Curtis Nkondo was a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n diplomat, school teacher and politician with the African National Congress

African National Congress

The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...

. Born in Louis Trichardt, Nkondo was a life-long activist with the ANC. He was a high school teacher at Lamula High School in Meadowlands, Gauteng

Meadowlands, Gauteng

Meadowlands is a suburb of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa....

 and eventually became the chairman of the Soweto Teachers Action Committee before being suspended for educating against apartheid. In 1983, he became the Vice President of the United Democratic Front

United Democratic Front (South Africa)

The United Democratic Front was one of the most important anti-apartheid organisations of the 1980s. The non-racial coalition of about 400 civic, church, students', workers' and other organisations was formed in 1983, initially to fight the just-introduced idea of the Tricameral Parliament The...

 coalition and in 1985, chairman of the Release Mandela campaign which advocated for ANC leader Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

's release from prison. Following independence, Nkondo became South Africa's High Commissioner in neighboring Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

. He died on December 3, 2009.