Wilton Mkwayi

Date: 24 December, 1923

Wilton Z. Mkwayi, trade unionist, treason trialist and acting leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was born in Middledrift in the Transkei. He was the eldest child in a family of thirteen. He was arrested and served life imprisonment on Robben Island for his involvement in MK. Mkwayi had to fight Robben Island prison authorities for twenty years for the right to marry the love of his life, Irene Khumalo. In 1985 the two were given permission to wed but she died of cancer six months later.

References:

http://www.andibradley.com/whatya/dec24.htm. [This link is no longer working]