16 Facts About Aubrey Mokoena

Aubrey Dundubela Mokoena was a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist.

Aubrey Mokoena represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2014, excepting a brief hiatus in 2009.

Aubrey Mokoena served the Gauteng constituency and chaired the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs from 1999 to 2002.

Aubrey Mokoena was a defendant in the Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial of 1985.

Aubrey Mokoena was born on 12 April 1948 in Orlando West, a township outside Johannesburg that soon became part of Soweto.

Aubrey Mokoena's parents were from the Orange Free State but had moved to the Johannesburg area to find work, and they were homeless for a period until they found accommodation in a new settlement founded by James Mpanza.

Aubrey Mokoena was vice president of Turfloop's student representative council, deputising Onkgopotse Tiro.

Aubrey Mokoena was expelled from Turfloop as a result of the protests but enrolled at the University of South Africa to continue his degree.

Aubrey Mokoena became head of the Transvaal section of the Black Community Programmes, the community outreach arm of the Black People's Convention.

In September 1974, the apartheid government inaugurated a crackdown on Black Consciousness organisations in the aftermath of pro-FRELIMO rallies organised by SASO to celebrate Mozambican independence; Aubrey Mokoena was detained in the immediate aftermath of the rallies and held for nine months without charge.

In between and after his periods in detention, Aubrey Mokoena was a leading member of the UDF's Release Mandela campaign, advocating nationally and internationally for the release of Nelson Mandela, and, in 1988, he was a leading member of the Mandela 70 Committee, elected to organise a "concert for peace" in Johannesburg to celebrate Mandela's seventieth birthday.

Aubrey Mokoena formally joined the ANC after it was unbanned in 1990 during the negotiations to end apartheid.

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Aubrey Mokoena was elected to represent the ANC in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament.

Aubrey Mokoena was re-elected in 1999 and 2004 and served the Gauteng constituency.

Aubrey Mokoena was briefly absent from the National Assembly after the 2009 general election, in which he failed to secure re-election.

Aubrey Mokoena left the National Assembly permanently after the 2014 general election.