Govan Archibald Mvunyelwa Mbeki (9 July 1910 – 30 August 2001) was a South African politician, military commander, Communist leader who served as the Secretary of Umkhonto we Sizwe, at its inception in 1961.

Govan Mbeki was born in the Nqamakwe district of the Transkei region and was a part of the Xhosa ethnic group.

As a teenager, Mbeki worked as a newsboy and messenger in the cities, and because of this, he saw the poverty urban black Africans lived in, and the constant police raids they endured.

He attended Fort Hare University, completing in 1936 a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics and psychology and a teaching diploma.

Mbeki left journalism in 1944 and became a government-nominated member of the Transkei Territorial Authorities General Council until 1950.

In 1954, a tornado destroyed his store, and Mbeki was dismissed from teaching again (he would lose his job three times, and be blacklisted from others, from the 1930s onwards).

[6] Mbeki moved to Port Elizabeth and joined the editorial board of New Age, a prominent leftist newspaper linked to underground CPSA/ SACP networks.

[2] Mbeki played a crucial role in ensuring that the pages and columns reflected the conditions, demands, and aspirations of black working-class people, particularly in the countryside.

Mbeki was involved, and, at his urging, Strachan assisted MK by turning his hand to improvised explosive devices based on substances like potassium permanganate, magnesium, glycerol and icing sugar.

When the editorial board came out with its successor publication Spark, Vorster went one step further by banning not the newspaper but its editors and writers.

[19] On 26 June 1980, the Secretary General of the then-illegal African National Congress, Alfred Nzo, announced the conferring of the Isitwalandwe Medal, the ANC's highest honour, on Mbeki.

Mbeki received international recognition for his political achievements including the renaming (at Mandela's suggestion) of the recently opened health building at Glasgow Caledonian University.