Nqakula was unbanned the following year but, because his village had been redesignated as part of the Ciskei independent homeland, he was unable to re-enter South African territory and was declared a prohibited immigrant.
The UBJ was banned in October 1977 as part of a government crackdown on organisations supporting the Black Consciousness Movement.
Although frequently being detained by both the South African and Ciskeian authorities, he managed to establish the Veritas News Agency in Zwelitsha towards the end of 1982.
Charles Nqakula was elected publicity secretary of the fledgling United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983, and was arrested the same year in East London for being in South Africa without a visa.
He infiltrated South Africa on his return as one of the commanders of Operation Vula,[2] with a mission to build viable underground and military structures.
[3] Following an inconclusive investigation in 1996 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the 1986 aircrash in which President Samora Machel of Mozambique was killed, Charles Nqakula announced in parliament on 9 February 2006 that the inquiry is to be reopened: All of South Africa's law enforcement agencies are expected to be involved in the new inquiry, in co-operation with their Mozambican counterparts.
The criticism preceded a subsequent announcement by the minister that an all out effort would be made to quell the alarming increase of crime by 30 December 2006.