BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Dr James Moroka 1892 - 1985

Dr James Sebe Moroka was born on 16 March 1892 in Thaba’Nchu, (Orange Free State). His
great-grandfather was Chief Moroka the 1st of the Barolong.

After completing his schooling, he attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where
he qualified as a medical doctor in 1918. He returned to South Africa, and set up a practice in
Thaba’Nchu. In 1933 Dr Moroka went to Vienna, Austria for post-graduate studies. He returned to
South Africa, after qualifying as a surgeon in 1936.

Dr Moroka’s political career started when he became involved in Black people’s resistance against
the Native Trust & Land (draft) Bills of JBM Hertzog. Moroka participated in the first meeting of the
All African Convention (AAC) that was held in Bloemfontein in December 1935, and he was elected
as treasurer of the AAC in 1936.

JS Moroka’s association with the ANC began in 1942, and in 1943 he became a member of the
Atlantic Charter Committee of the ANC. He rose to prominence, and in 1949, supported by the
Youth League, was elected president-general of the ANC. Defiance of the Nationalist
government’s policies, led to the arrest of 21 leaders (including Moroka) of the ANC under the
Suppression of Communism Act, on 30 July 1952. All accused received a suspended sentence.

According to Nelson Mandela, writing in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom:

'Dr Moroka was an unlikely choice. He was a member of the All African Convention (AAC), which was dominated by Trotskyist elements at that time. When he agreed to stand against Dr Xuma, the Youth League then enrolled him as a member of the ANC. When first approached, he consistently referred to the ANC as the African National “Council”. He was not very knowledgeable about the ANC, neither was he an experienced activist, but he was respectable, and amenable to our programme. Like Dr Xuma, he was a doctor, and one of the wealthiest black men in South Africa. He had studied at Edinburgh and Vienna. His great-grandfather had been a chief in Orange Free State, and had greeted the Afrikaner Voortrekkers of the nineteenth century with open arms and gifts of land, and then been betrayed. Dr Xuma was defeated and Dr Moroka became president general of the ANC.’

According to Peter Walshe, ‘the radicals of the Transvaal left-wing and the Youth League had acquired a more malleable president, even if he lacked the national stature of Xuma and the latter's capacity for diligent if frustrated attention to the detailed matters of Congress organisation'. Walshe also notes that Moroka's new Executive failed to improve the organisational workings of the ANC, and in the period leading up to the Defiance Campaign the ANC underwent further organisational 'stagnation': its finances were depleted, inadequate provincial reports were submitted, tensions were rife in the Natal and Transvaal branches, and the continued existence of the national headquarters was in jeopardy.

During Moroka’s three-year presidency, the ANC, now dominated by the radicals of the Youth League, became a more militant organisation. Moroka found it challenging to exercise control over the organisation, based as he was at Thaba Nchu, which was far removed from the central political arena of the Witwatersrand. Despite his failures, Moroka did not hesitate to work with other militant organisations such as the Communist Party of South Africa(CPSA) and the South African Indian Congress(SAIC).

However, Moroka’s distance from the centre prompted critics to say he lacked an understanding of Transvaal politics, which led to blunders. Critics described many of his actions as naÁ¯ve and short-sighted, and as contributing to dissension within the ranks of the ANC.

Moroka presided over the ANC in one of its most active and effective phases. The ANC began to consider implementing the Programme of Action, anda Council of Action – including Moroka, Gaur Radebe, Godfrey M Pitje, CS Ramohanoeand Oliver Tambo– was appointed in February 1950, tasked with deciding on methods of protest.

At the ANC Annual Conference in December 1952, James Moroka was defeated by Albert Luthuli.
He died on 10 November 1985.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Dr. Alfred Bitini Xuma 1893 - 1962

Biography

Alfred Bitini Xuma

Dr. Alfred Bitini Xuma was born into an aristocratic Xhosa family in the Transkei in 1893. He was educated locally and rose from herd boy, houseboy, horse trainer, teacher, shipping clerk and hotel and train waiter, to one of the country's most influential black thinkers and leaders.

When he had completed his local primary school education Bitini went to the Maritzburg Training Institute to study teaching. He taught at various schools, earning fourteen pounds a term, and as was the custom, gave his entire salary to his father.

Source: The Fifties People of South Africa, compiled and edited by Jurgen Schadeberg, 1987

Bitini read about the opportunities for education through self help in America. In 1913 he sailed for New York, where he entered various institutions and universities. He studied at night while he worked at the Alabama Steel Mills.

After graduating as a Doctor of Medicine, he went to Europe where he specialised in gynaecology and studied further in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

On his return to South Africa in 1927, Dr Xuma opened the surgery in Sophiatown and in 1931 he married Priscilla Mason of Liberia, West Africa. Priscilla died three years later, while giving birth to their second child.

In 1940 he married Madie Beatrice Hall in Cape Town.

After his freelance political activities in the 30s, Dr Xuma was elected president of the ANC in 1940. He set about rebuilding a scattered organisation against great opposition.

Dr Xuma signed a pact with Dr Dadoo of the SA Indian Congress for a united front between Indians and Africans. When more conservative members of the ANC complained that the Indians were "shrewd" and might dominate the ANC., Dr Xuma retorted: "if you cannot meet the next man on an equal footing without fearing him, there is something wrong with you. You are accepting a position of inferiority to him."

He acted as unofficial delegate of the African people at the United Nations in 1946. Although he was responsible for bringing a large element of young people like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo into the organisation, by 1949 Xuma was found to be too slow and moderate, and was replaced by Dr J.S. Moroka. Dr Alfred Bitini Xuma died at Baragwanath Hospital, Johannesburg, in 1962.

SOURCE: ANC website

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Josiah Tshangana Gumede 1867 - 1946

First name: 

Josiah

Last name: 

Gumede

Date of birth: 

09 October 1867

Location of birth: 

Healdtown Village, Fort Beaufort

Date of death: 

November 1946

Synopsis:

Political activist, founder member of the Natal Native Congress and founder member of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC, now ANC). He was a teacher, politician, businessman and journalist, sometimes incorrectly referred to as 'James' Gu

Josiah Tshangana Gumede was born on 9 October 1867 in Healdtown Village, Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape. His father, John Gumede, and his mother were Christians and, according to their grandson Archie Gumede, were only the third Ngwane couple to be married into the Christian (Wesleyan) faith. There is very little known information about Josiah’s mother and his early childhood. Josiah had a younger brother, William, and three or more sisters, two of them named Mina and Joyce. It seems they were all given Christian first names, while Josiah was given his father’s middle-name, Tshangana, in honour of their Zulu ancestry. Josiah Gumede’s ancestry can be traced back to Chief Khondlo.
Khondlo’s son Phakathwayo succeeded him, followed by Vezi, Makhunga and John Tshangana, Josiah’s father. Since not much is known of Josiah’s childhood years, he probably started his elementary schooling at the Healdtown Wesleyan Mission station at Fort Beaufort, where he was exposed to the British education system. The Wesleyan missionaries were leading the way in fighting for gender equality, with policies in place to educate and liberate African females. One of Josiah’s fellow-pupils was Charlotte Makanya, who later became the President of the ANC Womens Congress. Both Josiah and Charlotte came from Fort Beaufort and rose to greater heights as leaders in the ANC and in the politics that shaped South Africa.
On completion of his schooling, Gumede went on to attend what was called the ‘Kaffir Institute’ in Grahamstown, in either 1882 or 1883. During this time, Josiah’s parents and sisters had moved to Queenstown. Run by the Anglican Church, the institute was a sister school to the white St Andrew’s College. Josiah wanted to qualify as a teacher, and gaining admission to the institution was not easy: candidates had to be baptised, literate (in English as well as their native language), and older than 13 years of age. The institution attracted intellectually-inclined Black youth, many of whom later became prominent ANC members, among them Thomas Mapikela and Samuel Masabalala. The curriculum at the institution was was dominated by religious education, although industrial training – such as carpentry, wagon-making, blacksmithing, tailoring, shoemaking and printing – also featured prominently. Gumede’s intellectual development grew at the institute, as did his political consciousness.
Gumede began teaching at Somerset East in the Eastern Cape, where African interest in formal education was growing. He soon took up a new teaching post in Natal while his parents remained at Queenstown, and his interests turned to politics in Zululand. Together with another Wesleyan convert, Martin Luthuli, whom Gumede befriended, the pair acted as indunas (advisors) for the young Dinizulu. While Luthuli was fleeing from creditors in Durban and thus looking for sanctuary, it is not clear why Gumede opted to become involved in the ‘tumultuous almost no-win politics of a ravaged post-civil-war Zululand’.
It is likely that Gumede was committed to the cause of the Zulu royal house, and that he was somewhat ambitious. Dinizulu was heir to the Zulu kingdom, and Luthuli and Gumede must have taken pride in their prestigious appointments.
Zululand was undergoing a period of historical transition. Following the death of Cetshwayo in 1883, the British High Commissioner in South Africa, Garnet Wolseley, divided Zululand into 13 independent chieftainships, each ruled by chiefs he appointed. Wolseley’s chiefs were perceived by many to have little legitimacy, causing tremendous turmoil. A period of civil wars proved disastrous for the political status of the Zulu royal family and the idea of Zulu national unity.
Supporters of the Zulu royal house, the Usuthu, were dealt their heaviest blow by the appointment of two disaffected chiefs of royal lineage, Hamu and Zibhebhu, to rule as chiefs over Zululand’s northern regions. Hamu defected with his followers to the British side during the Anglo-Zulu war. His district included the personal homestead of the Buthelezi leader Mnyamana, who had been Cetshwayo’s principal adviser.To the east of Hamu, Zibhebhu was awarded a district that included the core of the Usuthu, including Cetshwayo’s son Dinizulu.  In May 1884 Dinizulu, with the help of the Transvaal Boers, drove Zibhebhu out of his district.
Having assisted Dinizulu in defeating Zibhebhu in June 1884, the Boers claimed nearly 3 million acres of land in the upper belt of Zululand, stretching to the natural harbour of St. Lucia Bay. This was an exorbitant demand on Dinizulu’s land resources. More than 800 Boers were demanding compensation where only about 100 had assisted in the actual fight.
Gumede with other Usuthu leaders protested the Boers’ demarcation of their so-called ‘New Republic’. They appealed to the British for support but this fell on deaf ears. Dinizulu tried desperately not to lose his head kraal of Ondini (today Ulundi) to the Boers and appointed Gumede to take charge of the tough negotiations with the Boers.
Eventually the British intervened and annexed the territory when they realised that the Boers would have access to St Lucia and a harbour. This resulted in Gumede’s services as Dinizulu’s induna coming to a close.  However, Dinizulu and Gumede’s friendship would last until the former’s death in 1913.
Gumede’s involvement in Zululand politics undoubtedly refined his political philosophy. His entry into Zululand politics at times endangered Gumede’s life as he gained firsthand experience of the reality of the Whites’ coercion and dispossession of the Zulu’s land. He experienced the frustrations and difficulties which confronted the Zulu royal house after the Boer occupation of nearly five-sixths of the Zulu territory. The experience instilled a sense of bitterness towards the Boers, but he also realised how little the British cared about the disintegration of the Zulu polity. Indeed, Britain’s unwillingness to intervene on behalf of the Zulus confirmed their determination to bring an end to the Zulu monarchy. Consequently, Gumede never approved of the British annexation of Zululand, claiming that it had opened up the territory to further White settlement. History has shown that Gumede’s fears were well-founded. The 1890s saw a marked increase in the pressure to open Zululand to White settlement, despite the continued protests and resistance of Zulu spokespersons such as Harriette Colenso and Gumede.
On his return to the Bergville/Klip River Division, Gumede was warmly received by his chief Ncwadi of the Ngwane. Towards the end of the 1880s Gumede accepted a temporary teaching post at the Amanzimtoti Institute (Adams College). At the time of Gumede’s appointment, the college had built up a good reputation with three teachers of high calibre: John Dube, Albert Luthuliand Mavuma Nembula.
An event of significane for Gumede was the visit to Natal of a Black American troupe of Virginia Jubilee Singers in 1890. The group also visited Adams College. Inspired by the group’s performances and international success, Gumede, together with Saul Msane and a group of 12 singers, formed the ‘Zulu Choir’. His involvement in the choir ended Gumede’s teaching career at Adams College. The Zulu Choir became very successful locally, and they embarked on a tour of England. But this did not last as the choir split up after some disappointments. Gumede then returned to South Africa, settling in Rookdale with little, if any, finances.
On 30 June 1894, Gumede married Margareth Rachel Sithole, a teacher by profession and a devoted Wesleyan who also came from the Bergville district.
In 1895, Gumede was employed by his chief Ncwadi as an induna. During this period the chief’s authority over his community was constantly being challenged by David Giles, a European magistrate. Gumede, convinced that Giles’s acts constituted a violation of the Shepstonian principles of African Administration, supported his chief. This led to a bitter struggle between Gumede and Giles.
Ncwadi chose Gumede as his official spokesperson because of his formal schooling and teaching credentials and his involvement in Zulu Politics. This battle revealed his leadership skills and provided Gumede with a lesson in political and legal strategy which he would use again in the future.
Some reports indicate that Gumede also spent a short period working on the gold mines on the Rand, and the Gumede family’s financial prospects appeared to improve. In 1898 and 1899, the first two of Josiah and Margareth’s five daughters, Edith Beatrice and Tabita Sarah, were born.
In 1900 Gumede joined the British military to fight in the war against the Boers. Gumede was one of the first Blacks to be recruited and trained by the Natal Intelligence Department even before the war started in October 1899. He was appointed Headmen over a group of Basotho scouts. Gumede’s hopes that the British victory in the Anglo-Boer war would result in the removal of the oppressive features of White rule in Natal, in particular the Pass Laws, was  short-lived as the British failed to deliver on promises they made.
At this point, Gumede, like many other missionary-educated Africans, were looking for outlets to voice their objections against oppressive new laws, resulting in the establishment of many European-style organisations. In 1888, Gumede aligned himself to the Funamalungelo (demand civil rights) Society headed by John Khumalo, but the organisation failed to develop into a strong political movement. Gumede, Martin Luthuli and other Black leaders in Natal then realised that there was an urgent need for a more effective organisation. With the assistance of Harriette Colenso, the Natal Native Congress (NNC) was officially inaugurated on 8 June 1900. With John Dube and others, Gumede was a founder member of the NNC, and for some time he served as its secretary and vice-president. The main aims of the Congress were to cultivate political awareness amongst Blacks by educating them about their rights under the prevailing system of government and laws, and most importantly, to act as a forum for airing grievances.
In 1905, Gumede took up a position as a land agent with the firm of Thackeray Allison and Albert Hime solicitors, a position he held for the next 14 years.  During this time, Gumede assisted in the investigation of the land claims of two Sotho tribes, namely the Bakhulukwe and Batlokoa in the new Orange River Colony. Gumede played a significant role in their legal struggle and the drawing up of their petitions to the British government in London to regain land taken away from them before the war. Gumede supported Chiefs Lesisa, Moloi, and Lequila, and accompanied them on their deputation to England to petition the British government to support their land claim. Unfortunately, this deputation was not successful. To add to the insult, Gumede was arrested on his return home in May 1907, charged with wrongfully and unlawfully leaving the Colony of Natal without the pass or permit prescribed by one of the laws of the Colony of Natal. Gumede was found guilty and fined 10 pounds for this ‘crime’.
It was particularly apparent that Gumede saw the need to maintain Zulu culture and traditions by supporting the chiefs while at the same time understanding the political and social needs of the emerging kholwa. Many chiefs regarded Gumede as their spokesman and had a high regard for his intellectual abilities. According to Van Diemel, Gumede moved with ease between these two very different worlds.
In 1907, Gumede involved himself in Iliso Lesizwe Esimnyama, an organisation formed by Wesleyan Methodist converts and chiefs from the Dundee and Newcastle areas in Natal. He served as secretary for the organisation during 1908. The aim of Iliso Lesizwe Esimnyama was to unite the Black people of Natal-Zululand and to advance their prosperity.
The publication of the draft constitution of 1909 signalled to Gumede that Africans' interests were being ignored. Although the revised draft of the South Africa Act received the overwhelming approval of Whites, nearly all politically conscious Africans denounced it. Despite all the odds, Gumede was still determined to continue to press the issue that Africans' aspirations be addressed.
Throughout 1909 and 1910, the plight of the two Sotho tribes took up most of Gumede’s time. Unfortunately, following the failure of the African deputation to England in 1909, Iliso had ceased to meet on a regular basis and the organisation soon faded out of existence.
In 1910, Gumede rejoined the Pietermartizburg branch of the NNC. Disappointingly, there was no working relationship between the Pietermaritzburg and Durban branches due to personal differences between Gumede and Dube, who was part of the Durban NNC branch. The two only unified when the South African Native National Congress(SANNC), the precursor of the African National Congress(ANC), was formed in 1912. Dube sought closer co-operation between the branches, realising the need for unity.
In 1912 Gumede became a founder member of the SANNC (renamed the ANC in 1923) and contributed to the drafting of its 1919 constitution. He was also a member of the 1919 SANNC deputation to the Versailles Peace Conference – which was held after World War I (1914-1918) – and the British government. The deputation, however, failed to ensure a better dispensation for South African blacks.
Gumede was appointed to the newly-elected executive council and joined a deputation elected to present their grievances to the Inspector of African Schools in Pietermaritzburg on 15 April 1913. The delegates were against regulations placed on Black school learners and teachers in Natal which came into effect on 1 April 1913.  These regulations placed new restrictions on the age limits of African pupils in the lower classes as well as on the employment of African teachers in the higher classes. Yet again the deputation was unable to persuade the inspector to amend the revised regulations.
Even though the Native Land Act of 1913 signalled the end of any equality for Blacks in the union, Gumede remained optimistic that all was not lost. He believed the Act would strengthen the cause of the two Sotho chiefs to regain their land. Thus, when the call came for a deputation to be sent to England to protest the Bill and appeal for help against it, Gumede strongly opposed the move, believing that it would antagonise the new Parliament and alienate support from the missionaries and more liberal whites. Not surprisingly, the deputation was a failure. Gumede also failed in his attempts to secure the land of the Sotho tribes, deepening his antagonism towards the unsympathetic Union government on the issue of Black land claims.
The Native Administrative Bill of 1917 further deepened this antagonism. Taking a strong stand against it, Gumede understood that the Bill would enhance the powers of the Native Affairs Department.
The victory of the allied forces during World War I brought about renewed hopes in the SANNC that an appeal to the British government would bring about the removal of the colour bar franchise. Gumede supported a proposed deputation to England to petition the Governor General to take their grievances directly to the king. Gumede’s change of heart regarding this deputation – compared to the 1914 deputation – came because he was convinced there was no way of securing any sympathy from the Union government for the plight of Black people.
Before his departure, Gumede was summoned to testify in the trial of David Jones and H Greene, Bolsheviks charged with inciting the public by distributing a pamphlet in favour of Bolshevism. During his testimony, it was clear that Gumede held strong anti-communist sentiments.
Gumede’s visit to England together with Sol Plaatje was full of disappointments. The Colonial office in London received Gumede and Plaatje with much antagonism. Gumede addressed several audiences in England, including many of London’s Black organisations, in order to solicit support for the cause. Gumede and Plaatje presented their grievances to members of the House of Commons in July 1919 in the hope that they would be addressed at their next meeting The pair also addressed various other organisations sympathetic to their cause. One such organisation was the League of Universal Brotherhood led by Dr Charles Garnett. Much of this lobbying turned out to be in vain as the colonial office was sticking to its policy of non-interference in colonial affairs.
Gumede went further by addressing a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury for a meeting to address their grievances. This meeting also turned out to be disappointing as no concrete support was forthcoming. During this visit, Gumede was extremely disappointed to be present at a meeting of The International Brotherhood Congress, held from 13 to 17 September 1919, where Lloyd George praised the ‘noble character’ of General Louis Botha. These views were in direct contrast to those held by the SANNC delegates. Throughout his stay in England, Gumede tried to influence public opinion by means of meetings and newspaper coverage. Gumede also kept his constituency in Natal informed of all the deliberations abroad.
Towards the end of November 1919, the Gumede and Plaatje were finally able to secure a meeting with Prime Minister Lloyd George. An extensive account of African disabilities in South Africa was presented to him but the Prime Minister only promised to communicate with General Smuts to ascertain what could be done to address the grievances of the Black population of South Africa. George was still very reluctant to interfere in the affairs of the colony.
Gumede made another appeal to the Prime Minister by way of a manifesto asking for the franchise for the Black people and for the reinstatement of land to the tribes and chiefs who had lost land to the Boers. But still nothing came of his appeals.
Ironically, Gumede and Plaatje managed to secure the allegiance of two socialist organisations, the Independent Labour Party and the Union of Democratic Control. The pair travelled throughout Scotland trying to rally support and even though most of their meetings were held under the auspices of the two socialist organisations, Gumede remained loyal to the ideas of liberalism.
The next year went by with Gumede still in England, addressing meetings and seeking support for the cause of the SANNC. Gumede felt that returning home would be to accept the failure of his mission.
In January 1921, Gumede had the opportunity to meet with Bankole Bright and other delegates from the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA). The aim of this delegation was to secure a greater share in constitutional government and administration for the African people in the British West African Colonies. Gumede realised that this delegation had a lot in common with the South African cause. Gumede and Plaatje returned to South Africa disillusioned over the lack of official British intervention in South Africa.
Throughout the 1920s members of the Natal Natives' Congress found themselves in conflict with each other. Dube and Gumede disagreed over the former’s attempts to keep the congress as independent as possible from the national ANC. Instead Gumede founded the Natal African Congress, which officially affiliated with the ANC. In 1921 Gumede was appointed as full-time general organiser of the SANNC, with the task of touring the country in search of financial support.
Gumede continued to oppose John Dube and his two sympathisers in the NNC, W Ndlovu and William Bhulose, and the trio were not re-elected to the executive at the annual meeting in April 1924. Gumede was elected as the new president of the NCC, but he was excluded from the annual Native Conference in Pretoria on 27 October 1924. Instead, Dube was invited to Pretoria by the government.
Following the failure of the deputation to the British government in 1919, Africans were forced to concede to the Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923, which further curtailed possession of land by Blacks. From 1924 Gumede openly lamented the increase in segregatory measures, and he became more militant as he questioned the Pact government about its racial and class legislation, and its limiting of education and employment opportunities for the Blacks.
Gumede, accompanied by James la Gumaof the Communist Party of South Africa(CPSA), was elected to represent the ANC at the first international conference of the League Against Imperialism in Brussels, Belgium. The pair departed from Johannesburg on 12 January 1927. From Brussels he travelled to the Soviet Union (USSR). Gumede wanted to use this opportunity to address the plight of the Africans, but also to gain first-hand knowledge of Communism in Russia. At the Brussels Conference, Gumede met Communists, left-wing Socialists and radical nationalists, enlarging his political perspective.
After the Brussels Conference, Gumede was invited to Berlin, Germany, by the German Communist Party. On arrival there on 17 February 1927, Gumede was warmly greeted by some 10 000 German Communists. He attended the World congress of the “Friends of the Soviet Union” from 10 to 12 November 1927, in Moscow. The visit coincided with the 10-year celebrations of the Bolshevik revolution. Gumede was becoming more convinced and attracted to communism, and developed a more radical critique of British imperialism. He realised that communism could play a vital role in liberating Africa, and his new ideas helped give birth to the alliance between the ANC and CPSA. The highlight of his visit was his meeting with Joseph Stalin.
On his return to South Africa on 17 February 1928, Gumede was given a hero’s welcome in Cape Town at a combined ANC-CPSA mass meeting held in Waterkant Street. He affirmed their alliance, as both parties had at the top of their agenda ‘African liberation’. Said Gumede:
‘When I left South Africa I was under the impression that in Russia people were not safe. But what I saw there surprised me. I saw a new Jerusalem. I found people happy, contented and prosperous. The Government of Russia is the Government of the working classes. Today in Russia the land belongs to the people.’
Referring to the position of the Church in Russia, Gumede repudiated claims common in South Africa to the effect that the Russian people were opposed to all forms of religion. Gumede praised the USSR as a country where racism was negligible, if at all existent. Contrary to his previous anti-Bolshevist stance, he now pronounced that the white communists in South Africa were the only group who fully supported Blacks in their struggle for equal rights.
Gumede began to support an alliance with communists. Van Diemel puts forth the argument that Gumede’s initial hostility toward communism stemmed from his perception that it threatened Zulu traditions and the status of African property owners, of which he was one. His disappointment with Britain eventually disposed him to reach out to other potential allies, including communists. Finally, having once supported legal means of protest, Gumede began to push for mass action. He was ahead of his time in many ways, both because he realised the futility of constitutional protest and because he recognised the need to build a united front in the struggle against South Africa's system of racial segregation.
The CPSA increasingly turned its attention to Gumede – and to the ANC – after the communists were expelled from the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union(ICU). Besides his pro-communist inclination, Gumede’s support for Afro-American leader Marcus Garvey – who argued for racial separation and the emigration of Afro-Americans to Africa – was apparent in his speeches. It was probably under Gumede’s influence that a resolution to request the United States of America to release Marcus Garvey – who was imprisoned on charges of fraud – was passed during the July 1927 conference of the ANC. The ANC national executive and the Convention of Bantu Chiefs, held under the auspices of the ANC in April 1927, received these pro-communist pronouncements with little enthusiasm. Gumede, however, succeeded in having a proposal which condemned the ties between the CPSA and the ANC withdrawn. Despite ANC criticism of the pro-communist tendencies that often surfaced in Gumede’s public rhetoric at that stage, he was elected as president-general of the ANC during its annual congress in July 1927, succeeding Zaccheus Richard Mahabane.
In 1929 Gumede was elected as chairperson of the South African branch of the League Against Imperialism when it was founded by the CPSA. At the end of that year, when the CPSA launched the League of African Rights, he also became its president.
Gumede’s three-year term as president-general of the ANC was characterised by disputes and dissension – although it did introduce new strains of radical thought into the ANC. It was an unhappy chapter in the history of the organisation. Gumede was accused of being more concerned with communism than the affairs of the Congress and of not improving the already weak financial position of the organisation, rendering him an ineffective administrator. Moreover, antipathy towards Gumede’s association with communism and his alleged neglect in circulating information increased sharply. Objections were also made against the ANC’s affiliation to the Communist-backed League Against Imperialism. This shattered Gumede’s dream of creating a closer union between the two parties.
Matters came to a head when the anti-communist faction of the national executive committee of the ANC took a majority decision to resign en bloc and Thomas Mapikela took over as acting president-general. At the annual ANC conference in April 1930, Gumede lost his position as president general and was succeeded by Pixley ka Seme. Gumede lost his Presidency largely because his alliance with communists had generated so much opposition within the Congress.
The move ended his role as a prominent figure in South African politics, but it did not end Gumede’s passion for politics – he continued as editor of the ANC mouthpiece Abantu Batho, through which he circulated Garvey’s political ideas. Gumede also continued to participate in the activities of the Black trade unions, and in May 1930 he was elected as a delegate to the International Conference of Negro Workers, which was to take place in July 1930 in London – but he was refused a passport to travel to England. He continued to advocate defiance of the Pass Laws and addressed several meetings held by the ICU.
In March 1931, Gumede was called to give evidence before the Native Economic Commission on the condition of Africans in the country. His evidence spurred him on to become more involved with African politics in Natal.
Gumede returned to Pietermaritzburg in 1932 and attempted to introduce a more militant approach in the NNC. In June 1932, it was decided that all future NNC meetings would be held under the auspices of the Natal African Congress (NAC), thereby aligning itself closer to the ANC. Gumede was appointed chairman and Dube was appointed President. At the next meeting, Gumede was elected president of the NAC.
For a short period in 1933, Gumede became involved with the ICU but the relationship soon faded.
Gumede continued his political agitation when Barry Hertzog introduced his notorious African Bills in 1935. In his letters to Black newspapers, Gumede called upon Black people to reject the bills. He attended the All African Convention(AAC) in December 1935, where the call was made to reject the Bills. However, the AAC failed to halt the Bills and during its second congress, members decided to support the Native Representative Council (NRC) in the hope of improving the situation from within. Opposition to the Bills breathed new life into the ANC.
Gumede, although nominated for a seat on the NRC, failed to secure a seat. This by no means signalled the end of the road for Gumede as he continued to assist chiefs in putting their land claims before the Native Affairs Commission.
During 1942, Gumede again tried to secure a nomination to the NRC, but failed. Accepting defeat gracefully, Gumede continued to assist Black workers who were unfairly dismissed from their jobs.
The highlight of Gumede’s career came in December 1943 when he was honoured as Life President of the ANC at the annual meeting of the ANC in Bloemfontein. At this very same meeting, the historic resolution was passed for the formation of the ANC Youth League. Resolutions passed in the October 1946 Congress calling for more militant methods of protest signalled the end to the peaceful and constitutional methods embarked upon thus far. For Gumede this signalled the long-awaited militant path that he hoped the Congress would follow.  Fortunately, he lived to see these resolutions passed just before his death on 6 November 1946.
Throughout his political career, Gumede spoke out against the intolerable policies against Black people. Described as a man seldom angered or harsh in judgement, who accepted criticism as the expression of opinion that people were entitled to, he believed in the power of the pen. His passion to serve his people surpassed his need to gain material wealth.
The legacy of JT Gumede’s willingness to serve his people will remain an important part of South African history.

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Reverend Zaccheus Richard Mahabane 1881 - 1971

First name: 

Zaccheus

Last name: 

Mahabane

Date of birth: 

15 August 1881

Location of birth: 

Thaba Nchu, Orange Free State (now Free State)

Date of death: 

September 1971

Location of death: 

Kroonstad, Orange Free State

Synopsis:

Teacher, court interpreter, minister and first President-General of the ANC

Richard Mahabane was born in Thaba Nchu, Orange Free State (now Free Stae Province), on 15 August 1881. His parents were Christians and prosperous farmers. After his primary school education in Thaba Nchu he was send to Morija Mission Institute in Basotholand (Lesotho) where he qualified as a teacher in 1901. He soon gave up teaching and became a court interpreter. In 1908 he began theological training at the Lessyton Theological school near Queenstown. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1914.
Richard Mahabane was born in Thaba Nchu, Orange Free State (now Free Stae Province), on 15 August 1881. His parents were Christians and prosperous farmers. After his primary school education in Thaba Nchu he was send to Morija Mission Institute in Basotholand (Lesotho) where he qualified as a teacher in 1901. He soon gave up teaching ad became a court interpreter. In 1908 he began theological training at the Lessyton Theological school near Queenstown. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1914.
Mahabane's first congregation was at Bensonvale near Herschel. From there he was transferred to Cape Town where he quickly became politically active. In 1919 he was elected as president of the Cape provincial branch of the South African Native National Council (SANNC, African National Congress (ANC) after 1923). He also became vice-president of the Cape Native Voters' Convention. His first term as president-general of the ANC (1924-1927) was a quiet period in the history of the organization.
Mahabane increasingly tried to attain Black unity. With the Coloured leader Dr A. Abdurahman he organised the so-called Non-European Unity Conferences between 1927 and 1934 where Africans, coloureds and Indians discussed their common grievances and ideals.
By the end of the 1920s Mahabane was anxious about the growing black following of the communist ideology and the pro-communist tendencies of his successor as ANC president-general, J.T. Gumede. From 1929 to 1930 he was therefore instrumental in ousting Gumede from his leadership position. Simultaneously Mahabane was closely involved with black resistance to the so-called J.B.M. Hertzog Draft Bills that, amongst others, were considering the removal of the Cape black voters from the common voters' roll. In order to oppose Hertzog's legislation, the All-African Convention (AAC) was formed in 1935, with Mahabane becoming one of the AAC leaders. At its first meeting in December 1935 he was elected to its executive committee and was part of the delegation that conveyed the AAC's grievances and proposals to Hertzog in Cape Town. The resistance was in vain but the AAC continued to exist and Mahabane served as vice-president until 1955.
Mahabane's second term as president-general of the ANC lasted from 1937 until 1940. He was still involved with the ANC after that and as senior chaplain was a member of the committee that had to investigate the revision of the ANC's constitution. In 1943 he was made lifelong honorary president. During the 1940s he became increasingly involved with the AAC that, with Mahabane's assistance and together with certain coloured organisations formed the basically Trotskyite Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) in 1945. Mahabane was its first chairperson and later president until his resignation in 1956. In October 1948 he was the AAC delegate at a meeting with the ANC where a vain attempt was made to end the dissension between the two organisations. He was not a participant in the Defiance Campaign of 1952.
In October 1956 Mahabane attended the National Conference of Black Thinkers in Bloemfontein to discuss the Tomlinson Report (Report of the Commission/or the Socio-Economic Development of the Bantu Areas) organised by the Interdenominational African Ministers' Federation (IDAMF). It was one of the most representative rallies of black people since the AAC meetings of the mid-thirties, and it rejected the commission's findings.
During the 1950s Mahabane increasingly applied himself to the problems of Christianity and its place in Africa. He put across his thoughts in this connection at various conferences in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa. He played a prominent role in the development of the Methodist Church in South Africa and helped to draw up the church's constitution and to define the equal status of all in the church. In addition he was one of the first three Africans to acquire an official position at the Methodist Church's conference. At the interchurch level he also held a leading role in the IDAMF. In 1927 and 1937 he attended international missionary conferences in Belgium where African affairs were discussed.
Mahabane was described as a diplomatic, slow-speaking and calm man, who combined politics and Christian ethics to fight racism. He was keen to unite all blacks into one firm and positive political front. Through the ANC he constantly tried to educate Africans about their rights and made frequent representations against the colour bar.
Mahabane lived and worked in Kroonstad for most of his long career. The colour bar in South Africa (Lovedale, 1923) was his only publication. He was married to Harriet Mantoro. The couple had three daughters and two sons.

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Sefako Makgatho 1861 - 1951

First name: 

Sefako

Last name: 

Makgatho

Date of birth: 

1861

Location of birth: 

Mphatlhele, Pietersburg, Transvaal (now Limpopo province)

Date of death: 

23 May 1951

Location of death: 

Riverside, Pretoria

Synopsis:

Politician, journalist, teacher and president of the South African Native National Congress, 1917-24.

Sefako Mapogo Makgatho was born at GaMphahlele, in the Pietersburg district in Transvaal (now Limpopo province) in 1861. He was the son of Chief Kgorutlhe Josiah Makgatho of the Makgatho chieftaincy at Ha Mphahlele. Sekhukhune was the paramount chief until 1879 when the British colonial government and the Voortrekkers managed to defeat him and brought some of the minor chiefdoms under their rule. At this stage Makgatho was a young man of 18 and fully aware of developments that were to signal the end of the Pedi polity.
Makgatho began his education in Pretoria where he completed his primary education. In 1882 he left South Africa to study education and theology at Ealing in Middlesex, England. At the time of the Scramble for Africa in 1885, he returned to Pretoria and started his career as a teacher at the Kilnerton Training Institute, a Methodist School for African children living near Johannesburg. Kilnerton Training Institute is known for some of its illustrious students, including Miriam Makeba and Lilian Ngoyi. Makgatho taught there until 1906 when he, together with other teachers in the Transvaal, formed one of the first teacher unions, the Transvaal African Teachers' Association (TATA).

Fort Wilhelm, and Botshabelo in 1867. When Sekhukhune ordered the Christians to leave in 1865, Merensky and his followers founded a new Station called Botshabelo - place of refuge. Source: Giliomee, Hand Mbenga, B., A New History of South Africa, Tafelberg, (Cape Town), p157

Campbell refers to leading African evangelists whose work drew the admiration of missionaries and colonial officials in Natal, where there were over a thousand local Black preachers, and in the Transvaal, where Boer officials were distinctly hostile to British missionaries. In the 1880s, one “Samuel Mathabathe spent nine years laboring as an unpaid Methodist evangelist in the Zoutpansberg without once being visited by a white missionary”. It was during this time that Makgatho was ordained as a Methodist lay preacher.
As a keen student of South African affairs, Makgatho followed Sekhukhune’s odyssey closely, especially since they were blood relations and the conflict was widely reported in the British press at the time. He also witnessed at close range the politics surrounding the signing of the General Act of the Conference of Berlin in 1885 by Britain, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and other lesser participants in the scramble for Africa. The Act granted freedom of trade to these European nations in the Basin of the Congo, navigation of the Congo, navigation of the Niger and rules for future occupation of the west coast of the African continent. Following this agreement the partition of Africa was aggressively undertaken.
The last decade of the 19th century brought on new challenges. Whereas the 1880s were marked by attempts within the Pedi polity to come to terms with the destruction of their kingdom and the subsequent penetration of colonial rule and authorities on the one hand and the spread of mission stations on the other, the 1890s saw the growth of the gold mining industry and changing patterns of migration. And it is possible that along with his kinsmen, Makgatho may have straddled the urban and rural spaces in search of converts.
But it was both as a teacher and politician that Makgatho made his mark in the first decade of the 20^th century. In 1906 he was inspirational in the establishment of TATA after he resigned as a teacher. He was also the key figure in the formation of the African Political Union (APU) and the Transvaal Native Organisation, both of which merged with the SANNC in 1912.
Makgatho also became involved in journalism, an occupation many African leaders found attractive during this period. Between 1912 and 1914, Makgatho teamed up with Alfred Mangena to establish a political journal, The Native Advocate. Edited by AK Soga, the publication lasted for just over a year until it was discontinued because of a lack of funds. Makgatho collaborated with Pixley ka Seme in launching the SANNC’s Abantu Batho in 1912, which was funded by the Swazi queen regent.
Makgatho was enraged by the passing of the Land Act of 1913. At the time the President of the Transvaal Congress and a National Executive Committee (NEC) member of the SANNC, he added his voice to the growing criticism of the Act. In his view, “this Act is fraught with the most momentous issues, as it infringes on the common rights of the people. In all countries and among all nations worthy of the name of a free people, these common rights to the purchase and sale of lands are recognised as resting upon the elementary principles of justice and humanity, which are the heritage of a free people” ("The Natives Land Act, 1913: The Pretoria Resolutions", Izwe la Kiti, July 2, 1913).
When World War I broke out in 1914, Makgatho was leader of the Transvaal Congress. From his remarks it is clear that he supported the decision to suspend attacks on the British government. He revealed to a gathering organised by the local native commissioner in Marabastad, near Pretoria, that Union Prime Minister Louis Botha had told the British Government he would not be sending men to war as he expected to deal with a major “native” uprising. This sentiment was apparently shared by many in government and the cabinet.
Makgatho became SANNC President at the tail end of World War I, in 1917, during a period in which the movement is considered to have reached its nadir. Some members criticised the SANNC for suspending criticisms of the Union government for the duration of the hostilities. Others, like Albert Nzula, maintained that the SANNC’s loyalty “to empire during World War I was the ‘first act of betrayal’ by the ‘chiefs and petit bourgeois native good boys’, which weakened the liberation struggles of the native people” (Giliomee, H and Mbenga, B) pp. 237 – 238).
For his part, Makgatho told the gathering that Botha’s cabinet should stop slandering us “before the Throne of King George for he is our king as well as yours. We do live under the Union Jack and we are proud of it and we are ready to fight for it today as any white man in the land” (ibid. p.239).

African soldiers who served in World War I against Germany. Although King George V praised the South African Native Labour Contingent for its contribution to the war effort, none of these troops received a medal or ribbon. Source: Giliomee, H and Mbenga, B, New History of South Africa, Tafelberg, (Cape Town), p240

In December 1918, following the end of the war, Makgatho called an SANNC meeting in Johannesburg with the city’s mayor, and delivered the opening address. At the conclusion of the meeting a petition was drawn up to be presented to King George. Numerous demands were made in the petition, including concern about the fate of British Protectorates considered for incorporation into South Africa, and a demand that such a decision not be taken without consultation with the inhabitants of these protectorates. Bechuanaland was one of the British Protectorates earmarked for incorporation into South Africa.
The petition also raised concerns about the fate of German East Africa(Tanzania, formerly Tanganyika) and German West Africa(Namibia, formerly South West Africa). It demanded that these two former German colonies be given to South Africa only on condition that racial discrimination and all legislation promoting it be abolished. And while German East Africa was never given to South Africa to administer as a mandate by the League of Nations, German West Africa was.
As President of the SANNC, Makgatho worked hard to ensure that the movement remained a key factor in the struggle against segregation. It is also rarely acknowledged that during Makgatho’s presidency, the Transvaal SANNNC played a significant role in labour disputes affecting African workers. Between 1918 and 1920 a number of strikes broke out in Johannesburg. First, municipal sanitary workers went on strike in 1918 in what became known as the “bucket strikes”.The Transvaal branch of the SANNC, still under Makgatho’s leadership, was fully behind the action. The following year the branch organised a passive resistance campaign against passes. Thousands of passes were handed as part of a boycott and over 700 protestors were arrested. In 1920 another miners’ strike broke out. Yet again, the Transvaal branch of the SANNC gave active support to the striking workers.
These strike actions, undertaken mainly by Africans in low paying occupations, were frowned upon by leadership at the national level. Men like Pixley ka Seme and Sol Plaatje wanted the SANNC to distance itself from these campaigns. They saw the campaigns as undermining their efforts as they continued to negotiate for the acceptance of Africans, particularly the educated elite, into mainstream society. Makgatho, on the other hand, welcomed this engagement of the government by the lower classes. He was, however, expressly opposed to the use of violence. It is for this reason that the Transvaal branch of the SANNC is considered to have been radicalised at the time when the movement at national level retained its more moderate identity.
It was only two years into Makgatho’s presidency that the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU) was established in 1919. It is apparent that, given his disposition of the previous year, Makgatho would have encouraged cooperation between the ICU and SANNC. Yet, between 1919 and 1924 there seems to have been little contact between the two organisations. This was so despite the fact that there was widespread agreement in the SANNC that “the ICU in the mid-1920s was an organisation that had surpassed the ANC in winning the alliance of the African people”.
Despite the lethargy of the national leadership in the creation of links with working African people, Makgatho managed to steer the movement away from its traditional support base of chiefs and African petit bourgeoisie by responding to the concerns of the underclasses, albeit for only a short period in the 1920s. This was particularly evident in the Transvaal, while Makgatho was still President of the Province’s SANNC.
In 1924 Makgatho addressed a group loosely refered to as African Associations on matters relating to draconian new measures under consideration by the PACT government of the South African National Party (SANP)of Hertzog and the Labour Party. One of these measures was the proposed plan to replace African labourers with Europeans. The speech covered a range of topics, reflecting significant changes in Makgatho’s perceptions and thinking on key political matters.
In the seven years he was president of the SANNC (renamed the African National Congress [ANC] during his tenure), Makgatho used the courts to challenge legislation that affected and undermined Africans in the urban areas, particularly laws relating to their freedom of movement. This approach to resistance may be frowned upon today, but in the 1920s and 1930s a range of government laws were challenged in the courts of law. In many cases, courts ruled in favour of litigants. Attempts at slum clearance in the cities in the 1920s for instance, were challenged in the courts and, in many cases, the affected tenants won.
As Transvaal President of the SANNC, Makgatho successfully challenged the law providing for segregation on Pretoria’s pavements. But it was the Transvaal Tax provisions that marked Makgatho as a formidable opponent of the state. Before 1925, the poll tax affecting Africans was the domain of Provincial governments. Tax administration of the Transvaal Province following the establishment of Union reflected the extreme regime put in place during Paul Kruger’s reign. It is for this reason that Makgatho became involved in a campaign for a uniform tax law for Africans across the Union of South Africa. His efforts were rewarded when parliament passed the Native Taxation and Development Act in 1925.
Makgatho was seriously concerned about the fate of African workers in urban centres who were facing the threat of being forced to return to the economically desolate rural areas. Secondly, he had come to the realisation that the African National Congress  had no choice but to embrace modernity. According to Makgatho, the black race “had sacrificed, and is sacrificing, precious blood in the mines for the upkeep and maintenance of European civilisation in this country”. Selope Thema commented in Umteteliwa Bantu,(September 27, 1924) that “this was the beginning moment of the ANC taking a new direction”.
Thema was deeply impressed by Makgatho for articulating “a view that was central to his thinking at this time:  that for African people there is no turning away from modernity back into tradition”. It was no doubt gratifying to Thema that “the ANC would fully and completely embrace modernity”. Thus it was that when Makgatho stepped down as President of ANC at the end of 1924, he had helped transform the movement from its traditional support base of chiefs and African petit bourgeoisie to one sympathetic to the plight of the African underclasses.
Makgatho’s role in the ANC during his successor the Rev. ZR Mahabane’s presidency is not accounted for. However, he continued to be influential in the Transvaal ANC. Consequently, it was under his guidance that the Transvaal ANC exerted the pressure necessary for the introduction of a uniform tax for Africans across South Africa. Mahabane’s presidency was marked by a growing alliance between the ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA).This brought to the fore debates about the “national question” and the application of the “two-stage theory” of revolution in South Africa. There seems to have been little coordinated response to some of the measures passed by the PACT government during Mahabane’s term between 1924 and 1927.
J. T. Gumede’s presidency, from 1927 to 1930, was marked by tensions between the nationalists and those considered to have been influenced by the communists. Gumede was sympathetic to the CPSA, who turned to him after the expulsion of communists from the ICU. It is not inconceivable that Makgatho’s loyalty was with the nationalist faction. If there was any doubt about his role during Mahabane’s presidency, there was none regarding his indifference during Gumede’s term of office. Consequently, when Pixley ka Seme was elected President of the ANC in 1930, Makgatho became the national treasurer.
In the 1930s Makgatho’s illustrious political career was waning. On 17 June 1933, at a Transvaal Native Congress provincial conference, Makgatho lost his position by a vote of 73 to 52 to Simon PetrusMatseke. This election marked the emergence of two factions in the Transvaal Congress, the Matseke/Thema faction on the one hand and the Makgatho/Mphahlele faction on the other. Thema had been Vice President of the Transvaal Congress and, as a Matseke supporter, retained his position. Mphahlele, General Secretary before the provincial congress and a Makgatho supporter, was replaced by a Matseke supporter, ZK Ramailane. 
Differences between the two factions came to a head when Seme proposed changes to the structure of the national body. He proposed that the national body be subdivided into 11 regional congresses in place of the four provincial congresses. This would have weakened the Transvaal Congress and it is suspected that Seme intended such an outcome. The entire Transvaal executive – with the exception of Makgatho– opposed the measure.
Makgatho’s support forSeme was frowned upon by his colleagues in the Transvaal Congress. At this stage the ANC was fragmenting along ethnic lines, with the Sotho-Tswana groups in the Transvaal claiming that the Ndebele (a reference to the Zulu and Xhosa) were retarding the movement’s progress. As expected, the Transvaal Congress was weakened following the adoption of Seme’s proposals, and it slid into relative inactivity.
Makgathosawthe inertia that crept into the Transvaal Congress – until then the   dominant blocin the ANC, as a result of the Great Depression and conditions of near famine that followed between 1931 and 1933. And as conditions worsened, Makgatho was helpless. Bonner asserts that during this period “the TAC, along with its parent body, went into a state of suspended animation.Nothing happened; no memorable campaigns, no surges of popular mobilisation, no serious challenges to white rule.” (Bonner, P)p1
These developments were compounded by growing perceptions that on the Rand, jobs were given to the “Matebele” ahead of the Sotho-Tswana. Bonner observes that there was an “elite Sotho/Tswana antagonism to educated interlopers, especially ‘Ndebeles' from the Eastern Cape and Natal, into the job market of the Transvaal”. These antagonisms were not restricted to the ANC and the Transvaal Congress. In 1931-32, these sentiments became widespread, becoming the subject of letters to editors. One typical letter to the Bantu World in November 1932 warned that “there are complaints here in Gauteng”¦ These complaints are from Zulu-speakers and Xhosa-speakers who are residents of the Transvaal. A call was made by the Transvaal Sotho-speaking men:
Let's establish a Sotho-speaking congress, its leaders Sotho speaking, even its members restricted to Sothos. We are tired of these Ndebeles."
It is alleged that Makgatho, realising how strong these sentiments had become, seemed to go with the tide. He is said to have acted as chairman in a Sotho-only congress on 23^rd October 1932. This seems to be a contradiction, considering that Makgatho was criticised throughout this period for supporting Seme and the national congress. And this support became apparent on the occasion of the December/January 1934 ANC Annual Conference. Delegates to the Conference, led by Seme, endorsed the Makgatho/Mphahlele faction, who featured prominently in Seme’s new national cabinet. In April 1934, a pro-Makgatho faction appointed itself in opposition to the Matseke’s faction. The split in the Transvaal Congress was declared and lasted until Matseke’s death in 1941.
Makgatho was national treasurer until 1933. However, it is known that he continued to be involved in provincial campaigns of the ANC in the Transvaal well into the 1940s. At this stage, aged over 80, Makgatho was still considered one of the leading politicians in the country.
Sefako Makgatho died in 1951, aged 90. In the same year, Nelson Mandela’s son from his first marriage with Evelyn was born. In paying tribute to Sefako Makgatho, Mandela named his son after him.
On the 100^th anniversary of his birthday in October 1961, Imvo Zabantsundu reflected on model African leaders in history. The newspaper characterised these men as “versatile and always available when their services were required by other people. Among the most versatile men of his day and generation was Samuel [sic] Mapoch [sic] Makgatho”

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Dr. Walter Rubusana 1858 - 1936

First name: 

Walter

Last name: 

Rubusana

Date of birth: 

21 February 1858

Location of birth: 

Mnandi, Cape, South Africa

Date of death: 

17 April 1936

Location of death: 

East London, Eastern Province, South Africa

Synopsis:

Minister of the Congregational Church, President of the South African Native Convention, he led a deputation to London to protest the Native Land Act of 1913, first African ever to be elected to serve as a member of the Cape Provincial Counci

Walter Benson Rubusana was born on 21 February 1858 at Mnandi in the Somerset East district of the then Cape Colony. His father was a senior councillor (umphakathi) to the Paramount Chief, Sandile Nggika. The decade during which Rubusana was born witnessed the military defeat and economic destruction of the Xhosa kingdom. It was inaugurated with one of the most bitterly fought frontier wars, which coincided with the so-called “Second Hottentot Rebellion.”
After acquiring primary school education, Rubusana was admitted to Lovedale, the Free Church of Scotland mission school on the banks of the Tyhume River. There, under the tutorship of Dr James Stewart, he studied for the Cape Teachers' Certificate, passing the final examination with distinction in 1878. Instead of going out to teach, he remained at Lovedale to study Theology under the guidance of Dr Stewart and the Reverend Andrew Smith.
In 1880 Rubusana left Lovedale to take up a teaching post at the Peelton mission station, where he also worked as assistant Pastor.
It was at this post, in 1883, that he married Deena Nzanzana, his first wife; together they had five daughters and a son. He remained at Peelton until his ordination as a minister of the Congregational Church in 1884, at which time he transferred to East London, which was to be his home for the rest of his life.
Rubusana was very much involved in political activity in the early 1900s. Despite being radical, Rubusana and his associates could not see beyond British Imperialism. During the Anglo-Boer War they all threw their support behind Britain. Rubusana and other ministers of religion lent their moral authority to enlisting African labourers, wagon drivers, scouts and hundreds of other non-combatants to contribute towards the British victory, which finally came in 1902.
The other important formative influence on Rubusana was his religion. He was a dedicated minister of the Congregational Church, participating in its councils and actively involved in proselytising its message to the African people. He translated a number of Congregational texts into Xhosa, and was also active in the Native Education Association, led by Elijah Makiwane. As the descendant of a respected traditional statesman.
As a recognised authority on the Xhosa language, he was appointed to serve on the Xhosa Bible Revision Committee, set up to refine the translation supervised by Tiyo Soga in the 1850s. He personally supervised its publication in Britain when he accompanied the Thembu king, Dalindyebo, to attend the coronation of King Edward VII in 1904. During his stay in London he also published his first book, Zemk' Inkomo Magwalandini (Defend Your Heritage), an anthology of traditional epic poetry, didactic Christian essays and Church history. As one of the earliest collections of the oral poetic tradition, the book has inestimable historical and literary value.
Zemk' Inkomo Magwalandini reflects on the two dimensions of Rubusana's political thinking. He was a committed modernist, represented by his espousal of Christianity and Western education, while at the same time recognising that there were a number of abiding values in traditional African society.
By the end of the decade (1900-1910) Rubusana was universally recognised as one of the leading black politicians in South Africa. Amongst Africans, his status was second only to that of John T Jabavu. Thus, when Jabavu withheld his support from the South African Native Convention, which met in Bloemfontein in 1909, it was natural that Rubusana was chosen as its President. In this capacity he led the black deputation to London in June of that year.
The deputation to London was a historic landmark, being the first occasion during this century that Africans and Coloureds formed a united front in pursuance of common objectives. Rubusana was accompanied by Dr A. Abdurahman, leader of the African People's Organisation (APO), D Dwanya, Matthew Fredericks, John T Jabavu, D J Lenders, Thomas Mapikela and one white parliamentarian, W P Schreiner on the deputation. Alfred Mangena, who was living in London, also joined the deputation.
Rubusana returned home with his deputation in September 1909 to report that they had been unsuccessful. White South Africa duly marked the unification of the four colonies with great pomp and ceremony in May 1910. The deputation had had two main objectives - reversal of the 'colour bar clauses' and preventing the incorporation of the three British territories (Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland) into the Union until the white public foreswore racism. Everyone they met listened politely to their arguments, but at the end of the day the Act of Union was passed, with the 'colour bar clauses' intact. The deputation did succeed however in preventing the absorption of the High Commission territories.
During the same year, Rubusana announced his candidacy for the Thembuland constituency in the Cape Provincial Council as soon as the elections were announced. Many who had mouthed sentiments of racial equality now joined the ranks of the arch-racists to denounce Rubusana for daring to contest the seat. Richard Rose Innes, the Independent Liberal politician and a long-time backer of Jabavu's, recorded his disapproval in the East London Dispatch. All these impediments not withstanding, W B Rubusana ran a most effective campaign. His contacts in the church and its related organisations provided a ready-made network to mobilise the voters; the SANC branches throughout the Cape and the newspaper Ilizwi Labantu provided rallying points for his supporters. When the results were announced on September 21, Rubusana had won the seat and become the first African ever to be elected to serve as a member of the Cape Provincial Council. The event caused quite a stir in South Africa.
In 1911 Rubusana made his third voyage overseas to attend the Universal Races Congress in London. The conference, organised by the Ethical Culture Society to discuss race relations throughout the world, had attracted numerous participants from the United States, Asia and other parts of Africa. Among the American participants was Dr. W E B du Bois, the father of Pan-Africanism. At the time he was engaged in setting up the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in the United States. Here Rubusana had the opportunity to rub shoulders with many of the leading black political figures of the world, exchange experiences, and broaden the international contacts of the South African movement.
Rubusana returned home convinced of the need for a national organisation. He and his colleagues had attempted to create such a movement in 1902, but had not been able to extend beyond the boundaries of the Cape. The idea of setting up a national organisation had been placed before the deputation to London in 1909 by Pixley Ka Isaka Seme and was implemented in late 1911. Rubusana was one of the hundred delegates who went to Bloemfontein on 8th January 1912 to attend the inaugural conference of the African National Congress. As an experienced political campaigner, he was appointed on to the constitutional commission chaired by Richard Msimang, and elected as one of the Vice-Presidents of the ANC.
Rubusana was involved in every aspect of the Anti-Land Act Campaign which was an attack on the Native Land Bill of June 1913. He featured prominently in every stage of its development. When the deputation to London was chosen he was amongst them. Rubusana and others arrived back in South Africa shortly before the outbreak of the First World War.
In 1914, Rubusana experienced a personal political defeat. When his term of office in the Cape Provincial council expired that year he decided to contest the seat once more. However on this occasion an old colleague John Tengo Jabavu, took the field against him. The two men had been opponents in many campaigns and had experienced numerous differences of opinion over the years. John Tengo Jabavu was awarded the position.
During the First World War (1914-1919), Rubusana personally offered his services to recruit 5,000 men provided the government was prepared to train them in modern warfare. The ANC leaders undertook to suspend all their campaigns and mass agitation for the duration of the war as a demonstration of loyalty. Smuts, on behalf of the government, thanked them for their declarations of loyalty but declined Rubusana's offer with words to the effect that since this was a "White man's war" he saw no reason why the Africans should take a hand in the fighting.
Rubusana died on 17th April 1936 in East London at the age of 78.