Johannes "Joe" Modise was a South African political figure.
40 Facts About Joe Modise
2.
Joe Modise helped to found uMkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress, and was its longest serving Commander in Chief, deputised at different points in time by Joe Slovo and Chris Hani.
3.
Joe Modise served as South Africa's first black Minister of Defence from 1994 to 1999 and led the formation of the post-independence defence force.
4.
Joe Modise organized resistance groups and trained many other guerrilla fighters.
5.
Joe Modise became Commander in Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe following the Rivonia Trial during which other MK high command members such as Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Dennis Goldberg, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni and Elias Motsoaledi's were sentenced to life imprisonment.
6.
Joe Modise was charged with integrating the many sections of guerrilla fighters into the new South African National Defence Force.
7.
An African of Tswana descent, Modise or Joe, as he is known to family, friends and comrades, was born in Doornfontein, Johannesburg, on 23 May 1929.
8.
Joe Modise was the only child of Miriam and Ezekiel Modise.
9.
Joe Modise completed his Junior Certificate at the Fred Clark Memorial School in Nance Field.
10.
Joe Modise had to leave school in order to work and contribute to his family's income.
11.
Joe Modise's parents impressed the importance of education on the young Modise and, consequently, he obtained his matric certificate through private study.
12.
Contrary to apartheid regime-led claims and conspiracy theories; Joe Modise was never a member of the Alexandra Township gang, the Spoilers.
13.
Joe Modise joined the ANCYL in about 1947 in Newclare and became one of the organisation's organisers.
14.
Joe Modise was very involved in the one-day work stoppage in 1955.
15.
Joe Modise was actively involved in the political campaigns against the introduction of Bantu Education in 1953.
16.
Joe Modise was one of the 156 people whom the South African state identified as leading figures in the Freedom Charter movement.
17.
Joe Modise was amongst the 73 trialists against whom charges were dropped.
18.
Joe Modise was part of the group that included his long-time friend Nelson Mandela, Wilton Mkwayi, Ronnie Kasrils, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Denis Goldberg, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi and others who founded Umkhonto we Sizwe.
19.
Joe Modise was charged with the additional responsibility of the procurement of arms.
20.
Joe Modise's training took him to the former Soviet Union, the former Czechoslovakia, Cuba and Vietnam.
21.
Training in the Soviet Union, especially for MK's staff officers continued in the USSR and Tambo and Joe Modise led another delegation to the USSR in August 1965 with the aim of expanding these programmes.
22.
Joe Modise was appointed Commander in Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1965.
23.
Joe Modise received a massive vote of confidence and retained his post and title as Head of MK, although OR Tambo as ANC president then took on the title of Commander in Chief.
24.
The military headquarters was dissolved, and Joe Modise was elevated to membership of the newly constituted Revolutionary Council.
25.
Joe Modise said that the 'Strategy and Tactics' document that emerged from the conference became 'the lodestar of the movement' and that, with the establishment of the Revolutionary Council there was a shift in emphasis away from international solidarity and towards 'building [the] ANC inside South Africa'.
26.
Between 1976 and 1978, MK under Joe Modise dramatically increased in operations inside South Africa, including sabotage of railway lines, attacks on police stations and so on.
27.
The newly created military headquarters was commanded by Joe Modise, deputised by Chris Hani, who was MK political commissar.
28.
Joe Modise continued to expand MK's capabilities by training younger promising guerrillas as executive officers and in 1985, after the ANC's Kabwe conference, General Siphiwe Nyanda went to Moscow with a group including Charles Nqakula and Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula to study military combat work.
29.
Apart from this task Joe Modise served on the defence sub-council of the Transitional Executive Council from December 1993 to April 1994.
30.
At the Sereti Commission of inquiry, Gavin Woods made accusations that Joe Modise had benefited from the South African Arms deal.
31.
Joe Modise's family has consistently supported all investigations into the arms deal and have challenged anyone to come forward with evidence of any money or any benefits that flowed to Joe Modise or any of his family members.
32.
In 2001, Joe Modise died of cancer in Pretoria at the age of 72.
33.
Joe Modise was buried at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa.
34.
Joe Modise is survived by his two wives Eva Modise and Jackie Sedibe, a former MK chief of communications and first SANDF female general who led the transformation agenda of the post-apartheid defence force; and his five daughters.
35.
Joe Modise was one of MK's first female recruits the only living recipient of the Order of Mendi for Bravery which South African President Jacob Zuma presented to other members of MK's Luthuli detachment on 29 April 2016.
36.
Joe Modise was one of those who gave virtually all of his life to the struggle and to the African National Congress.
37.
Joe Modise went into exile where he played a key role in the leadership of the movement.
38.
Joe Modise rose to the highest rank in our liberation army, Umkonto we Sizwe.
39.
Joe Modise returned from exile to take part in the early negotiations with the apartheid regime and became the first Minister of Defence of democratic South Africa.
40.
Joe Modise presided over one of the most important facets of transformation in our country, the integration of the various statutory and non-statutory armed forces into one single South African National Defence Force.