{{Short description|South African politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder | party = African National Congress | birth_date = {{birth date|1924|01|03|df=yes}} | birth_place = Stutterheim, Cape Province<br />Union of South Africa | death_date = {{death-date|August 2011}} (aged 87) | death_place = Port Alfred, Eastern Cape<br />South Africa | spouse = Buyiswa Fazzie }}
'''Henry Mutile Fazzie''' (3 January 1924 – August 2011) was a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly until 2009. He was an early member of Umkhonto we Sizwe and from 1965 was imprisoned on Robben Island for 12 years for his political activities. He was detained again in the 1980s for his continued anti-apartheid activism through the United Democratic Front and civics movement.
== Early life and anti-apartheid activism == Fazzie was born on 3 January 1924 in Stutterheim in the former Cape Province.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=30 August 2011 |title=Henry Mutile Fazzie |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/henry-mutile-fazzie |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=South African History Online}}</ref> He joined the African National Congress (ANC) and trade union movement in the 1950s in the early years of apartheid<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=16 August 2011 |title='Fazzie's death a setback' |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/fazzies-death-a-setback-1118897 |access-date=9 April 2023}}</ref> and in the early 1960s he went into exile abroad to join Umkhonto we Sizwe, the ANC's newly established (and newly illegal) armed wing. He received military training in Ethiopia. However, on their way back to South Africa, he and his group were captured in Southern Rhodesia and deported to South Africa for trial.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=21 August 2011 |title=Obituary: Henry Fazzie: Struggle stalwart, MP |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2011-08-21-obituary-henry-fazzie-struggle-stalwart-mp/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Others detained alongside him later told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that they had been tortured in detention.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Truth and Reconciliation Commission |title=TRC Final Report Volume 3, Section 1 |url=https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/reports/volume3/chapter2/subsection3.htm |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Truth Commission Special Report}}</ref>
On 1 April 1965, Fazzie was convicted under the Sabotage Act and sentenced to 20 years in prison, though his sentence was later reduced to 12 years on appeal.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 March 2011 |title=ANC member, Henry Fazzie sentenced to 20 years in jail under the Sabotage Act |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/anc-member-henry-fazzie-sentenced-20-years-jail-under-sabotage-act |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=South African History Online}}</ref> He was imprisoned on Robben Island. His father had taught him to conduct ritual circumcisions and he acted as an unofficial surgeon for young prisoners.<ref name=":2" />
After his release, Fazzie was closely involved in the formation of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO); he ultimately served as its vice president.<ref name=":0" /> In the 1980s, he was a regional leader of the Cape branch of the United Democratic Front, which organised major consumer boycotts in Port Elizabeth.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> In 1986, after contravening a banning order which circumscribed his political activity, he was detained without trial for almost three years at St Alban's Prison.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> After his release he was active in the South African National Civics Organisation.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
== Legislative career: 1994–2009 == After South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Fazzie represented the ANC in the new Parliament.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> He was not initially re-elected in 1999 but returned to the National Assembly not long into the legislative term, on 3 May 2000, to fill a casual vacancy.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |date=2002-06-02 |title=The National Assembly List of Resinations and Nominations |url=http://parliament.gov.za/na/resign.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020602095739/http://parliament.gov.za/na/resign.htm |archive-date=2 June 2002 |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=Parliament of South Africa}}</ref> Though he retired after the 2004 general election, he again returned to his seat on 19 September 2007, on that occasion filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Mbulelo Goniwe;<ref name=":04">{{Cite web |date=2009-01-15 |title=National Assembly Members |url=http://www.pmg.org.za/parlinfo/nalist#_ftnref87 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514071402/http://www.pmg.org.za/parlinfo/nalist#_ftnref87 |archive-date=14 May 2009 |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=Parliamentary Monitoring Group}}</ref> he left Parliament conclusively after the next general election in 2009.
== Personal life and death == He was married to Buyiswa Fazzie, with whom he had children and grandchildren.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 August 2011 |title=Motion Of Condolence (The Late Mr M H Fazzie) |url=http://www.pa.org.za/hansard/2011/august/18/proceedings-of-the-national-assembly-thursday-18-2/motion-of-condolence-the-late-mr-m-h-fazzie |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=People's Assembly |language=en}}</ref> He died in mid-August 2011 in hospital in Port Alfred.<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{Reflist}} Category:African National Congress politicians Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fazzie, Henry}} Category:2011 deaths Category:1924 births Category:People from Stutterheim Category:South African anti-apartheid activists Category:Inmates of Robben Island