Sobizana Mngqikana was born in East London, South Africa in 1938. He grew up as a young trumpeter. As many other ANC leaders and activists he studied at Fort Hare University. In 1961, a year after the ANC was banned, he became active in the underground structures of the organisation. His anti-apartheid activities led to his expulsion from the university in 1962, and in 1963 he was arrested and sent to jail. In 1964 he won a scholarship to the University of London and joined the British Anti-Apartheid Movement. He joined the ANC office in London, representative, Raymond Kunene and Thabo Mbeki, who became a close friend. They formed The ANC Student and Youth Section, to provide political education to the black South African exile community, and to represent ”authentic voices” of South Africa. He joined ANC staff in 1969 and in 1973 opened a mission in Sweden in line with ANC’s strategy of “rainbow politics”, to seek to broaden support, as was described in an article by Håkan Thörn. He served the ANC as Ambassador to Turkey, Finland and other countries.