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Current Positions
- President of the Republic of South
Africa (since 14 June 1999)
- President of the ANC (since 1997)
Academic Qualifications
- Attended primary school in Idutywa and
Butterworth and high school education at Lovedale, Alice
- Expelled from school as a result of
student strikes (1959) and forced to continue studies at home
- Sat for matriculation examinations at St
John’s High School, Umtata (1959)
- Completed British "A" levels
examinations (1960 and 1961)
- Undertook first year economics degree as
an external student with the University of London (1961-1962)
- Master of Economics degree, University
of Sussex (1966)
Career/Memberships/Positions/Other
Activities
- Joined ANC Youth League (ANCYL) while a
student at Lovedale Institute (1956)
- Involved in underground activities in
the Pretoria-Witwatersrand area after the ANC was banned in 1960
- Involved in mobilizing the students and
youth in support of the ANC call for a stay away, in protest against
the creation of a Republic (1961)
- Elected Secretary of the African
Students Association (December 1961)
- Left South Africa together with other
students on instructions of the ANC (1962). Went to the then Southern
Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, the then Tanganyika, now Tanzania and the
United Kingdom to study
- Continued with political activities as a
university student in the UK, mobilizing the international student
community against apartheid
- Worked for the ANC office in London
(1967-1970). Underwent military training in the then Soviet Union
during this period
- Served as Assistant Secretary to the
Revolutionary Council of the ANC in Lusaka (1971)
- Sent to Botswana (1973). He was among
the first ANC leaders to have contact with exiled and visiting members
of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). As a result of his contact
and discussions with the BCM, some of the leading members of this organization
found their way into the ranks of the ANC
- The focus of his activities during this
time was to consolidate the underground structures of the ANC and to mobilize
the people inside South Africa
- Engaged the Botswana government in
discussions to open an ANC office in that country. Left Botswana
(1974)
- Sent to Swaziland as acting
representative of the ANC, part of his task was the internal mobilization
and the creation of underground structures
- Became a member of the National
Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC (1975)
- Sent to Nigeria (December 1976) as a
representative of the ANC. Played a major role in assisting students
from South Africa to relocate in an unfamiliar environment
- Left Nigeria and returned to Lusaka
(February 1978)
- Political Secretary in the Office of the
President of the ANC (1978)
- Director of the Department of
Information and Publicity (1984-1989)
- Re-elected to the NEC (1985). Served as
Director of Information and as Secretary for Presidential Affairs
- Member of the ANC’s political and
military council
- Member of the delegation that met the
South African business community led by the Chairman of Anglo
American, Gavin Relly, at Mfuwe, Zambia (1985)
- Led a delegation of the ANC to Dakar,
Senegal, where talks were held with a delegation from the Institute
for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (Idasa) (1987)
- Led the ANC delegation which held secret
talks with the South African government from 1989 and which led to
agreements about the unbanning of the ANC and the release of political
prisoners
- Part of the delegation which engaged the
government in "talks about talks". He participated in the
Groote Schuur and Pretoria deliberations, which resulted in the
agreements which became known as the Groote Schuur and Pretoria
Minutes (1990)
- Participated in all subsequent
negotiations leading to the adoption of the interim Constitution for
the new South Africa
- Elected chairperson of the ANC (1993).
The election to this post meant succeeding the late former President
and chairperson of the ANC, OR Tambo, with whom he has had a close
working relationship over the years
- Executive Deputy President in the South
African Government (1994-13 June 1999)
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