Emperor. A small man, he won the sympathy of the world as he unsuccessfully pleaded for help against Mussolini's invasion of his country. He was probably smothered in his old age by a ruthless army officer who had seized power, but remained a devotional cult object for Jamaican Rastafarians (noted for their characteristic "dreadlocks").
| 1906–1996 | Sir Laurens van der Post |
| Born 1938 | Ngugi wa Thiong'o |
| 1906–1949 | Hassan al-Banna |
| 1915–1997 | Joseph Wolpe |
| Born 1931 | Desmond Tutu |
| 1917–2009 | Helen Suzman |
| 1893–1958 | Johannes Strijdom |
| Born 1944 | Mongane Serote |
| 1906–2001 | Léopold Senghor |
| 1918–1981 | Anwar Sadat |
| 1853–1902 | Cecil Rhodes |
| 1883–1955 | José Ortega y Gasset |
| 1922–1999 | Julius Nyerere |
| 1909–1972 | Kwame Nkrumah |
| 1918–1970 | Gamal Nasser |
| 1930–1997 | Sese Mobutu |
| Born 1937 | Haile Mengistu |
| 1918–2013 | Nelson Mandela |
| 1925–1985 | Alex La Guma |
| 1899–1976 | Kazi Islam |
| 1937–1986 | Bessie Head |
| 1942–1993 | Chris Hani |
| 1925–1982 | Ruth First |
| Born 1944 | Buchi Emecheta |
| 1951–1990 | Samuel Doe |
| 1866–1951 | Robert Broom |
| Born 1939 | Breyten Breytenbach |
| Born 1927 | Sydney Brenner |
| 1921–1996 | Eddine Bokassa |
| Born 1945 | Allan Boesak |
| 1932–1973 | Abebe Bikila |
| 1946–1977 | Stephen Biko |
| 1918–2012 | Ahmed Ben Bella |
| 1925–2003 | Idi Amin |
