BCom in statistics, but did not complete the course after losing his study privileges when he intervened to defend Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki in a case of alleged insubordination against a white man. Release from prison and exile Andrew Masondo was released from prison in 1976 and placed under house arrest. With the help of Oliver Tambo and his wife, he escaped to Swaziland in June 1976. From there, he went to Mozambique and Tanzania. He received military training, including a commander's course and a course in guerilla warfare, in the Soviet Union. In Angola, he became a national commissar of the MK, as well as a member of the ANC's national executive and Revolutionary Council. From 1978 to 1990, he lectured at the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania, becoming the principal of the college. After serving as an MK ambassador and underground commander in Uganda, he returned to Angola in 1994, to deal with the repatriation of MK soldiers in exile, returning to a new, democratic South Africa. Later career and retirement Gen Masondo attended a Joint Staff Course at the Defence College, after the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was established in April 1994, and subsequently promoted to the rank of major general. From 1994 until his retirement on 31 October 2001 with the rank of lieutenant-general, he held many posts - Chairman of the Integration Committee, Chief Director of Equal Opportunity, Chief Director of Corporate Communication, and Chief of the Service Corps. After his retirement, General Masondo remained active in the corporate, education, and heritage spheres of South African life. He served on numerous boards and committees in the fields of education, museums, indigenous knowledge, traditional healing, reconciliation and medicine. Death Masondo was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2005, he died on Sunday 20 April 2008 in the One Military Hospital in Tshwane at the age of 71. He is survived by five children and six grandchildren. References South African mathematicians South African generals 1936 births 2008 deaths UMkhonto we Sizwe personnel South African Army generals People from Johannesburg University of the Witwatersrand alumni University of Fort Hare alumni