George Mashamba

Mashamba was born in 1944.{{Cite web |date=23 September 2019 |title=ANC leader books his place in graveyard |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-09-23-anc-leader-books-his-place-in-graveyard/ |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=Sowetan |language=en-ZA}} He was recruited into the African National Congress (ANC) in 1974, at which time the organisation was banned by the apartheid government and operated underground.{{Cite web |last=Mashile-Nkosi |first=Daphne |date=27 September 2019 |title=Humble struggle icon remembered at first anniversary of death |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-09-27-humble-struggle-icon-remembered-at-first-anniversary-of-death/ |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=Sowetan |language=en-ZA}} He and his wife were recruited during a meeting in Swaziland with the leaders of the ANC's Swaziland unit, including Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki, who persuaded the Mashambas to set up an underground ANC cell at the University of the North, where Mashamba was a philosophy lecturer{{Cite news |date=17 February 1977 |title=Lecturer's wife denies ANC link |page=72 |work=The Star |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1VEAQAAIAAJ&dq=joyce+mashamba&pg=RA6-PA72 |access-date=4 December 2022}} and Master's student.{{Cite journal |last=Manzini |first=Nompumelelo Zinhle |date=2020 |title=Memoirs of a Black (Male) South African Philosopher |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/MANMOA-5 |journal=Journal of World Philosophies |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=270–273}}

In 1976 the Mashambas were arrested, along with S'bu Ndebele (then an ANC operative in Swaziland) and Percy Tshabalala, and were charged with "furthering the aims and objectives" of the ANC. Mashamba and the others pled not guilty in the Rand Supreme Court. During the trial, which lasted from October 1976 to February 1977, several state's witnesses testified that the Mashambas had attempted to recruit them into the ANC for political education and military training and had attempted to distribute ANC propaganda publications.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGE-XB5QlD8C&q=joyce+mashamba |title=The Road to Democracy in South Africa |date=2004 |publisher=Unisa Press |isbn=978-1-86888-406-3 |pages=429 |language=en}}

In February 1977, Mashamba and Ndebele were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on Robben Island, although they were transferred to Johannesburg Prison after five years. Mashamba's wife also served five years in a women's prison, and their three young children, all under the age of six, were raised by family during that time. Mashamba was imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela and a large contingent of other ANC members, who maintained a party organisation inside the prison; Mashamba was apparently expelled from the party for a year during his prison sentence because he openly disagreed with the leadership on some issue.{{Cite journal |last=Yates |first=Teresa C. |date=1997 |title=Democracy Haunts the ANC |url=http://www.icwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/TCY-6.pdf |journal=ICWA Letters |publisher=Institute of Current World Affairs |issue=TCY-6 |access-date=29 November 2022}} He was released in 1987.

In South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Mashamba was elected to represent the ANC in the Senate, the upper house of the new Constitutional Assembly.{{Cite web |date=24 May 1994 |title=Minutes of proceedings of the Constitutional Assembly |url=https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/history/MINUTES/CA24054.PDF |access-date=2 April 2023 |publisher=Department of Justice and Constitutional Development}} He also served, from 1996 to 1998, as Provincial Chairperson of the ANC's branch in the newly constituted Limpopo Province.{{Cite web |date=1997-12-17 |title=50th National Conference: Report of the Secretary General |url=https://www.anc1912.org.za/50th-national-conference-report-of-the-secretary-general-provincial-reports/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128234926/https://www.anc1912.org.za/50th-national-conference-report-of-the-secretary-general-provincial-reports/ |archive-date=28 November 2022 |access-date=29 November 2022 |website=African National Congress }} His election to that office was highly controversial in the ANC. The ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) had apparently preferred that the incumbent, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, should be re-elected unopposed, leading to an implicit or explicit instruction that members should not contest the position.{{Cite web |date=1997-03-14 |title=Two faces of the north's Greek 'saint' |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1997-03-14-two-faces-of-the-norths-greek-saint/ |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} The frontrunners, Peter Mokaba and Joe Phaahla, therefore declined their nominations for the chairmanship,{{Cite journal |last=Hawker |first=Geoffrey |date=2000 |title=Political Leadership in the ANC: The South African Provinces 1994-1999 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/161512 |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |volume=38 |issue=4 |page=647 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X00003463 |doi-broken-date=20 March 2025 |issn=0022-278X |jstor=161512}} reportedly following a conversation with ANC President Nelson Mandela about the imperatives of party unity. However, at the last minute, Mashamba was nominated to stand against Ramatlhodi and accepted – "for the sake of party unity", he said.

He narrowly won the election, receiving 352 votes against Ramatlhodi's 350 – often viewed as "vote[s] against NEC interference in provincial affairs". During his term as Provincial Chairperson, he was deputised by Phaahla; Collins Chabane, who was rumoured to have encouraged him to stand against Ramatlhodi,{{Cite web |date=2015-03-20 |title=Chabane: A humble but wily politician |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-03-20-chabane-a-humble-but-wily-politician/ |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} served as Provincial Secretary. At the next provincial elective conference in 1998, Ramatlhodi was returned to the chairmanship.

In later years, and alongside his wife, Mashamba represented the ANC in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature.{{Cite web |date=6 July 2018 |title=George Mashamba to chair ANC's integrity commission |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/politics/2018-07-06-george-mashamba-to-chair-ancs-integrity-commission/ |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}} He was elected to his final term in the legislature in the 2009 general election,{{Cite web |date=30 April 2009 |title=Limpopo MPLs elected April 22 |url=https://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/limpopo-mpls-elected-april-22 |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=Politicsweb |language=en}} ranked seventh on the ANC's provincial party list (immediately behind his wife), and he chaired the legislature's committee on agriculture during the legislative term that followed.{{Cite web |title=Mr Mashamba Tintswalo Godwin George |url=http://www.pa.org.za/person/mr-mashamba-tintswalo-godwin-george/ |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=People's Assembly |language=en}} He did not seek re-election in the 2014 general election.

Though he retired from legislative politics in 2014, Mashamba remained a member of the Central Committee of the SACP until 2017.{{Cite web |title=Previous Central Committee Members |url=https://sacp.org.za/content/previous-central-committee-members |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=South African Communist Party}} The following year, in July 2018, the ANC announced that Mashamba would succeed Andrew Mlangeni as chairperson of the party's internal Integrity Commission, which was established to investigate and make disciplinary recommendations in respect of allegations of misconduct, especially corruption, by party members. Mashamba was deputised by former Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla; also serving on the nine-member committee during his tenure were Mlangeni, Sophie de Bruyn‚ Sindiso Mfenyana‚ Sue Rabkin‚ Smangaliso Mkhatshwa‚ Essop Jassat and Cyril Jantjies.{{Cite web |last=Mahlase |first=Mahlatse |date=6 July 2018 |title=ANC announces new members of its integrity commission |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/anc-announces-new-members-of-its-integrity-commission-20180706 |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Hunter |first=Qaanitah |date=3 September 2020 |title=These are the ANC elders who will hold corruption-accused leaders accountable |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/these-are-the-anc-elders-who-will-hold-corruption-accused-leaders-accountable-20200903 |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} Mashamba's leadership of the committee coincided with controversy within the party about the proper scope and powers of the committee,{{Cite web |last=Feketha |first=Siviwe |date=18 December 2022 |title=Push to give ANC integrity commission greater level of independence |url=https://www.news24.com/citypress/politics/push-to-give-anc-integrity-commission-greater-level-of-independence-20221217 |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=City Press |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2018-10-12 |title=New muscle for integrity committee |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2018-10-12-00-new-muscle-for-integrity-committee/ |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} especially in the aftermath of the Zondo Commission's findings about misconduct by ANC members. His five-year term ended after the ANC's 55th National Conference and in February 2023 the party announced that he would be succeeded as chairperson by Frank Chikane.{{Cite web |last=Masuabi |first=Queenin |date=2023-02-21 |title=Frank Chikane to chair ANC's disciplinary body as party shakes up its committees |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-02-21-frank-chikane-to-chair-ancs-integrity-committee/ |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}

He married Joyce Mashamba in September 1969. At the time of her death in June 2018, they had three sons, one daughter, and seven grandchildren.{{Cite web |date=22 June 2018 |title=SACP: Tribute to Joyce Mashamba, the woman of steel |url=https://www.polity.org.za/article/sacp-tribute-to-joyce-mashamba-the-woman-of-stee-2018-06-22#:~:text=Cde%20Joyce%20was%20born%20on%2025%20September%201950.&text=She%20attended%20school%20and%20completed,she%20obtained%20her%20matriculation%20certificate. |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=Polity |language=en}} In 2019, he installed his own tombstone next to hers in Mulamula, her home village in Malamulele, Limpopo.

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Category:1944 births

Category:African National Congress politicians

Category:Members of the Senate of South Africa

Category:Members of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature

Category:South African anti-apartheid activists

Category:Inmates of Robben Island

Category:South African philosophers

Category:Members of the South African Communist Party

Category:21st-century South African politicians

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