JOHANNESBURG'S executive mayor Amos Masondo has a long history as a trade unionist.

On the day he was nominated as the African National Congress (ANC) candidate for the executive mayor's post, in October 2000, Business Day wrote: "As a former Robben Islander, Soweto civic activist and unionist, Masondo has a high standing in the ANC nationally and in Johannesburg. The Johannesburg branch and the unions stayed loyal to him when he lost the Gauteng premiership battle in 1997. Masondo is considered a man of integrity with good political skills."

Born in 1953 and educated in Soweto, Masondo joined early black consciousness organisations including the South African Students' Movement in 1972. He was involved in establishing underground cells in Soweto in 1974, and was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1975-81 for ANC activities.

On his release he served as a member of the Soweto Civic Association and in 1982 as a member of the Committee of Ten. He was a founder member of the United Democratic Front and a member of the first Interim Executive Committee.

He joined the General Allied Workers' Union in 1981, was a full-time organiser from 1983 to 1985, and served as acting general secretary in 1985. He was detained under Emergency regulations from June 1985 to March 1986 and again from July 1986-89.

He was secretary of the Witwatersrand region of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) from 1990-93, and ANC regional election co-ordinator for the PWV from 1993-94.

He was elected an ANC Member of the Provincial Legislature, and served as Gauteng MEC for health until 1998. He was political adviser to Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa until his appointment as executive mayor in December 2000. He began a second term as executive mayor in March 2006.

Masondo was a member of the ANC PWV Regional Executive Committee and of the Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee, and in 1997 was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee.