THE LOST PRINCE OF THE ANC, the life and times of Jabulani Nobleman 'Mzala' Nxumalo, 1955 - 1991
374pp., paperback, Johannesburg, 2022
Jabulani Nobleman 'Mzala' Nxumalo was born in 1955 in Dundee, Natal. As a university student he was active in the South African Student Organisation, In 1976 he went into exile to join Umkhonto we Sizwe. In 1979, he was deployed to Lusaka, where he acted as co-coordinator of commissariat structures. In 1980, he was sent for ideological and political training in the German Democratic Republic, and in 1983 he was deployed in Swaziland, disguised as a reporter and working for the Swaziland Observer. In 1984, he was arrested by the Swazi police and deported to Tanzania, where he worked for Radio Freedom and the Amandla Cultural Group. In 1987, he moved to London where he worked for the international Committee of the South African Communist Party. He wrote for African Communist, Sechaba and Dawn and authored the book Gatsha Buthelezi: Chief with a double agenda. He died in London in February 1991 at the age of 35. In 2010 he was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli in Silver for his contribution to the struggle for liberation in South Africa.
"This is a radical, free-flowing, thought-provoking, poignant and wry tribute to a revolutionary prince of the people, inducing laughter and tears – a manifest celebration of an extraordinary life." Ronnie Kasrils, struggle veteran and author of Armed and Dangerous and The Unlikely Secret Agent
Mandla Radebe is an Associate Professor for Strategic Communication and Director of the Centre for Data and Digital Communications at the University of Johannesburg.