Dan Mokonyane

Dan Mokonyane is a South African political revolutionary, a writer and law lecturer. Currently residing in London, he is best known for his leadership during the 1957 Alexandra bus boycott, one of the most successful single issues campaigns undertaken during Apartheid.

Political activism and professional life

Dan was born in 1930 in Mothlabaneng near Mahwelereng in Limpopo province, formerly Potgietersrust. After being expelled from Khaiso Secondary School, Mokonyane moved to Johannesburg in order to attend high school in Western Native Township, later attending the University of Witwatersrand.

During his time at school, Mokonyane joined the Society of Young Africans (SOYA), a group aligned to the Non-European Unity Movement. He later left SOYA to join the Movement for a Democracy of Content.

When the 1957 Alexandra bus boycott was announced, in protest against the local bus company’s attempt to rise their fares, Mokonyane joined the boycott committee as Publicity Secretary and then later as the Secretary of the Organizing Committee.

In 1960, after the Sharpeville Massacre, and served with a Banishment Order from Alexandra Township with Josias Madzunya, Dan Mokonyane fled South Africa to the United Kingdom. He continued with further studies in law at the University of London, the University of Kent, the University of Wales and Nujie Universiteit, Amsterdam. Dan earned acclaim as an author and academic, lately holding the position of Senior Lecturer in Law at Middlesex University in North London and specializing in Jurisprudence.

Inaccurate reports of Mokonyane’s death

In November 2007, The Sowetan published an article commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Azikwelwa boycott, which erroneously claimed that Mokonyane was dead. After an appeal to the Press Ombudsman of South Africa, the paper has since acknowledged its mistake.