Thomas Thembe Mazibuko attended Orlando West High School and became a member of the South African Student Movement(SASM). In 1974 as a member of SASM he and fellow students were harassed by police and some of his fellow students were detained by the apartheid system .In mid 1975 Mazibuko was forced by these circumstances to flee the country to Gabarone, Botswana. He went on to Francistown and met up with comrade Sol Ndlovu. It was here that he joined the Pan African Congress(PAC) and the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army (APLA).In September 1975 Mazibuko left Botswana via Tanzania and proceeded to Lybia where he did he’s basic military training for six months and then returned to Tanzania.

In 1977 Maziko was send to Nigeria for courses in auto-mechanics and to do a diploma in Mechanical Engineering. He was stationed in Nigeria up until 1983 when he returned to Tanzania. Shortly after his return he was send to Botswana to partake in PAC movement activities. By the middle of 1985 he left to West Germany to do a course in Advanced Automotive Mechanics, which he completed in July 1987. He proceeded back to Botswana via Zimbabwe and continued with APLA activities until he was returned home to South Africa.

References

• South African History Online SIU database, Thomas Thembe Mazibuko. Accessed on 08 July 2014

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