Mr Mbulelo Rakwena
NaLHISA Acting Chief
Executive Office
Mbulelo Rakwena is a seasoned diplomat who served as South Africa’s Ambassador in several countries, including Brazil. He has since joined the business world and heads up an auctioneering company called Ryncor Auctioneers (Pty) Ltd as a director. He is an astute negotiator, strategist, and facilitator. Ambassador Rakwena serves in several boards, such as ASAFA, Ryncor Auctioneers and multinationals such as Curimbaba and subsidiary Sublime Technologies which is a silica carbide entity in the energy space.
Ms. Baleka Mbete
NaLHISA Trustee (Chairperson)
Baleka Mbete was born in 1949 in Durban, South Africa. She qualified as a teacher at Lovedale Teacher Training College and taught at Isibonelo High. In 1976, she left the country and joined the ANC in Swaziland. She returned to South Africa in June 1990 and continued to contribute in various ways to the new South African Constitutional regime. She has dedicated most of her life to the liberation of South Africa, improvement of women’s rights, and she is also a fervent cultural worker.
She served as a member of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) which she left when she was appointed as a Speaker of Parliament for the 5th term.
During the transition in 2008 Mbete was appointed Deputy President of South Africa. She retired from active politics and immediately devoted her energy to the establishment of the National Liberation Heritage Institute of South Africa (NaLHISA).
In January 2016 she was awarded the Dr Martin Luther King Jnr Legacy award for Commitment, Leadership And Service and in 2018 she received the African Woman of Excellency Award.
Mr Joseph Nong Thloloe
NaLHISA Trustee
Joseph Nong Thloloe has been in the media industry since 1961 when he started at the World newspaper. This means he has been in the front-row, both as a chronicler of our history and as an active actor, in the tradition of African theatre. On March 21, 1960, Thloloe was a 17-year-old schoolboy when he took part in the PAC’s anti-pass campaign that led to the Sharpeville massacre. On Thloloe's release, on Christmas Eve 1960, his mind was set on journalism. He matriculated in the March 1961 and started working for the World in July that year.
Amongst other positions, he has held the positions of President of Media Workers Association of South Africa (MWASA), Acting Executive Director of the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF), Press Ombudsman and Executive Director of the Press Council in 2012.
Notable awards include, Ikhamanga in Silver awarded by President Jacob Zuma in 2012; honorary doctorates from University of Rhodes and the University of the Witwatersrand in literature in 2014; Indondo Award at the Inheritor’s Annual in 2015; three Lifetime Achiever awards; The Nieman Fellowship Class of 1982 at Harvard University honoured him with a Louis Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism
Other institutions that have honoured him include the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism, the Indicator newspaper, Print Media South Africa, the Association of Independent Publishers and the Voice Educational Centre.
Mr Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu
NaLHISA Trustee
A teacher by profession, Amb. Mahlangu lists among his educational qualifications a BA Degree, from University of Fairfax. His public and political life started in the late 1960s when he was elected President of the Student Christian Movement, in the then Eastern Transvaal. From 1973 to 1976 he was Assistant Secretary of the Transvaal United African Teachers Association. Because of his active participation in politics in the 1970s and 1980s, he is one of the leaders who played a critical role in the processes leading to the first democratic South Africa in the early
1990s. Between 1991 and 1994, he was a negotiator at the Congress for Democratic South Africa (CODESA) and the Multiparty Negotiation Forum. In 1993, he became the Co-Chairperson of these bodies. From 1993 to 1994 he was a member of the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) which governed South Africa before the first general elections of April 1994.
Ambassador Mahlangu is currently the South African Ambassador to kenya.
Ms. Mmagauta Alphina Molefe
NaLHISA Trustee
Mmagauta Molefe, the 1976 political activist who was detained at Fort Prison No 4 and at various other places including John Vorster Square. Mmagauta was also involved in Viva-Frelimo Rally. She is an activist who advocates for issues of human rights while trying to influence governments and communities. She was a founder member of the South African Students Movement (SASM) and a member of South African Student Organisation (SASO) and the Black People’s Convention (BPC). She has led in various capacities including as National coordinator of the Black Women Unite; Board Member of Entokozweni Early Learning Centre; Deputy Chair of South African Association for Adult Literacy and Education (SALAE); Treasurer of The African Women Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) and many more. Her motto is “Walk the Talk”.
