25 Facts About Wilton Mkwayi

Wilton Zimasile Mkwayi OMSG was an African National Congress veteran and one of the first six members of Umkonto weSizwe to be sent for military training.

Wilton Mkwayi had a rural childhood herding sheep and goats, and passing through circumcision school.

Wilton Mkwayi became a member of the ANC at age 17, after his father, a member of the ANC, gave him a membership card.

Wilton Mkwayi left school in 1943, while World War 2 was ongoing, to work at a dynamite factory in Somerset West.

Wilton Mkwayi left Somerset West for Port Elizabeth in 1945 to work offloading large trucks and trains; he worked at the docks.

Wilton Mkwayi was a leader of the 1952 Defiance Campaign in the Eastern Cape.

Wilton Mkwayi was union organiser for the Southern African Textile Workers Union in Port Elizabeth in the early 1950s.

Wilton Mkwayi worked as treasurer of the South African Congress of Trade Unions.

Wilton Mkwayi was arrested after the Defiance Campaign for a metal workers' strike and escaped with a fine.

Wilton Mkwayi was one of the 156 co-accused in the 1956 Treason Trial for supporting the Freedom Charter calling for a non-racial democracy and a Socialist-based economy.

Wilton Mkwayi went into hiding during the trial and the 1960 State of Emergency while the other defendants were detained, later arrested and tried during the Rivonia Trial.

Wilton Mkwayi was able to escape because a policeman mistook him for an ordinary member of the public.

Wilton Mkwayi started his exile in Lesotho with Moses Mabhida, Ambrose Makiwane and Joe Matthews.

Alongside Raymond Mhlaba, Patrick Mthembu and Joe Gqabi, Wilton Mkwayi was sent for military training at the Nanking Military School in China.

Wilton Mkwayi returned to Britain after his training where he met Oliver Tambo.

Wilton Mkwayi returned clandestinely to South Africa in 1962 to work underground and lead sabotage operations such as Operation Mayibuye.

Wilton Mkwayi's most documented disguise was a clerical collar that allowed him to pass for a township preacher.

Wilton Mkwayi was arrested at his girlfriend's house in Orlando West in 1964, after he was informed upon by a mole within the ANC.

Wilton Mkwayi was detained in solitary confinement and subjected to torture while awaiting trial.

Wilton Mkwayi was charged with Sabotage and Suppression of Communism Acts, with furthering the aims of communism and conspiring to bring about a violent revolution, allegedly as a member of the new High Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe.

Wilton Mkwayi was sentenced in December 1964 in the little Rivonia Trial and sent to Robben Island, where he met Nelson Mandela and Govan Mbeki.

Wilton Mkwayi was released from Robben Island on 15 October 1989.

Wilton Mkwayi was elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC in July 1991 and he continued to serve until 1997, when he stepped down due to his ill health.

Wilton Mkwayi's funeral was held in King William's Town and attended by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Wilton Mkwayi married a second time and his wife Patricia Lang-Mkwayi survived him.