Leadership Profile for National President

Mosiblidi Mangena

He was born on August 7, 1947 in Tzaneen in the Northern Province. He is married and has two children.

Education

He completed his primary school education in 1964 at Lethabong Primary School in Wallmansthal, near Pretoria. He attended Wallmansthal Secondary School from 1965 - 1967, where he obtained his Junior Certificate with distinction. He matriculated at Hebron Training Institute in 1969. He then proceeded to enrol at Unversity of Zululand (Ngoye) for a Bsc degree. He holds a Master's Degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Azania(UNISA).

Political Activism

In 1971 Mangena became active in the South African Students Organisation(SASO) after being elected to the Students Representative Council (SRC), an affiliate of SASO.At the end of 1971 Mangena discontinued his studies due to victimisation by the university for his political activites. In 1971 he moved back to Pretoria where he became active in the local branch of SASO, PRESO and was soon elected Chairman in the mid 1972 Mangena was instrumental in convening the interim structure of the Black People's Convention(BPC). On December 17, 1972, he was elected as the first National Organiser of the Black People's Convention at its founding Congress.

In June 1973 he was arrested in the Johannesburg offices of the BPC and detained under Section 6 of Terrorism Act. He was incarcerated without trial for over three months in a Port Elizabeth jail. On October 3, 1973, Mangena was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment on Robben Island. He became the first Black Consciousness activist to be imprisoned on Robben Island. On his release he was banned for five years and banished to Mahwelereng, near Potgietersrus. On August 3, 1981, at the request of the BCMA, he left for Botswana with his family. He was elected Chairperson of the Botswana Region of the BCMA in 1981 and in August 1982 was elected Chairperson of the Central Committee of the BCMA.

He is the author of three books, namely: On Your Own; A Twin World; and A Quest For True Humanity. He is the Former Chairman of Black Consciousness Movement of Azania (BCMA) and Commander-in-Chief of the Azanian National Liberation Army (AZANLA). He returned to Azania from Zimbabwe on 27th July 1994. He was elected National President of Azapo at its October 1994 Congress. He was re-elected President of Azapo in July 1998 at Pretoria Technikon National Congress. After the 1999 General election, he became the sole representative of Azapo in the National Assembly and became the first black consciousness activist to represent BCM in parliament.

On January 26, 2001, he was sworn in as the National Deputy Minister of Education. Once more, he became the first black consciousness activist to be sworn in as the Deputy Minister.