VIDEO OF MOBUTU SESE SEKO Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the President of Zaire (renamed from the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) and later to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1971) from 1965 to 1997. He also served as Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity from 1967 to 1968. During the Congo Crisis, Mobutu, serving as Chief of Staff of the Army and supported by Belgium and the United States, deposed the democratically elected government…
Author: Msomi Bora
VIDEOS OF SAMORA MACHEL Samora Moisés Machel (29 September 1933 – 19 October 1986) was a Mozambican military commander, politician and revolutionary. A socialist in the tradition of Marxism–Leninism, he served as the first President of Mozambique from the country’s independence in 1975. Machel died in office in 1986 when his presidential aircraft crashed near the Mozambique-South Africa border. It was believed by many that the South African government was somehow responsible for the crash, although it strongly denied a connection. Machel’s widow, Graça, who married South African President Nelson Mandela in 1998, gave evidence to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission that supported the involvement of the minority South African government. A memorial…
VIDEOS OF KWAME NKRUMAH Kwame Nkrumah was born on 21 September 1909 in Nkroful, Gold Coast (now in Ghana) to a poor and illiterate family. Nkroful was a small village in the Nzema area, in the far southwest of the Gold Coast, close to the frontier with the French colony of the Ivory Coast. His father did not live with the family, but worked in Half Assini where he pursued his goldsmith business until his death. Kwame Nkrumah was raised by his mother and his extended family, who lived together in traditional fashion, with more distant relatives often visiting. He…
VIDEOS OF PATRICE LUMUMBA Patrice Émery Lumumba alternatively styled Patrice Hemery Lumumba; (2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960. He played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic. Ideologically an African nationalist and Pan-Africanist, he led the Congolese National Movement (MNC) party from 1958 until his assassination. Shortly after Congolese independence in 1960, a mutiny broke out…
VIDEO OF TIPPU TIP Tippu Tip, or Tippu Tib (1832 – June 14, 1905), real name Hamad bin Muhammad bin Juma bin Rajab el Murjebi was an Arab–Zanzibari slave trader, ivory trader, explorer, plantation owner and governor. He worked for a succession of the sultans of Zanzibar. Tippu Tip traded in slaves for Zanzibar’s clove plantations. As part of the large and lucrative ivory trade, he led many trading expeditions into Central Africa, constructing profitable trading posts deep into the region. He bought the ivory from local suppliers and resold it for a profit at coastal ports. Throughout his lifetime Hamad bin Muhammad bin Juma bin Rajab el Murjebi was more commonly known…
VIDEOS OF THOMAS SANKARA Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (21 December 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a Burkinabé revolutionary and President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. A Marxist–Leninist and pan-Africanist, he was viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution and is sometimes referred to as “Africa’s Che Guevara” A group of revolutionaries seized power on behalf of Sankara (who was under house arrest at the time) in a popularly-supported coup in 1983. Aged 33, Sankara became the President of the Republic of Upper Volta. He immediately launched programmes for social, ecological and economic change…
VIDEOS OF ABEID KARUME Abeid Amani Karume (4 August 1905 – 7 April 1972) was the first President of Zanzibar. He obtained this title as a result of a revolution which led to the deposing of His Majesty Sir Jamshid bin Abdullah, the last reigning Sultan of Zanzibar, in January 1964. Three months later, the United Republic of Tanzania was founded, and Karume became the first Vice President of the United Republic with Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika as president of the new country. He was the father of Zanzibar’s former president, Amani Abeid Karume. On 10 December 1963, the United…
VIDEOS OF NELSON MANDELA Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997. In February 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalised with…
VIDEOS OF ROBERT MUGABE Robert Gabriel Mugabe (21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) from 1975 to 1980 and led its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), from 1980 to 2017. Ideologically an African nationalist, during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as a Marxist–Leninist, and as a socialist after the 1990s. His policies have been described as Mugabeism. On 6…
VIDEOS OF JULIUS NYERERE Julius Kambarage Nyerere (13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as Prime Minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as President from 1963 to 1964, after which he led its successor state, Tanzania, as President from 1964 to 1985. A founding member of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) party which in 1977 became the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party—he chaired it until 1990. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he promoted a political philosophy known as Ujamaa. Born in Butiama, then in the British colony of Tanganyika, Nyerere was the son of a Zanaki chief.…
