Leadership
 

Go Back Secretary General Mpotseng Kgokong Biography He cut his political teeth in 1971 after joining the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) at the University of the North (Turfloop). All students at the institution affiliated centrally. After his expulsion from the Institution in 1972 he interested himself in and engaged in the activities of SASO and served in its Local Executive Branch (REESO). In October 1972, he served in the Johannesburg Central Branch Executive of the Black People’s Convention (BPC). This is the year in which the BPC was founded. He served as the Regional Director of SASO, in charge of the then Transvaal, Free State and the Northern Cape from 1974 until early March 1976 when police harassment made it impossible for him to continue carrying out his mandate, e.g. frequent detentions in terms of the Terrorism Act. In July 1978, whilst in detention in terms of the Internal Security Act, he was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment for charges that would at best be described as silly. In 1980, when he finally lost his appeal in Bloemfontein, he went into exile in Botswana rather than serve the two year prison term imposed on him. A fugitive from injustice! At the time he was banned and restricted to the Magisterial District of Johannesburg for five years. In Botswana he joined the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania (BCMA) where he served in various leadership capacities, including the founding and subsequent work of the Azanian National Liberation Army (AZANLA). He served as Chairperson of the Botswana Chapter of the Movement from 1980 to 1981. In 1982 he was elected the Publicity & Information Secretary in the Central Committee of the BCMA, a position he held until 1986 when he was elected Secretary General. In 1988 the Botswana President declared him a prohibited immigrant and he found a country of second asylum in Zimbabwe, where he was ordinarily resident until his return home in August of 1994. In October 1994, at the merger Congress of AZAPO and the BCMA, he was elected Secretary General and served until he stood down in July 2000. He subsequently served in two positions in the Standing Committee of AZAPO, i.e. as Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Director of Elections. At the 2010 Congress of AZAPO, he was elected Secretary General. Go Back