Henry Daniel Tyamzashe was born in Kimberley in 1880, the son of a prominent Xhosa minister in the United Free Church of Scotland. He completed secondary school at Lovedale and also studied printing there, becoming a printer and journalist. He joined the ICU in Johannesburg in early 1925 and later became its provincial secretary for the Transvaal. With Kadalie he edited The Workers' Herald and later. New Africa, the paper of the Independent Industrial Commercial Union (ICU). In 1930 he was arrested in connection with the general strike in East London that was organised by the Independent ICU, but he was later discharged. Following Kadalie, he moved from Johannesburg in the early 1930s to East London, where he subsequently became a member of the location advisory board. In 1946 he gave evidence before the Natives Law Commission of Inquiry meeting at East London.
Biography record
Henry Daniel Tyamzashe

- Born
- 1880
- Updated
- 23 Aug 2019

South African History Online. (2011, February 17). Henry Daniel Tyamzashe. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0009173
South African History Online (2011) 'Henry Daniel Tyamzashe', South African History Online, 17 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0009173 (Accessed: 6 September 2026).
South African History Online, Henry Daniel Tyamzashe [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0009173, (accessed 6 September 2026).
"Henry Daniel Tyamzashe." South African History Online, 17 Feb. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0009173. Accessed 6 Sept. 2026.
South African History Online. "Henry Daniel Tyamzashe." South African History Online. February 17, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/B-0009173.
Further reading
The ANC’s MK Special Ops Unit Material - Yunus Carrim Collection - 6 November 2025
Oyster Bay
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