Sipo Mzimela
Sipo Mzimela | |
|---|---|
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office June 1999 – June 2001 | |
| In office 9 May 1994 – 24 February 1999 | |
| Minister of Correctional Services | |
| In office May 1994 – April 1998 | |
| President | Nelson Mandela |
| Preceded by | Adriaan Vlok (as Minister of Prisons) |
| Succeeded by | Ben Skosana |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sipho Elijah Mzimela 19 June 1935 Durban, Natal Union of South Africa |
| Died | 2 February 2013 (aged 77) Atlanta, Georgia United States of America |
| Political party |
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| Spouse(s) | Esther Mzimela (divorced) Gail DeCosta (m. 1989) |
| Alma mater | General Theological Seminary (MDiv) New York University (PhD) |
Sipho Elijah Mzimela (19 June 1935 – 2 February 2013) was a South African politician, anti-apartheid activist, and Christian minister. He was the first post-apartheid Minister of Correctional Services from 1994 to 1998. Originally a member of the African National Congress (ANC), he joined the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1990 and then the United Democratic Movement (UDM) in 1999.
Mzimela went into exile with the ANC after the Sharpeville uprising and spent three decades in exile, primarily in the United States. Upon his return to South Africa in 1990, his strident anti-communism led him to join the rival IFP, which he represented in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999. He also represented the IFP as a minister in Nelson Mandela's Government of National Unity and was the party's deputy chairperson from 1995 to 1998.
Following a fallout with the IFP leadership under Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Mzimela lost each of his positions: he resigned from his party office in April 1998, was fired from the cabinet shortly afterwards, and was expelled from the party entirely in February 1999. He returned to the National Assembly in June 1999 as a member of the UDM, but the UDM, in turn, expelled him in June 2001. Thereafter Mzimela retired to Atlanta, Georgia, where he died in 2013.