Malcolm Dyani | |
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Member of the National Assembly | |
In office May 1994 – April 2004 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Malcolm Mbonisi Zamekile Dyani 14 February 1945 |
Citizenship | South Africa |
Political party | African National Congress (since 1999) |
Other political affiliations | Pan Africanist Congress (until 1999) |
Malcolm Mbonisi Zamekile Dyani (born 14 February 1945) is a retired South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist. He served in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2004, excepting a brief hiatus in 1999. A longstanding member of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), he defected to the African National Congress (ANC) in 1999.
Dyani was born on 14 February 1945 [1] and grew up in Duncan Village in the former Cape Province. [2] He was a student organiser for the PAC, which was banned by the apartheid government in 1960, and he was incarcerated on Robben Island from 1963 to 1978 for his activism. [3] After his release, in the 1980s, he was involved in a campaign to reassert the PAC's presence in the present-day Eastern Cape region, working with Benny Alexander and others on political education initiatives. [4]
In the 1994 general election, Dyani was elected to a PAC seat in the National Assembly. [5] He served in the seat until early April 1999, when, in the run-up to that year's general election, he resigned from the PAC to join the ANC. He accused the PAC of acting like the Democratic Party. [6] When the election was held in June 1999, he was elected to a second term in the National Assembly under the ANC's banner. [1]