UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 33, Page 10
May 26, 1994
Alumni couple play key role in new South Africa

   The world has been watching as South Africa celebrates its first
free elections, the end of apartheid and the selection of Nelson
Mandela as the country's first black president.
   During this period of transition, a husband and wife team of two
University of Delaware alumni of the College of Urban Affairs and
Public Policy, Sibusiso Nkomo (Delaware '83 MA, '85 PhD) and his wife,
Renosi Mokate (Delaware '83 MA, PhD '86), played active roles in the
formation of the new South African government.
   Robert Warren, professor in the college and the couple's adviser
when they pursued their doctoral degrees, visited South Africa this
fall as an invited speaker in a workshop on "Regional Governments:
Their Constitutions and Functioning." The International Development
Research Centre's branch in South Africa, supported by the Canadian
government, sponsored the meeting.
   Its goal was to assist in the planning of the provincial and local
levels of governement under the new constitutional arrangements.
   Warren was one of three experts on state-national relations in
federal systems. Allan Blakeney, former prime minister of
Saskatchewan, and Uwe Leonardy, an official of the Bavarian state or
lander government, along with Warren, made presentations concerning
American, Canadian and German experience with federalism and took part
in discussions about how a federal system could be designed for South
Africa. Subsequent reports indicate that the workshop was of
considerable practical help to the emerging government, Warren said.
    According to Warren, Nkomo first came to the United States in the
mid '70s when he was forced to flee South Africa for resistance to
apartheid. He was later joined by Mokate at Lincoln University, where
both received degrees and later joined the faculty- Nkomo in political
science and Mokate in economics.
   While teaching at Lincoln, they completed doctoral degrees at the
University. Nkomo's dissertation assessed the effect of the flow of
migrant workers between Lesotho and South Africa on Lesotho's economic
development. Mokate's dissertation concerned the capacity of black-
governed countries on the border of South Africa to act collectively
to end the economic domination of the region by South Africa's
apartheid regime.
   When the couple returned to South Africa in 1992, Nkomo taught at
the University of Witwaterstrand and directed a graduate program in
public policy. Mokate joined the staff of the Development Bank of
South Africa as a policy analyst.
   During the period of intensive negotiations between the government
and the African National Congress, they both took leave to assist in
the formation of the new governemnt. Initially, Nkomo was a member of
the transitional government commission on civil service, while Mokate
was the technical secretary of the transitional commission of states,
province and regions.
   More recently, Warren reports, they have moved into even more
important positions. Nkomo has been appointed to a seven-year term as
a member of the national Public Service Commision, which will have the
responsibiliity of creating and administering the country's new
intergrated civil service.
   Mokate is serving as the chief executive officer of the Independent
Electoral Commission, which administered the historic election in
April.
   Warren said, "The college takes great pride in having its students
play such major roles in eliminating apartheid and building a
revitalized and democratic nation."
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure