Oupa Gqozo

Gqozo was born in Kroonstad, Orange Free State on 10 March 1952, the son of a Christian minister.

In Afrikaans, Oupa means "Grandfather".

Gqozo was sent away at a young age to stay with a relative living in Witgatboom in Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo). There he completed his primary education at Seabe Community School. Gqozo returned to Kroonstad where he attended the Phomolong Junior and Bodibeng Senior High School. He dropped out of school in 1972 and went to work as a warder at Kroonstad prison. He later matriculated through correspondence in 1975.

The Prisons Department sent Gqozo to study at the Baviaanspoort Training College and upon completion he worked at Klerksdorp prison. He joined the South African Defence Force (SADF) and worked as a soldier and chief clerk of 21 Battalion based in Lenasia, Johannesburg.

The Ciskei Defence Force (CDF) was established during March 1981 from 141 Battalion of the SADF as part of 21 Battalion. Gqozo was moved from the SADF to the CDF as part of the officer corps. On 4 December 1981, Ciskei was granted independence from South Africa and became a Bantustan with Lennox Sebe as president.

In 1983, Sebe's brother, Lieutenant General Charles Sebe, head of Ciskei's intelligence service, attempted a coup. He was arrested but later in 1986 he escaped from prison and made his way to nearby Transkei. Charles, in 1987, orchestrated the kidnapping of Lennox Sebe's son Kwame.

During this time, Colonel Oupa Gqozo was sent to Pretoria as military attaché. He became a brigadier on 1 April 1988. Brigadier Gqozo returned to Ciskei as Chief of Staff Intelligence during December 1989. In January 1990, Gqozo completed his term of duty and was honoured with the Order of Good Hope.

In 1996, before he could appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Bisho massacre in 1992, he was admitted to a psychiatric ward after suffering from depression. In 1998 he was convicted and fined R10,000 for illicit diamond trafficking.[2]

Judge Willem Heath conducted a probe into Ciskei government land deals.

In 2001, Gqozo sustained bullet wounds to his head and back while trying to protect traditional healer Keke "Gonondo" Mama in Middledrift. Mama died in hospital after the shooting. It was believed that Gqozo was Mama's bodyguard, a job that he started after his finances took a nosedive.

He was hospitalised again after burning his hands and face. This time, he had mistakenly refilled a heater with petrol instead of paraffin which burst into flames. The fire caused an estimated R60,000 damage to his farmhouse, outside King William's Town.

Gqozo is married to Corinthian Nomziwakhe and they have four children. In 2015, he had moved from his dilapidated farmhouse near King William's Town to Kroonstad in the Free State.[3]