Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The Secretary for Defence January Masilela died in a car accident in Bronkhorstspruit on Sunday, police confirmed.

Gauteng police spokesman Superintendent Eugene Opperman said on Monday that Masilela was alone in his car and no other vehicle was involved in the accident. The accident occurred at 5.20am.

Masilela died at the scene. It appeared that he had lost control of his vehicle.

Defence department spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi said: "He is no longer with us, as of yet we don't know the cause of the death."

Amscor's corporate journal, Salvo, said in 2001 that Masilela was born in Mhluzi township outside Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. He was exposed to the injustices of the apartheid system early on in his life.

"It was then that he decided he was not going to sit back. If it meant losing his life fighting the system, so be it."

He left the country in 1975 for Zambia where he joined the ANC, enlisting with MK - Umkhonto weSizwe.

That enlisting was to start a long chapter of military training: first in Libya for his basic military training, then to the former Soviet Union where he spent about two years doing a senior course.

Determined to become a "super soldier", and as though he was aware that his role was at the leadership level, Masilela proceeded with his advanced military courses, undergoing further training in Cuba and the people's Republic of Germany (East Germany).

Between 1982 and 1984 he studied and received a senior diploma in social science.

In 1987 he was posted to Botswana as Umkhonto's Political Commissar. His role covered, among others: strategy planning sending missions across to South Africa, interacting and getting feedback from those already in the country, and also advising on further steps/action.

On primary role as the SANDF Defence Secretary, Masilela said: "I am the chief accounting officer for the Defence Force.

"Among other things, this entails ensuring that we run an effective and cost-efficient organisation.

"The position also has the added responsibility of a Principal Policy Adviser to the Minister."