Zweledinga Pallo Jordan

Zweledinga Pallo Jordan was born in 1942 in B Location, Kroonstad, in the Orange Free State. He joined the ANC in 1960 and left South Africa in 1962 to study in the US at the University of Wisconsin. Jordan holds a number of degrees, including a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics. In 1975 he worked full-time in the ANC’s London office as part of the research unit of its Department of Information and Publicity.

In 1977 he moved to Luanda, Angola, to head up Radio Freedom, and also became involved in MK’s training programmes for new recruits. In 1979, on Oliver Tambo’s recommendation, Jordan was appointed Director of the ANC’s first internal mass propaganda campaign, The Year of the Spear, which marked the centenary of the Battle of Isandlwana of 1879. In 1980 he became head of the ANC’s research unit of the Department of Information and Publicity, based in Lusaka, Zambia. At the ANC’s Kabwe Conference of 1985 Jordan was elected to the NEC and served as Administrative Secretary of the NEC Secretariat from 1985–88. From 1985–89 he served on the NEC’s Strategy and Tactics Committee as convener. In 1989 he became the ANC’s Director of Information and Publicity. Jordan returned to South Africa in June 1990 after the unbanning of the ANC and other political organisations. He was the ANC’s main media spokesperson before and during the 1994 elections.

In April 1994, Jordan was sworn in as a member of parliament and the Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting. In May 1996, he was appointed the Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism, a position he held until June 1999. Jordan also served as the Minister of Arts and Culture from 2004 until 2009. He is the editor of Oliver Tambo Remembered (first published in 2007).