Thabo Lucas Makunyane (25 October 1953 – 11 June 2020) was a South African politician and former

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 ...

. He was the first mayor of

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 ...

Polokwane Local Municipality The Polokwane Local Municipality (or simply Polokwane Municipality) is a local municipality located within the Capricorn District in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It shares its name with the city of Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg). Polo ...

from 2000 to 2010. He also served 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 2000 and 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 2012 to 2014. Makunyane rose to prominence in the students' movement of the 1970s, which led him to join 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) underground and become a founding member of the

Congress of South African Students The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) is an anti-apartheid Student Organisation established in 1979 in the wake of the June 16 Soweto Uprisings in 1976 in South Africa. Background COSAS was formed in June 1979 after the South African Stu ...

(COSAS). With COSAS president

Ephraim Mogale Ephraim Phumuga Mogale (6 February 1959 – 2003) was a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist. The inaugural president of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), he was an underground operative for Umkhonto we Si ...

, he was imprisoned 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 1979 to 1985. Upon his release, Makunyane became vice-chairperson of the

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 ...

branch of the United Democratic Front (UDF), in which capacity he suffered another lengthy detention from 1986 to 1989.

Early life and activism

Born on 25 October 1953, Makunyane became active in anti-apartheid politics in the early 1970s through the

Black Consciousness The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid Activism, activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the power vacuum, political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African Nationa ...

-aligned

South African Students Organisation The South African Students' Organisation (SASO) was a body of black South African university students who resisted apartheid through non-violent political action. The organisation was formed in 1969 under the leadership of Steve Biko and Barney P ...

. He went on to join the underground of the ANC, which was outlawed at the time; he later said that he had joined the party in 1973. In 1979, while studying law at

Turfloop The University of Limpopo is a university in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2005, by the merger of the University of the North and the Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA). These previous institutions for ...

, he was involved in founding the ANC-aligned COSAS with Ephraim Mogale. Later in 1979, he and Mogale were arrested in

Venda Venda () was a Bantustan in northern South Africa, which is fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of the ...

; they were convicted of political offences and sentenced to five years' imprisonment, which they served on Robben Island. Upon his release in 1985, Makunyane joined the UDF in the Northern Transvaal, while subsisting on business interests he acquired in

Sekhukhuneland Sekhukhuneland or Sekukuniland ( af, Sekoekoeniland) is a natural region in north-east South Africa, located in the historical Transvaal zone, former Transvaal Province, also known as Bopedi (meaning “land of Bapedi”). The region is named afte ...

and

Seshego Seshego is a township in the Polokwane Local Municipality of the Capricorn District Municipality of the Limpopo province of the Republic of South Africa. The township lies directly northwest of the city of Polokwane. History Between 1972 and 197 ...

. After Peter Nchabeleng died in police detention in 1986, Louis Mnguni succeeded Nchabeleng as chairperson of the UDF's Northern Transvaal branch, and Makunyane in turn succeeded Mnguni as vice-chairperson. During the state of emergency that began later that year, both Mnguni and Makunyane were detained without trial for three years. After his release in 1989, Makunyane once more resumed his activism, becoming the key coordinator of the ANC underground in the

Pietersburg Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province ...

area.

Post-apartheid political career

National Assembly: 1999–2000

In the 1999 general election, Makunyane was elected to an ANC seat in the National Assembly, where he represented the Northern Province constituency (present-day Limpopo). While he was serving in the seat, he stood as a candidate in the 2000 local elections. He resigned from the National Assembly on 5 December 2000, in the aftermath of the election, in order to take up the seat he had won as a local councillor.

Mayor of Polokwane: 2000–2010

After his departure from the National Assembly in December 2000, Makunyane was sworn in as the inaugural executive mayor of Limpopo's newly incorporated Polokwane Local Municipality. He was re-elected in the 2006 local elections and remained in the mayoral office until 31 August 2010, when he resigned "to attend to urgent matters". The ''

Sowetan ''The Sowetan'' is an English-language South African daily newspaper that started in 1981 as a liberation struggle newspaper and was freely distributed to households in the then apartheid-segregated township of Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng Pr ...

'' reported that he was likely to be appointed as the head of the ANC's political school in Limpopo. He was succeeded as mayor by Freddy Greaver.

National Council of Provinces: 2012–2014

On 22 May 2012, Makunyane was sworn in to an ANC seat in the Limpopo caucus of the National Council of Provinces, where he filled a casual vacancy. He served in the seat until the 2014 general election.

Personal life and death

Makunyane had six children. He died on 11 June 2020.

References

External links

* 1953 births 2020 deaths African National Congress politicians 21st-century South African politicians 20th-century South African politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Mayors of places in South Africa Members of the National Council of Provinces Anti-apartheid activists Inmates of Robben Island {{DEFAULTSORT:Makunyane, Thabo