, where she was working in exile, by a parcel bomb built by South African police. Family and edu ...

and killed her.Miracle Rising: South Africa

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In 1985, he was elected to the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC). He served as administrative secretary of the NEC Secretariat (1985–1988), on the NEC's Strategy and Tactics Committee as

convenor The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

(1985–1989), on the NEC's sub-committee on negotiations and the NEC's sub-committee on Constitutional Guidelines and as the Director of Information and Publicity (1989). Jordan returned 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 ...

after the unbanning of the ANC in 1990. Having already participated in the 1987 negotiations in Senegal, he was also a negotiator in the

CODESA The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution ...

. In 1994, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to be a

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in the

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for the ANC. He became Minister of Posts, Telecommunications, and Broadcasting (1994–1996) and subsequently Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (1996–1999). From 1999 to 2004, he served as Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the National Assembly. After the 2004 National Elections, Jordan was appointed Minister of Arts and Culture by President Thabo Mbeki, a post he held from April 2004 to May 2009. In the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

Province town of Lady Grey, a school was named after Jordan, called the "Dr Pallo Jordan Primary School".

2009 scandal

In 2009 Jordan was forced to step down as Minister of Arts and Culture after it was discovered that he lied about his academic record. He studied at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

in the

and at the London School of Economics (LSE). His official biographies, as well as his official CV, claimed that he received a PhD and he has presented himself under the title Dr for numerous years, but a newspaper investigation revealed that he did not complete his degree at Wisconsin–Madison.Pallo Jordan's phantom doctorate
''Times Live'', 4 August 2014 On 11 August 2014, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe announced that Jordan had resigned from Parliament and apologised to the ruling party after reports that his qualifications were false. The ANC statement also revealed that Jordan had resigned from the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC and from the ANC. At the same time, Jordan was fired from his position as a ''Business Day (South Africa), Business Day'' columnist because he failed to submit his weekly column for the publication. The ANC's Chief Whip in Parliament Stone Sizani said that with or without academic qualifications Jordan remains a source of pride for the party.Shamed, Pallo Jordan resigns
Independent Online, 11 August 2014

References

External links

Government biography
(archived link) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Pallo 1942 births Living people People from Kroonstad Xhosa people African National Congress politicians Communications ministers of South Africa Arts and culture ministers of South Africa Members of the National Assembly of South Africa University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics