Everything about Sydney Mufamadi totally explained
Fholisani Sydney Mufamadi is a former
Minister of Safety and Security and the current (as of
2006)
Minister of Provincial and Local Government of
South Africa.
Sydney Mufamadi was born on
28 February 1959 in
Alexandra Township,
Johannesburg. Mufamadi is the eldest of the four children of Masindi and Reuben Mufamadi. He grew up in
Meadowlands, Gauteng, and
Tshisahulu,
Venda (today
Limpopo Province), where he first looked after his grandfather's cattle before attending school. Both his father and mother worked in Johannesburg, selling home-brewed
alcoholic beverages to supplement the family income. His mother was subsequently arrested for illegally selling alcohol, and thus he experienced the
apartheid era legal system first-hand at an early age. Mufamadi completed his schooling at Khwevha High School in Shayandima, Venda, in
1977.
In
1976, with the spread of the
Soweto uprising into other areas of the country, Mufamadi became a member of
Zoutpansberg Students Organisation, which led to the
boycotts in Venda during October
1977. Many student leaders were
arrested, and others, including Mufamadi, went underground. When the schools re-opened, he was refused re-admission and was briefly prevented from completing his
schooling. He moved to Johannesburg and enrolled at an international
Correspondence College. In
1977, he joined the
African National Congress, the next year he was a founder member of the
Azanian People's Organisation and in
1981 he joined the
South African Communist Party. His involvement in AZAPO led to two month's detention without trial at
John Vorster Square, Johannesburg, under section 6 of the Terrorism Act.
In
1980, Mufamadi worked as a private teacher at Lamula Secondary School,
Soweto, where he assisted members of the
Congress of South African Students with political activities. In 1981, he left the teaching profession to work as a messenger for a firm of
attorneys and subsequently joined the
General and Allied Workers Union and participated in the
16 June stay-away that year. After his employer saw a newspaper clipping of Mufamadi addressing the workers, he was fired for taking part in political activities. He worked voluntarily for GAWU, and in
1982 and
1984 was elected General Secretary of the organisation. In
1983, he attended the launch of the
United Democratic Front in
Cape Town, and was later elected
Transvaal publicity secretary of the organisation, a position he held until
1990. In
1984 he was detained twice in the
Ciskei during April and again in September.
Following the successful Transvaal regional stayaway in
November 1984, Mufamadi was
subpoenaed to appear as a
state witness at the trial of some of its organisers. However, when some of the accused fled the country, charges were withdrawn and he wasn't called to testify. In
1985, when the state of emergency was declared, Mufamadi operated underground to avoid detention, resurfacing to help organise and attend the
December 1985 launch of the
Congress of South African Trade Unions in
Durban, where he was elected Assistant General Secretary at its inaugural rally. He operated underground from
June 1986 to
October 1986, but openly resumed his work despite the continuing state of emergency. He was again detained on
8 June 1987 for political activities.
In June 1988, Mufamadi headed a planning committee to organise an anti-apartheid conference in Cape Town, which aimed to include delegates from a broad spectrum of anti-apartheid organisations. In September 1988, the government prohibited the conference and restricted the organisers of the conference from entering Cape Town for a ten-day period. In January 1990, he travelled with the
Rivonia Trialists to Lusaka,
Zambia, to meet with the ANC Executive Committee. In
1991, he was elected to the party’s central committee, and was elected to the party’s National Executive Committee and to serve on its working committee at an ANC congress held in
Durban in July later that year. He didn't stand for re-election as COSATU Assistant General Secretary that year. He was an SACP delegate at the
Convention for a Democratic South Africa working group, which dealt with the future of the independent
Bantustans, or
homelands.
After the
1994 general election, Mufamadi was appointed Minister of Safety and Security in the Government of National Unity, after having served on the sub-council on law and order of the Transitional Executive Council.
Mufamadi is currently the Minister of Provincial and Local Government, a position he's held since 1999. He currently lives in Johannesburg with his wife Wendy and two children.And his lovely son Mutanwa Mufamadi
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