The Presidential Years

Anti-apartheid activist and politician. Worked for the ANC in London from 1975. Head of the ANC research division, 1979–88, based at the Centre for African Studies at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique, where, in 1982, he was badly injured when a parcel bomb sent by the apartheid regime exploded in the office, leaving him deaf in one ear and killing his colleague, anti-apartheid activist Ruth First. Minister of posts, telecommunications and broadcasting in Mandela’s government, 1994–96. Minister of environmental affairs and tourism, 1996–99. Minister of arts and culture under President Mbeki, 2004–09.