Influenced by Flag Boshielo of the Communist Party of South Africa, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League while at high school.
After Sobukwe broke away from the ANC to form the PAC, Mogoba became closely associated with the latter grouping, even after it was banned by the apartheid government in 1960.
[1] In early 1963, he was arrested at his home in Mamelodi and convicted of furthering the aims of the outlawed PAC, for which he spent three years in prison, primarily on Robben Island.
[5] In September 1997, while Mogoba was serving in Parliament, questions about his integrity emerged after media reports claimed that President Nelson Mandela had advised him not to seek a seat on the Portfolio Committee on Intelligence in order to avoid the "indignity" of a security clearance check.
[7][8] The lawyer who had represented him at the trial, Dikgang Moseneke, labelled his claims as "nonsense", saying that Mogoba was "the real hero" for having harboured APLA commanders at his house.
[7] In addition, PAC MP Patricia de Lille claimed in a parliamentary debate that the ANC was aware that several of its own members had been spies for the apartheid state.
[9] He was nonetheless nominated to one of the party's three remaining seats in the National Assembly, where he served alongside Patricia de Lille and his deputy, Motsoko Pheko.
[10] During his time in Parliament, he was critical of President Thabo Mbeki's HIV/AIDS policy and favoured higher taxation to eradicate poverty.
[11] Although the PAC did not accept Mogoba's 1999 offer to resign from the party presidency, over the next few years he faced continuous internal pressure for leadership change.