Samson Ndou

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Samson Ndou
OLS
Member of the National Assembly
In office
until 9 June 2006
Personal details
Born
Ratshivhanda Samson Ndou

(1939-12-28) 28 December 1939 (age 84)
CitizenshipSouth Africa
Political partyAfrican National Congress

Ratshivhanda Samson Ndou (born 28 December 1939) is a South African politician and former trade unionist. During apartheid, he was a prominent member of a network of Charterist union organisers in the Transvaal, as well as a founding member of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and president of the General and Allied Workers' Union (GAWU).

After the end of apartheid, he represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly, in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature, and in the Vhembe District Council.

Early life and activism[edit]

Ndou was born on 28 December 1939.[1] He joined the African National Congress (ANC) at an early stage of the anti-apartheid struggle and he remained active in its underground after it was banned by the government in 1960. He was part of an underground network of labour activists in the Transvaal – also including Rita Ndzanga, Sydney Mufamadi, and others – who were associated with the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), which was allied to the ANC but had itself been banned in 1962.[2]

Communism trial[edit]

Ndou was arrested in May 1969[3] and detained without trial for several months before being charged with violations of the Suppression of Communism Act. In State v Samson Ndou and 21 Others, the state alleged that Ndou and various other ANC and SACTU supporters – among them Rita Ndzanga and Winnie Mandela – had in various ways sought to further the aims of the illegal ANC, including through conspiracy to commit sabotage in Johannesburg.[4] All 22 defendants were acquitted and the trial was regarded as a political failure for the apartheid state, because it had revealed publicly that, despite the intense political repression of the decade, ANC supporters continued to mobilise underground.[5][4]

Decades later, Ndou testified to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he had been severely tortured by the Security Branch during his detention in 1969, as well as during a later detention in the summer of 1981.[3] He and the other 21 triallists were awarded the Order of Luthuli in Silver in 2017 for "their brave fight against apartheid".[4]

United Democratic Front[edit]

Upon his release, Ndou resumed his underground work, at the time focused primarily on recruitment activities and political education, such as through proliferation of the illegal Freedom Charter.[2] He and other SACTU loyalists became increasingly involved in the Black Allied Workers' Union (BAWU), and Samson himself remained in contact with SACTU's exiled leadership abroad.[2] However, when Rita Ndzanga broke away from BAWU in 1980, Ndou joined her in the new General and Allied Workers' Union (GAWU).[2] He was later president of GAWU.[6]

In 1983, Ndou made a speech at the Cape Town launch of the United Democratic Front (UDF), a new popular front against apartheid.[7][8] He was also elected to the executive committee of the Transvaal Indian Congress after the congress was relaunched in the same year (though he was not himself Indian).[9][6] In the mid-1980s, he became increasingly involved in running the UDF's national office as many of the front's national leaders were detained.[7] During the same period, he was a key figure in organising the union unity talks that resulted in the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions in 1985.[10]

Career in government[edit]

Parliament[edit]

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Ndou was not immediately elected to the National Assembly,[11] but he joined during the legislative term, filling a casual vacancy in the aNC caucus.[12] He was re-elected to full terms in the assembly in 1999[1] and 2004.[13] He served in his seat until 9 June 2006, when he resigned.[14] During this period, ahead of the 2000 local elections, Ndou stood briefly as the ANC's mayoral candidate for Thohoyandou, Limpopo; however, it soon transpired that he had registered to vote in another city (Cape Town) and therefore was ineligible to stand.[15]

Provincial legislature[edit]

After leaving Parliament, Ndou represented the ANC in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature, where he served as a Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Safety and Security under Premier Sello Moloto.[16] In late 2008, when Mosiuoa Lekota and Sam Shilowa announced their intention to break away from the ANC and form a new party, the Mail & Guardian reported that Ndou was among those who had shown an interest in the new initiative.[17] However, Ndou remained with the ANC and continued in the safety and security portfolio until the 2009 general election,[18] after which he left the legislature.

Local government[edit]

In the 2016 local elections, Ndou was elected to represent the ANC as a local councillor in the Vhembe District Municipality. He was also appointed as chief whip in the council, serving under mayor Florence Radzilani.[19][20]

In 2021, the ANC's Provincial Executive Committee in Limpopo appointed Ndou as a member of the party's seven-member provincial Integrity Commission.[21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 408, no. 20203. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 11 June 1999. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d South African Democracy Education Trust (2004). The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1970-1980. Unisa Press. pp. 219–231, 373–4. ISBN 978-1-86888-406-3.
  3. ^ a b "NDOU, Ratshivhanda Samson". Truth Commission Special Report. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "The 22 ANC Political Trialists of 1969". The Presidency. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  5. ^ Maharaj, Mac; Jordan, Z. Pallo (1 September 2021). Breakthrough: The Struggles and Secret Talks that Brought Apartheid South Africa to the Negotiating Table. Penguin Random House South Africa. ISBN 978-1-77609-648-0.
  6. ^ a b "Walter Sisulu in surprise call from jail". The Mail & Guardian. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  7. ^ a b Seekings, Jeremy (2000). The UDF: A History of the United Democratic Front in South Africa, 1983-1991. New Africa Books. pp. 63, 217–8. ISBN 978-0-86486-403-1.
  8. ^ Fisher, Ryland (18 August 2013). "Remembering the United Democratic Front". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  9. ^ van Wessel, Ineke (2000). Beyond Our Wildest Dreams. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813918686.
  10. ^ "Slow progress in union unity talks". The Mail & Guardian. 14 June 1985. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  11. ^ South Africa: Campaign and Election Report April 26–29, 1994. International Republican Institute. 1994. Retrieved 13 April 2023 – via Yumpu.
  12. ^ "Members of the National Assembly". Parliament of South Africa. 3 June 1998. Archived from the original on 28 June 1998. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  13. ^ "General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 466, no. 2677. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 20 April 2004. pp. 4–95. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  14. ^ "National Assembly Members". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. 15 January 2009. Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  15. ^ "blow-by-blow guide to the local elections". The Mail & Guardian. 1 December 2000. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  16. ^ Rampedi, Piet (7 December 2008). "MEC 'always on the road'". News24. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  17. ^ "ANC rebels surge in seven provinces". The Mail & Guardian. 17 October 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  18. ^ "MEC Thanks Limpopo People, Parties for Peaceful Election". Bua News. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2023 – via allAfrica.
  19. ^ "'Vhembe area must improve'". Review. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  20. ^ "We'll fix the shortages, promises Vhembe mayor". News24. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  21. ^ Matlala, Alex Japho (29 July 2021). "Limpopo ANC appoints bigwigs in bid to fight corruption". The Citizen. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
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