From rural herd boy to MK soldier and then ambassador: the autobiography of Mabuse Mampane

Abstract

Mabuse Mampane, also known as Reddy Mazimba, left his rural home in Sekhukuniland at the tender age of eight in 1951 to begin work as a herd boy in a neighbouring village, before leaving South Africa to undergo military training abroad as a member of uMkhonto weSizwe in 1963. He spent the next 27 years in exile. This is the story of his early life, political conscientisation and illegal departure from the country; his military training abroad and life in MK camps in Africa; his work in OR Tambo's security detail in Zambia; his role as ANC Chief Representative in Tanzania and in the establishment of SOMAFCO; his experiences as Chief Representative in Zimbabwe and recollections of the Olivia Forsyth spy saga; his leadership of the ANC security section in the CODESA talks; his experiences as South African Ambassador to Angola, Sudan and Swaziland; and re-connecting with a family he had last seen decades before, and a sister he had not met until his return to the country in the 1990s.