Edgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born.

Date: 26 Dec 1926
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Edgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born.

Edgar Dumile Ngoyi was born on 26 December 1926 in the Eastern Cape. Ngoyi became politically active in the African National Congress (ANC) as a member of the ANC Youth League in the 1950s. After the banning of the ANC in 1960, Ngoyi went underground where he established a network through which he recruited people to uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC. In 1963, he was arrested and sentenced to 17 years on Robben Island. Ngoyi and Henry Fazzie joined Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO) in 1984, soon after their release from Robben Island. Through PEBCO Ngoyi and his comrades took up campaigns on community issues of rent and poor services. Ngoyi was later elected as president of the Eastern Cape regional executive of the United Democratic Front (UDF). He died at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on 31 October 2007 aged 81.

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01History Orb Today in History for 26th December 1926 [online] Available at: www.historyorb.com [Accessed on 1 November 2013]
02SAHO Edgar Dumile Ngoyi [online] Available at: www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed on 1 November 2013]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, December 14). Edgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born.. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071353

South African History Online (2011) 'Edgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born.', South African History Online, 14 December. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071353 (Accessed: 3 October 2026).

South African History Online, Edgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born. [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071353, (accessed 3 October 2026).

"Edgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born.." South African History Online, 14 Dec. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071353. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Edgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born.." South African History Online. December 14, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0071353.