Mr Govan Mbeki, one of South Africa's most famous "freedom fighters" against apartheid rule and the father of President Thabo Mbeki, died yesterday, aged 91.
A former leader of the African National Congress' fledgling guerrilla wing and a member of the Communist Party, Mr Mbeki was jailed for life on sabotage charges in 1964, together with Mr Nelson Mandela and Mr Walter Sisulu.
Mr Mandela said yesterday he was saddened by Mr Mbeki's death.
He said that through the years Mr Mbeki had continued to inspire those - including himself - who were jailed with him for political offences, as well those who were fighting apartheid outside the prison walls.
Fondly known as "Uncle Gov", Mr Mbeki was widely respected figure in South Africa's black townships and guerrilla camps across the borders, and with Mr Mandela and Mr Sisulu became an international symbol of opposition to the apartheid regime.
Born in July, 1910, Govan Mbeki was the son of a tribal chief in the Transkei hills on the rocky Indian Ocean coast. Like Mr Mandela and Mr Sisulu, he was a Xhosa, the second biggest of South Africa's tribes. He was educated at mission schools and Fort Hare University.
He completed a degree in economics while in prison and in 1977 was awarded an honorary doctorate by Amsterdam University for his book The Peasant Revolt, which analysed rural protest movements.