Lennox Leslie Wongama Sebe (26 July 1926 – 23 July 1994) was chief minister of the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (n ...

Ciskei Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...

after its self-rule in 1972, and the nominally independent country's first

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

from 1983.

Early life

Born in Belstone, near

King William's Town Qonce, formerly known as King William's Town, is a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River (Eastern Cape), Buffalo River. The city is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London, South ...

and he is brother of

Charles Sebe Lt. General Xhanti Charles Sebe was leader of the Ciskei Defence Force- the military of the Bantustan of Ciskei, and its Director of State Security. A former Security Branch policeman, he later joined the South African Bureau of State Security ( ...

, Sebe worked first as a school teacher before being appointed as a school principal in 1954. In 1968, Sebe was elected as a representative of the Xhosa Kingdom's AmaNtinde chieftaincy in the Ciskeian Territorial Authority and became responsible for Educational and Cultural Affairs, before transferring to the Agriculture portfolio in 1971.

Rise to power

Sebe founded the

Ciskei National Independence Party The Ciskei National Independence Party (CNIP) was a political party in the nominally independent South African homeland of Ciskei. It was founded and led by Lennox Sebe. The party advocated cooperation with the South African government. The party g ...

and contested Ciskei's inaugural election in February 1973. He was elected to the Zwelitsha electorate and succeeded Chief Justice Mabandla to become the second Chief Minister of Ciskei on 21 May 1973. He would then become president when Ciskei was granted nominal independence from

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 coun ...

on 4 December 1981. Sebe declared himself President for Life in 1983. Sebe was faced with leading an economically unviable state, with a population of one million, many of them Xhosa forced to relocate to the bantustan in the 1970s, during South Africa's

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 ...

regime.

Dictatorship

Immediately upon independence, Sebe consolidated power in a dictatorship, supported by the 1,000-strong military force. He crushed all opposition, including bitter protests against a transit fare strike in 1983 (most residents worked outside the bantustan, and relied on public transportation to get them to work). That same year, Sebe's brother, Lieutenant General

, head of Ciskei's intelligence service, attempted to overthrow the government. Though Charles Sebe was arrested, he escaped from prison in 1986 and made his way to nearby

Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ba ...

, where he continued to agitate against the regime. In 1987, he orchestrated the

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

of Sebe's son Khwane, who was held prisoner in

until Sebe agreed to release political prisoners in exchange for his son. Sebe visited

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

on several occasions during his presidency and established a trade office in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

that was run by two Israelis with ties to the Gush Emunim

Israeli settler Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

movement. During this period, the Ciskeian capital,

Bisho Bhisho (formerly Bisho) is the capital of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa. The Office of the Premier, Provincial Legislature and many other government departments are headquartered in the town. The town, three kilometres from Qonce and ...

, signed a sister-city agreement with the settlement community of Ariel in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. Sebe once claimed that Israel had granted official recognition to Ciskei, although the Israeli Foreign Ministry denied this.

Collapse

Sebe was overthrown by a military coup led by Brigadier General

Oupa Gqozo Joshua Oupa Gqozo (; born 10 March 1952) was the military ruler of the former homeland of Ciskei in South Africa. Early life Gqozo was born in Kroonstad, Orange Free State on 10 March 1952, the son of a Christian minister. In Afrikaans, Oupa ...

on 4 March 1990 while on state visit to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and charged with

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

violations.

Sources

* Polakow-Suransky, S. (2010) ''The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa'', Pantheon Books: New York. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebe, Lennox 1926 births 1994 deaths South African educators Heads of state of Ciskei Presidents for life Leaders ousted by a coup People from Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality Heads of government who were later imprisoned