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This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Dhlomo, Oscar Dumisani

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Dhlomo was born on 28 December 1943 near Durban, South Africa. He matriculated at Amanzimtoti College in 1962, and thereafter studied at the University College of Zululand in 1963, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History and Anthropology in 1965, and his University Education Diploma in 1967. He continued with his studies through the University of South Africa while he was working, obtaining his BA Hons in History on 1970.

Dr Dhlomo's background is mainly in the field of education. He became a high school head master and later accepted a lecturing post in Didactics at the University of Zululand. He completed an Masters of Education at the University of Zululand and five years later a Doctorate of Education at the University of South Africa.

He abandoned academia to take up a political career and joined the KwaZulu government as Minister of Education and Culture in 1978. Later that year, he was elected Secretary-General of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). Dr Dhlomo was also a member of the Central Committee and the Inner Council of Inkatha and chief negotiator for KwaZulu and Inkatha at the KwaZulu-Natal Indaba in 1986. Here representatives of 37 organisations met to negotiate proposals for a new provincial government. In 1988 Dhlomo was elected as chairman of the Indaba. On 1 June 1990 Dhlomo resigned as Inkatha Secretary-General, the KwaZulu cabinet and the KwaZulu legislative assembly. He subsequently resigned from Inkatha to form the Institute for Multi-Party Democracy, a political research organisation, serving as the executive chairman.

Dr Dhlomo has travelled extensively while at the same time has written numerous articles and papers on the South African political situation. Dr Dhlomo is a Director of Shell SA and director of numerous other companies including Anglovaal, the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), The Natal Witness Printing & Publishing Co., Standard Bank Investment Corporation and Hunt Leuchars & Hepburn.

Source: Gastrow, S. 1992. Who's who in South African Politics, Number 4. Ravan: Johannesburg.

Joyce, Peter. 1999. A Concise Dictionary of South African Biography. Francolin Publishers: Cape Town.

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