Reginald September was born in Wynberg in Cape Town on the 13th June 1923, the son of Florence, a housewife, and Nicholas September, a carpenter. He attended Cape Town's Trafalgar High School where his opposition to white racism was formed by his teachers who encouraged political debate on the inequalities suffered by black people.

His political involvement began when he came under the influence of Moses Kotane and James La Guma the two leading communist party leaders in the Western Cape. His first political association was at the tender age of 15 in 1938. He joined the National Liberation League led by Cissie Gool and James La Guma and he eventually became a member of its executive committee.

After completing his matric September worked a number of odd jobs but, because of his political involvement he eventually became a full-time trade unionist. He organized textile and distributive workers in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town in the 1940s. When the Government threatened to take the vote away from Coloured people he helped to organize the Franchise Action Council and served as its secretary.

Reginald September 4th from the right

Reginald September went abroad in the early 1950’s and on his return in 1953 he became one of the principal founders of South African Coloured Peoples Organisation, which became part of the Congress Alliance. He served as the SACPO’s general secretary from 1954 until 1961, when the government served banning orders on him. He was one of the 156 leaders who were charged in December 1956 Treason Trial. He was imprisoned for five months without being charged during the 1960 state of emergency and in 1961 was jailed again for helping to organize the May stay-away, though charges against him were later dropped.

Then in 1963 September was charged for attending a meeting of the Coloured People Congress. In 1963 while on bail he was ordered by the underground SACP leadership to leave the country and to join the external wing of the organisation. He first went to Tanzania and from there to London. He served as the chief representative of the ANC in London and Western Europe from 1965 to 1978. From Europe he was deployed to Lusaka and served on the ANC’s revolutionary council. At the ANC conference at Kabwe in 1985 he, together with Dr. Dadoo and Joe Slovo were the first non-Africans to be elected on to the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC). In exile he also served on the SACP’s political Bureau.

In 1991 he came back from exile and as part of the ANC’s NEC he was one of the people involved in the drawing up the Groote Schuur minutes. From 1994 until 2004 September served as an M.P. in the new democratic parliament.

September married Hetty Mcleod a stalwart of the Liberation struggle who was a leading trade union and SACPO activist, they have five children; Zena, Peter, Jehan and mark.

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