Reggie September OLS (June 13, 1923 [1] - November 22, 2013) was a South African politician, trade-unionist, Member of Parliament and executive committee member of the African National Congress (ANC).
September was born in Cape Town in 1923 to a working-class family. He graduated from Trafalgar High School [1] before gaining employment as apprentice in the shoe industry, and becoming a trade unionist. He joined the National Liberation League, founded by Cissie Gool, before becoming a founder member of the South African Coloured People's Organisation in 1953 (later known as the South African Coloured People's Congress).
In 1960, the South African government detained him for five months without charge, and he was repeatedly harassed and detained after that as the apartheid government cracked down on internal resistance. He fled the country in 1963 and served as the African National Congress' Chief Representative for the United Kingdom and Western Europe until 1978, and as member of the ANC's Revolutionary Council in Lusaka.
He returned to South Africa in 1991 after the unbanning of the ANC, and was elected as a member of parliament in 1994 in South Africa's first democratic elections.
He retired in 2004, and died November 22, 2013 at the age of 90. [2] [3] [4] [5] He was survived by his second wife, Melissa Steyn. [1]
Trevor Andrew Manuel is a retired South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist who served in the cabinet of South Africa between 1994 and 2014. He was the Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2009 under three successive presidents. He was also the first post-apartheid Minister of Trade and Industry from 1994 to 1996 and later the Minister in the Presidency for the National Planning Commission from 2009 to 2014. He was a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 2012.
The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956.
The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was a political organisation established in 1894 to fight discrimination against Indians in the Natal Colony, and later the Natal Province, of South Africa. Founded by Mahatma Gandhi, it later served an important role in opposing apartheid. It was the oldest affiliate of the South African Indian Congress.
Sophia Theresa Williams-de Bruyn is a former South African anti-apartheid activist. She was the first recipient of the Women's Award for exceptional national service. She is the last living leader of the Women's March.
Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid, which began formally in 1990 and ended with South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994.
Cassel Mathale is a South African politician who was the third Premier of Limpopo between March 2009 and July 2013. He is currently the Deputy Minister of Police in the South African government and before that was Deputy Minister of Small Business Development from February 2018 to May 2019.
The Congress Alliance was an anti-apartheid political coalition formed in South Africa in the 1950s. Led by the African National Congress, the CA was multi-racial in makeup and committed to the principle of majority rule.
Amos Fish Mahlalela is a South African politician from Mpumalanga. He has been the Deputy Minister of Tourism since May 2019 and has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly since May 2014. In June 2023, he was additionally elected as the Provincial Chairperson of the ANC Veterans' League in Mpumalanga.
Mary Moodley was a trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. Moodley regularly shared her home in the black district of Wattville Township with her family and homeless people, both black and white. She was generous with the little money she had and was a "regular churchgoer."
Kopeng Obed Bapela is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises since 6 March 2023. Before that, he was Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs from 2014 to 2023. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he has been a member of the National Assembly since 2002 and a deputy minister since 2010.
Nomfunelo Rose-Mary Mabedla is a South African politician representing the African National Congress (ANC) and a trade unionist. She is a former Member of Parliament of the National Assembly between 2009 and 2014.
Xolisile Shinars Qayiso is a South African politician and a member of the National Assembly of South Africa. He is a member of the African National Congress.
Bhekizizwe Abram Radebe is a South African politician who has been a member of the National Assembly of South Africa from the Free State since 1999. He is a member of the African National Congress.
Dingaan Jacob Myolwa is a South African politician from the Eastern Cape who is a Member of the National Assembly for the African National Congress (ANC). He was appointed to parliament in 2021. Myolwa had previously served as a member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature from 2013 to 2014 and before that, as mayor of the OR Tambo District Municipality.
Fikile Zachariah "Slovo" Majola is a South African politician and former trade unionist who is currently serving as the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry since May 2019. He has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly since 2014, and before that he was the general secretary of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) from 1998 to 2014.
Solomon Mandlenkosi Rasmeni is a South African politician and former trade unionist. Formerly an organiser for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the Western Transvaal, he represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2009. Before that, he was a member of the North West caucus of the Senate during the first democratic Parliament.
Reginald Oliphant was a South African politician, journalist, and anti-apartheid activist. A teacher by profession, he rose to prominence in the civic movement of Oudtshoorn, where he founded a progressive community newspaper, Saamstaan. He was the Southern Cape chairperson of the United Democratic Front.
Sisa James Njikelana is a South African politician, businessman, and former trade unionist. He represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2014 and chaired the Portfolio Committee on Energy during the 25th Parliament.
Muzivukile Curnick Ndlovu, also spelled Muzuvukile, was a South African politician, anti-apartheid activist, and trade unionist. A veteran of the African National Congress, he represented the party in the National Assembly during the first democratic Parliament from 1994 to 1999. He was also a former national chairperson of the United Democratic Front, a former secretary of the Railway and Harbour Workers' Union, and a former regional commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in Natal Province.
Noel John Williams is a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist from Cape Town. He is known for his community and labour activism in Atlantis, and he represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly during the first democratic Parliament.