Joe Slovo
| Joe Slovo | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Housing of South Africa | |
|
In office April 1994 – January 1995 |
|
| President | Nelson Mandela |
| Preceded by | New post |
| National Executive Committee member of the African National Congress | |
| President | Nelson Mandela |
| General Secretary of the South African Communist Party | |
|
In office 1984–1991 |
|
| Succeeded by | Chris Hani |
| Commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe | |
| President | Oliver Tambo |
| Succeeded by | Chris Hani |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
23 May 1926 Obeliai, Lithuania |
| Died | 6 January 1995 (aged 68) |
| Political party |
African National Congress South African Communist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Ruth First |
Joe Slovo (23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995; born Yossel Mashel Slovo) was a South African politician, an opponent of the apartheid system. He was a long-time leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP), a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), and a commander of the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe.
A South African citizen of Jewish-Lithuanian family, Slovo was a delegate to the multiracial Congress of the People of June 1955 which drew up the Freedom Charter. He was imprisoned for six months in 1960, and emerged as a leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe the following year. He lived in exile from 1963 to 1990, conducting operations against the apartheid régime from the United Kingdom, Angola, Mozambique, and Zambia. In 1990 he returned to South Africa, and took part in the negotiations that ended apartheid. He became known for proposing the sunset clause for the 5 years following a democratic election, including guarantees and concessions to all sides, and a fierce non-racialism stance. After the elections of 1994, he became Minister for Housing in Nelson Mandela's government. He died of cancer in 1995.
Slovo was born in Obeliai, Lithuania to a Jewish family which emigrated to the Union of South Africa when he was eight. His father worked as a truck driver in Johannesburg. Although his family were religious, he became an atheist who retained respect for "the positive aspects of Jewish culture". Slovo left school in 1941 and found work as a dispatch clerk. He joined the National Union of Distributive Workers and, as a shop steward, was involved in organising a strike.
Slovo joined the South African Communist Party in 1942. Inspired by the Red Army's battles against the Nazis on the Eastern Front of World War II, Slovo volunteered to fight in the war, afterwards joining the Springbok Legion, a multiracial radical ex-servicemen's organization, upon his return.
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