born Oct. 27, 1917, Bizana, near Johannesburg, S.Af.
President (196991) of South Africa's African National Congress (ANC).
In 1944, with Nelson Mandela and others, he cofounded the Youth League of the ANC. He became the ANC's deputy president in 1958 and was forced into exile in Zambia when it was banned in 1960. He was elected ANC president in 1969 after the death of Albert Lutuli . He returned to South Africa in ill health in 1990 and yielded the party presidency to Mandela.