Johnson Mlambo

{{Short description|South African politician (1940–2021)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Use South African English|date=May 2012}}

{{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Johnson Phillip Mlambo | honorific_suffix = | image = |caption = |order= | birth_name = |birth_date={{Birth date|1940|2|22|df=y}} |birth_place= |occupation = {{flatlist| * Politician * Anti-apartheid activist }} |spouse = |children= |death_date={{death date and age|df=y|2021|1|09|1940|2|22}} |death_place= |party= Pan Africanist Congress<br>(1959–2021) |nickname = }}

'''Johnson Phillip Mlambo''' (22 February 1940 – 9 January 2021) was a South African politician<ref name="afdb">{{cite web |url=http://people.africadatabase.org/en/person/14720.html |title=Mlambo, Johnson P. |accessdate=2007-05-13 |date=17 December 2003 |work=Contemporary Africa Database ::: People |publisher=The Africa Centre |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040825042935/http://people.africadatabase.org/en/person/14720.html |archivedate=2004-08-25}}</ref> from Johannesburg.

==Activism and political career== He joined the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) at its foundation in 1959, becoming branch leader in Daveyton. In 1962, two years after its banning, he went to the underground headquarters in Maseru, where he was part of the preparations for the so-called "Year of Destiny" being planned in 1963.

He was arrested on 31 March 1963, along with seven colleagues, sentenced to twenty years in prison, and transferred to Robben Island. On the island, he suffered abuse from prison warders, including being buried alive to his neck, and urinated on. This and other forms of ill-treatment were exposed to the international community, came before the United Nations General Assembly, and led to some improvements in conditions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Johnson Phillip Mlambo - South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/johnson-phillip-mlambo |access-date=2021-01-10 |website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref>

After his release on 20 June 1983, he rejoined the PAC, and spent about ten days with his family before leaving the country to join the PAC in exile. He was appointed Secretary for Foreign Affairs and, after the death of John Nyathi Pokela, was appointed chairman and commander in chief of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), the PAC's military wing, from 12 August 1985 until 1990.<ref name="etd.rau">{{cite web |url = http://etd.rau.ac.za/theses/available/etd-08182004-115716/restricted/FinalChapter4.pdf |title = The generation of strained intra-PAC relations in exile 1962-1990 |accessdate = 2006-12-29 |last = Kondlo |first = Kwandiwe Merriman |date = 1 January 2004 |work = In the twilight of the Azanian Revolution: the exile history of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa): (1960-1990) |publisher = University of Johannesburg |pages = Chapter 4, pp 146–246 }}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He served as Deputy President of the PAC from 1990 to 1994.<ref name="afdb"/>

==Personal life and death== He was the uncle of Judge Dunstan Mlambo.<ref>{{cite web|title=LRC Oral History Project – Dunstan Mlambo|url=http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za/inventories/inv_pdft/AG3298/AG3298-1-113-text.pdf|publisher=Wits University|accessdate=26 February 2014}}</ref>

He died of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, on the morning of 9 January 2021, after being admitted to hospital the day before.<ref>{{cite tweet|number=1347982084980277248|user=pac_president|title=It is with sadness that we announce the passing away of PAC vetaran, Johnson Mlambo |date=9 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet|number=1347972765387788290|user=MyPAConline|title=The PAC of Azania sadly announces that Comrade Johnson Phillip Mlambo (80) passed away after being admitted to hosp… |date=9 January 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *[http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/special/prison/mlambo.htm Mlambo speaks before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mlambo, Johnson Phillip}} Category:1940 births Category:2021 deaths Category:South African anti-apartheid activists Category:South African revolutionaries Category:Pan Africanist Congress of Azania politicians Category:Inmates of Robben Island Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa Category:20th-century South African politicians