Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Mkwayi, Wilton
Parallel form(s) of name
- Mkwayi, Wilton Zimasile
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Bri-Bri (alias)
- Mkwai, Wilton
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1923–2004
History
Trade unionist, political activist and political prisoner. Member of the ANC and the South Africa Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). Union organiser for African Textile Workers in Port Elizabeth. Volunteer in the 1952 Defiance Campaign, and later active in the campaign for the Congress of the People. Escaped during the 1956 Treason Trial and went to Lesotho. Joined Umkhonto weSizwe and had military training in the People’s Republic of China. Became MK’s commander-in-chief after the arrests at Liliesleaf Farm. Convicted and sentenced to life in what became known as the ‘Little Rivonia Trial’. He served his sentence on Robben Island. Released October 1989. Elected to the Senate in the National Parliament in 1994, then deployed to the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature, where he served until his retirement from public life in 1999. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1992. Clan name, Mbona; nickname, Bri Bri.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
ZA-COM-00301
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Draft