Lindiwe Zulu
Lindiwe Zulu is currently South Africa’s Minister of Social Development. In 1989, she was in Lusaka, Zambia where she held the position of head of communication in the ANC department of Religious Affairs.
In 1990 she moved to Uganda where she was the head of communication and administrator in the ANC office. In 1991, she returned to South Africa and became the head of communication in the ANC Women’s League.
She was elected to the ANC Department of Information and Publicity as the spokesperson for the first democratic elections.
She spent seven years in Moscow where she studied journalism at the Patrice Lumumba University in the 1980s on a scholarship obtained through the ANC.
On the photo, she is posing at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow on her graduation day. In a posting on Instagram, she recently remarked that she had borrowed the suit for the graduation ceremony.
Notably, in the 1980s there were also a number of young Malawians who studied at Patrice Lumumba Univesity in various fields on scholarships acquired through the Socialist League of Malawi (LESOMA) an opposition political party led by Dr. Attati Mpakati. Some of these young Malawians obtained their PhDs and Master degrees such as Prof. Khoti Kamanga, Dr. Paul Munyenyembe, Sute Mwakasungula etc.
During the process of drafting of the Malawi Constitution in 1993/94, Prof. Khoti Kamanga participated in one of the committees together with Dr. Cassim Chilumpha, Dr. Matembo Mzunda, Dr. Emile Maliwa, Friday Makuta, Modecai Msisha, Friday Makuta, Lovemore Munlo, George Kalowo, Zangaphe Chizeze among others.
Tojo Msowoya (left) and Ali Sikelo (right).
Another young Malawian who studied at Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow through a LESOMA scholarship from the late 1970s, was Ali Sikelo (late). He studied History. He later served as a legislator for Mangochi (Masauko Chipembere’s constituency) which he took over when the incumbent Dr. Meki Ntewa passed away in the early 2000s.
Tojo Msowoya was another young Malawian who also studied at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow through LESOMA scholarship. He did International Law. He later married Orton and Vera Chirwa’s daughter and now lives in Canada.
For some years, Tojo Msowoya served as a LESOMA representative in USSR based in Moscow and the main architect of recruitment of students into Soviet Union colleges and universities. He had personal friends in the USSR politi-bureau and worked closely with Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee that provided scholarships for students from Africa.
Other young Malawians who also enrolled at Patrice Lumumba University under LESOMA are: David Marama, Rose Chalira, Christine Mataka, Kwacha Chisiza, Bakwiza Mvula, Isyu Mwakasungula.
Together with other young Malawians studying in Europe and USSR in the late 1970s and 1980s on LESOMA negotiated scholarships, these subsequently constituted a pool of technocrats strategically mobilized by LESOMA in readiness for the post-one party state in Malawi.
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