Joe Slovo

Joe Slovo
Minister of Housing of South Africa
In office
April 1994 – January 1995
PresidentNelson Mandela
Preceded byNew post
National Executive Committee member of the African National Congress
PresidentNelson Mandela
General Secretary of the South African Communist Party
In office
1984–1991
Succeeded byChris Hani
Commander of uMkhonto we Sizwe
PresidentOliver Tambo
Preceded byNelson Mandela
Succeeded byChris Hani
Personal details
Born
Yossel Mashel Slovo

(1926-05-23)23 May 1926
Obeliai, Lithuania
Died6 January 1995(1995-01-06) (aged 68)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress
South African Communist Party
Spouses
(m. 1949; died 1982)
Helena Dolny
(m. 1987)
Military service
AllegianceUnion of South Africa
African National Congress
Branch/serviceSouth African Army
uMkhonto we Sizwe
Years of service1941–1945
1963–1990
Battles/warsSecond World War
Internal resistance to apartheid
Rhodesian Bush War
Angolan Civil War
South African Border War

Yossel Mashel Slovo (23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995), commonly known as Joe Slovo, was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Party (SACP), a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), and a commander of the ANC's military wing uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK). Slovo was a delegate to the multiracial Congress of the People of June 1955 which drew up the Freedom Charter. He was imprisoned for six months in 1960, and emerged as a leader of uMkhonto we Sizwe the following year. He lived in exile from 1963 to 1990, conducting operations against the apartheid régime from the United Kingdom, Angola, Mozambique, and Zambia. In 1990, he returned to South Africa, and took part in the negotiations that ended apartheid. He became known for proposing the "sunset clauses" covering the 5 years following a democratic election, including guarantees and concessions to all sides,[1] and his fierce non-racialist stance. After the elections of 1994, he became Minister for Housing in Nelson Mandela's government. He died of cancer in 1995.[2]

  1. ^ "Negotiations: What room for compromise?". www.sacp.org.za. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  2. ^ Joe Slovo, Anti-Apartheid Stalinist, Dies at 68, NY Times, 1995-01-07.