Robert Mokxotho Matji was born around 1923 in Pretoria, he moved to the Cape, where he became a factory worker and a member of the African National Congress (ANC). He later became a bookkeeper in a general store in New Brighton location. Port Elizabeth. One of the chief organizers of the Defiance Campaign in Port Elizabeth, he became the provincial secretary of the Cape Congress in 1952. In mid-1954 he was banned, forbidden to attend gatherings for two years, and ordered to resign from the ANC. He escaped arrest for treason in 1956 by fleeing to Basutoland (now Lesotho), where he joined the Basutoland Congress Party. He was a member of the pre-independence Legislative Council but later left the BCP and joined the Marematlou Freedom Party. He still lives in Lesotho.

References

• Gerhart G.M and Karis T. (ed)(1977). From Protest to challenge: A documentary History of African Politics in South Africa: 1882-1964, Vol.4 Political Profiles 1882 - 1964. Hoover Institution Pres: Stanford University.
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