Alfred Nzo’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Intro Politician from South Africa
A.K.A. Alfred Baphethuxolo Nzo
Was Politician
From South Africa
Type Politics
Gender male
Birth

19 June 1925, Benoni, South Africa

Death

13 January 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa
(aged 74 years)

Star sign Gemini
Politics African National Congress
Education
University of Fort Hare

Alfred Baphethuxolo Nzo (19 June 1925 – 13 January 2000) was a South African politician. He served as the longest-standing secretary-general of the African National Congress. He occupied this position (ANC) between 1969 and 1991. He was also the South African minister of foreign affairs from 1994 to 1999. He was also the first black health inspector in the country. The Alfred Nzo Award is now awarded to deserving health practitioners in South Africa.

Political career

He was sent off to the Eastern Cape to receive missionary education. After completing his matric, he enrolled for BSc degree at Fort Hare University in 1945. At Fort Hare he joined the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League and became actively involved in students politics. In his second year of study he left university and started work as health inspector at KwaDukathole in Germiston and was later transferred to the Alexandra health and community centre in 1951.

As health inspector, Nzo developed much understanding of the lives of millions of South Africans in the 1950s. He got actively involved in the organising of the Defiance Campaign in 1952. He was also involved in the campaign to interview people about the kind of society in which they would like to live. It was this campaign that culminated in the Congress of the People in 1955, at which the Freedom Charter was adopted.

In 1956 Nzo was elected the chairperson of ANC branch in Alexandra. In 1957 he organised the Alexandra bus boycotts in which people walked nine miles from the township to the city (Johannesburg) and back every day for three months to protest the increase in fares. His involvement in political activities cost him his job. His expulsion from work meant that he also lost his residential permit to live in Alexandra. He was subsequently arrested several times and finally sentenced to five months’ imprisonment for not having a residence permit. He served his sentence at Modderbee Prison, where his father once worked.

In 1958, Nzo was elected to the regional and national executive committees of the ANC. In 1962, he was placed under 24-hour house arrest and in June 1963 detained for a period of 238 days. The following year, Nzo went into exile and took up posts in various countries including Egypt, India, Zambia and Tanzania.

In 1969, Nzo was elected ANC Secretary-General at the Morogoro Conference in Tanzania, and re-elected to this position at the Kwabe Conference in 1985.

On 30 December 1979 he and Oliver Tambo met Tim Jenkin, Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris, ANC members and escapees from incarceration at Pretoria Central Prison as political prisoners. Their presence was officially announced by the ANC in early January and Tambo introduced them at a press conference on 2 January 1980.

After the unbanning of the liberation movements in 1989, Nzo formed part of the ANC delegation that entered into deliberations with the National Party government. Nzo lost the position of Secretary-General to Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC July 1991 National Conference held in South Africa for the first time after the unbanning of the liberation movements. He was then elected deputy head of the ANC’s security department.
After the first democratic elections in 1994, Nzo was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Nelson Mandela.

After the 1999 national elections, Nzo retired from politics and in December of the same year he died of a stroke. He was buried at the Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg.

You May Also Like

Alan Schaaf’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth & life story

Alan Schaaf is the founder of the online image hosting service, Imgur, and he has an estimated net worth of $10 million. In 2009, while he was a junior at Ohio State University, he developed the popular image-hosting site Imgur.com. The image hosting and entertainment website has quickly gained popularity among social news sites such as Reddit and Digg because of its ease of use and lack of advertisements. It has grown to as much as 150 million users per month. As of April 2013, it is ranked the 90th by Alexa. The highest ranking is 73rd.
Read More

John Mellencamp’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

John Mellencamp net worth: John Mellencamp is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has a net worth of $30 million dollars. He has also used the name John Cougar Mellencamp. He rose to fame in the 1980s for his talent in the genre of “heartland rock.” Early Life: Mellencamp was born in Seymour, Indiana on October 7, 1951. He was born with spina bifida and had corrective surgery as an infant. He formed his first band at the age of 14 called Crepe Soul. He attended Vincennes University and played in various local bands. He stated in a Rolling Stone interview that he abused drugs and alcohol during this time. He sobered up and graduated college and traveled to New York City in an attempt to land a record contract. Early Career: In between 1974 and 1975, Mellencamp traveled between Indiana and New York City performing wherever he could, searching for someone receptive to his sound. He caught the attention of Tony DeFries of MainMan Management. His first album “Chestnut Street Incident” was released under the name Johnny Cougar, at his manager’s insistence. The album was a collection of covers and a few original songs. The album was a commercial failure and only sold 12,000 copies. He recorded “The Kid Inside” in 1977 but DeFries decided against releasing the album and Mellencamp was dropped from the label (DeFries would eventually go on to release the album in 1983, only after Mellencamp had achieved global stardom.) Mellencamp drew the attention of Rod Stewart’s manager Billy Gaff and was signed to Riva Records label. At Gaff’s request, Mellencamp relocated to London for nearly a year to record, promote and tour behind 1978’s “A Biography.” Although the record was not released in the U.S., it yielded a top five hit in Australia with “I Need a Lover.” In 1980, Mellencamp released two top 40 singles–”This Time” and “Ain’t Even Done with the Night.” Breakthrough: 1982 saw the release of Mellencamp’s breakthrough album, “American Fool.” This album contained his classics “Hurts So Good” and “Jack & Diane,” which was a No. 1 hit for four solid weeks. “Hurts So Good” went on to win a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. With these commercial successes under his belt, he had enough clout to add his real surname, Mellencamp, to his stage moniker. Thus, John Cougar Mellencamp released “Uh-Huh” in 1983, a Top-10 album that spawned the top 10 singles “Pink Houses” and “Crumblin’ Down,” as well as “Authority Song.” On the tour for the album, Mellencamp opened his shows with cover versions of songs he admired growing up. In 1985, he released “Scarecrow” which peaked at No. 2 and spawned five top 40 Singles, including “Small Town”, which became one of his most iconic anthems (he has performed it at many political events over the years.) “Scarecrow” was the first album he recorded at his own recording studio in Belmont, Indiana. His next album came in 1987, “The Lonesome Jubilee.” In 1989, he released the album “Big Daddy”–it was the last album to feature the “Cougar” nickname, after which he dropped the Cougar and just performed as John Mellencamp. Mellencamp started 1991 with the release of “Wherever We Wanted.” The album yielded five Top 40 hits and garnered significant radio airplay. In 1993, he released “Human Wheels”, and the title track peaked at No. 48. In 1994, Mellencamp’s album “Dance Naked” included a cover of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night.” It became his biggest hit in several years and exposed him to a new generation of fans. The track peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100. In 1997, Mellencamp signed a four-album deal with Columbia Records, but only wound up making three for the label.  Mellencamp has gone on to sell more than 40 million albums worldwide. He has also had 22 Top 40 hits in the U.S. He has won a Grammy Award and been nominated for 12 others. He holds the record for most songs by a solo artist to make it to #1 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Track chart. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. In June 2018, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In February 2020, Mellencamp’s official social media accounts confirmed he is recording a new album at his Belmont Mall recording studio. Other Ventures: John helped form Farm Aid which raises awareness and helps raise money for family farms. Starting in 1985 Farm Aid has held an annual concert and has raised more than $45 million. He has appeared in the films “Falling from Grace”, “Madison”, “After Image”, and “Lone Star State of Mind.” He turned down the role that Brad Pitt played in “Thelma and Louise.” Mellencamp is also an avid and very talented painter and has released books of his paintings. His paintings and drawings have been in numerous exhibitions around the country. Personal Life: Mellencamp has been married three times and has five children. When he was just 18, he married his pregnant girlfriend Priscilla Esterline. He became a father six months after graduating high school. His daughter Michelle also became a mother at age 18, making Mellencamp a grandfather at 37. He and Priscilla divorced in 1981. Mellencamp was married to Victoria Granucci from 1981-1989. He married model Elaine Irwin in September 1992 and the couple divorced in 2011. He has also previously been in a relationship with actress Meg Ryan. The two broke up in the ’90s but reunited and became engaged in November 2018. They confirmed in November 2019 that they had broken off their engagement and split once again. He was also linked briefly to former supermodel Christie Brinkley in the fall of 2015. In April 2020, it was reported that Mellencamp was dating skincare expert Jamie Sherrill. On of John’s daughters, Teddi Jo Mellencamp, is a reality television star who has appeared on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”. Mellencamp lives five miles outside of Bloomington, Indiana, on the shores of Lake Monroe. He owns a vacation home on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. Mellencamp purchased an 1,800 square foot loft in the SoHo district in New York City that he uses as an art studio.
Read More