Vusumzi Make

Vusumzi Linda Make (8 September 1934 – 15 April 2006) was a South African lawyer, academic, and anti-apartheid activist. After going into exile in 1958, he became a leading figure in the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), representing the organization abroad and serving as its chairman during the late 1970s.

Early life Vusumzi Make was born in 1934 in Boksburg, Transvaal, where his father worked as a preacher. The family then moved to Evaton, and Make studied law through a correspondence course organised by the University of South Africa.

Anti-apartheid activism Make joined the African National Congress (ANC) as a teenager. In 1955, he helped to organise bus boycotts across Transvaal to protest fare increases. He was arrested twice over the course of the campaign, becoming the youngest defendant in the 1956 Treason Trial, but was found not guilty.

In 1960, while in New York City to petition the United Nations, he met the American writer Maya Angelou and they began a relationship. Make and Angelou moved to Cairo together, where Make led a PAC delegation intended to secure funds and publicity for the anti-apartheid movement. Sibeko was killed, and Make briefly became party chairman before resigning to make way for John Nyathi Pokela. Under Pokela, Make served as deputy chair of the PAC.

Death Make died on 15 April 2006 in the HF Verwoerd hospital in Pretoria at the age of 75. He was survived by his widow Alma Liziwe Make and daughter Titise.