page_title: Govan Mbeki
section_title: Awards and honours
hierarchical_section_title: Govan Mbeki / Awards and honours
caption_attribution_description: English: Honorary doctorate (social sciences) from University of Amsterdam to Govan Mbeki (1978). As Govan Mbeki was in prison, the doctorate was handed to his son Moeletsi Mbeki.Nederlands: Eredoctoraat sociale wetenschappen voor in Zuid Afrika gevangen zittende vrijheidsstrijder Govan Mbeki (Univ. Amsterdam) 9 januari 1978
context_page_description: Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki was a South African politician and son of Chief Sikelewu Mbeki and Johanna Mahala and also the father of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki and political economist Moeletsi Mbeki. He was a leader of the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress. After the Rivonia Trial, he was imprisoned on charges of terrorism and treason, together with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada and other eminent ANC leaders, for their role in the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was sometimes mentioned by his nickname "Oom Gov".
context_section_description: Mbeki received an honorary doctorate in the Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam in 1978. His son Moeletsi attended the ceremony, as Mbeki was imprisoned at Robben Island. 
  On 26 June 1980, the Secretary General of the then-illegal African National Congress, Alfred Nzo, announced the conferring of the Isitwalandwe Medal, the ANC's highest honour, on Mbeki. Mbeki was, however, not present to receive the award, because he was serving a life imprisonment sentence on Robben Island.
  Mbeki received international recognition for his political achievements including the renaming (at Mandela's suggestion) of the recently opened health building at Glasgow Caledonian University. The Govan Mbeki Health Building was inaugurated in 2001 at a ceremony featuring his son Thabo.
  The Govan Mbeki Local Municipality in Mpumulanga is named in his honour.
  In 2004 he was voted 97th in the SABC 3's Great South Africans.
caption: Honorary doctorate, Amsterdam 1978
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