Alex Hepple

Alexander Hepple (28 August 1904 – 16 November 1983) was a trade unionist, politician, anti-apartheid activist and author. He was the last leader of the South African Labour Party.

Hepple was born in La Rochelle, a suburb of Johannesburg to Thomas and Alice Hepple, founding members of the South African Labour Party. His father, who immigrated to South Africa from Sunderland in the north-east of England, was a shop steward of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and a leader during its strike action in 1913.

Alex Hepple was a democratic socialist and anti-fascist activist from an early age. He was elected to the Transvaal Province's provincial council in 1943 as a Labour Party MLA and then as a Labour Member of Parliament representing Rosettenville in the House of Assembly of South Africa in the 1948 and 1953 general elections. "Hepple was also one of the original Rivonia Trial accused". Bob Hepple was "knighted in 2004." "He was awarded the South African Order of Luthuli (Gold) in 2014".