death_place death_date children birth_place birth_date spouse article_title birth_name occupation
south africa 30 august 2001 thabo mbeki moeletsi mbeki mpukane location , nqamakwe district , south africa 9 july 1910 epainette mbeki govan mbeki
 govan archibald mvuyelwa mbeki anti-apartheid activist
govan mbeki

govan archibald mvuyelwa mbeki -lrb- 9 july 1910 -- 30 august 2001 -rrb- was a south african politician , and father of the former south african president thabo mbeki and political economist moeletsi mbeki .
he attended fort hare university , completing in 1936 a bachelor of arts degree in politics and psychology and a teaching diploma , and met other african struggle leaders there .
in 1954 , he joined the editorial board of `` new age '' , a prominent leftist newspaper .
mbeki played an immensely important role in ensuring that the pages and columns reflected the conditions of the black peoples , their demands and aspirations .
in november 1962 , the then minister of justice , john vorster , banned new age .
when the editorial board came out with its successor , vorster went one step further by banning not the newspaper but its editors and writers .
he was a leader of the african national congress -lrb- anc -rrb- and of the south african communist party .
after the rivonia trial , he was imprisoned -lrb- 1964 -- 1987 -rrb- for terrorism and treason -lrb- 1964 -- 1987 -rrb- , together with nelson mandela , walter sisulu , raymond mhlaba , ahmed kathrada and other eminent anc leaders .
on 26 june 1980 the secretary general of the african national congress , alfred nzo , announced the conferring of the isitwalandwe medal , the anc 's highest honour , on govan mbeki .
mbeki was not present to receive the award , because he was serving a life imprisonment sentence on robben island .
govan mbeki was released from custody after serving 24 years in the robben island prison on 5 november 1987 .
he served in south africa 's post-apartheid senate from 1994 to 1997 as deputy president of the senate , and its successor , the national council of provinces from 1997 to 1999 .
mbeki 's remains were the subject of controversy in 2006 when plans were made to exhume them , and place them in a museum .
these plans were called off after mbeki 's family refused the request .
-lsb- http://www.news24.com/news24/south_africa/news/0,2-7-1442_1868179,00.html] mbeki received international recognition for his political achievements including the renaming -lrb- at mandela 's suggestion -rrb- 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 .
mbeki received a doctorate of honor in the social sciences of university of amsterdam .
his son thabo attended the ceremony , as mbeki was imprisoned at robben island .
