The new biography of Joe Modise, one-time commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), is welcome. Comrade and Commander fills in a blank about Modise throughout the ANC’s three decades as an underground liberation movement with an armed wing.
The book is edited by Ronnie Kasrils, a lifelong colleague of Modise and later South African deputy minister of defence, and Fidelis Hove, a son-in-law of Modise.
Modise’s posting as Umkhonto we Sizwe commander makes him one of the most important leaders throughout the ANC’s underground epoch. In addition, he played a major role in the political and military integration that followed apartheid.
