APA-Pretoria (South Africa) South Africa’s former spy chief and ambassador to Algeria, Billy Masetlha, died on Sunday after a long illness, International Relations and Co-operation Minister Naledi Pandor has announced in Pretoria.
Pandor said South Africa had lost an experienced and dependable representative and “a firm believer in the ideals and goals of Pan-Africanism.”
Born in 1955 in Johannesburg, Masetlha was a member of the Soweto Students Representative Council in 1976 – before joining the African National Congress’ armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe and going into exile in Botswana and Zambia in the same year.
He was also instrumental in the formation of the Johannesburg Democratic Action Committee, and worked with the youth and student organisations in the fight against the apartheid regime before the exile years.
Back home from exile, Masetlha headed the South African National Intelligence Agency under former president Thabo Mbeki until 2006.
NM/jn/APA