RV Selope Thema

Life of ANC stalwart remembered

The life and work of ANC stalwart Richard Victor Selope Thema will be remembered this weekend when his tombstone is unveiled and a rally held at KwaThema, the township on the East Rand which is named after him. This celebration coincides with the 90th anniversary of the organisation of which he was an early member and leader.

Born on a farm in Pietersburg, in the then Northern Transvaal, in 1886, RV Selope Thema began his education in a village school in 1897. The schools in those days were not under government control, for the white government had nothing to do with education for the native. This role was entirely confined to missionary efforts. His education at this mission school was interrupted when he was compelled to work as a labourer in the dispensary of the Imperial Military Railways during the Anglo Boer War.

At the beginning of 1903, he returned home to resume his studies. By this time, native schools were under the colonial government and Africans were not allowed to go beyond the third standard. After passing standard three, he was sent away from his home to open up a school. With the little money he earned as an unqualified teacher, Thema enrolled at the Lovedale Missionary College, in the Eastern Cape, where at the age of twenty-one he obtained his first Junior Certificate. Through the Hutton Scholarship, he was able to proceed to finish matric. At the end of 1910, he went home, again to teach. He taught for a year and soon realised that teaching was not for him. He then started work as a clerk at the Pietersburg mine recruiting corporation.

After having worked for three years, in 1915 Thema left for Johannesburg, where he started work as a clerk for Attorney Richard W. Msimang. This was to be Selope Thema's introduction to the new phase of the African political struggle. At the time Msimang was heading the drafting committee for the ANC constitution.

His dedication to the struggle soon catapulted him to the position of secretary of the ANC Transvaal branch, and in 1915, acted as Secretary General of the movement, until 1917. He served under the leadership of John L. Dube, who was president of the ANC at the time.

In 1919, he was a member of the ANC deputation to Britain and the League of Nations to explain the plight of the Africans and extract support, especially from Britain because of its imperial relations with South Africa. Thema took advantage of the trip and enrolled for a course at the London School of Journalism. On his return, he became sub-editor of the ANC's newspaper, Abantu Batho.

His leadership ability was soon recognised by the government and he was invited to participate in several conferences to discuss pending legislation for the Africans based on the policy of segregation. When Abantu Batho finally closed, he involved himself with the Johannesburg Joint Council, an organisation of selected prominent Africans and whites. The purpose of the council was to discuss conditions of Africans in Johannesburg and make representations to the authorities. In 1932, Thema became editor of Bantu World, a white-owned newspaper for Africans. Under his leadership, the paper transformed becoming a major force for the politicisation of urban Africans, covering the ups and downs of the African National Congress in detail.

In 1935 he was a founder member of the All African Convention (AAC), an umbrella organisation, which included organisations such as the ANC, the Communist Party and the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union. Selope Thema devoted his energies to the AAC, which was conceived because of an urgent need to mobilise against several drastic bills that were to be enacted. These included the Native Trust and Land Bill; the Riotious Assemblies Bill, designed to suppress demonstrations and strikes; the Native Service Contract Act; and the Pass Laws, which controlled and restricted the movement of Africans within the country, severely limiting their freedom to work where they want and their right to tenure.

In 1937 he was elected to the Native Representative Council (NRC), an indirectly elected body which included nominated chiefs. The NRC served as an advisory body to the Minister of Native Affairs. While the NRC was initially approved by the All African Convention, the ANC became increasingly hostile to this instrument of indirect rule, and eventually demanded that the members boycott the Council, which they did. In 1951, the nationalist government dissolved it.

Selope served in the National Executive of the ANC until 1949. He was opposed to the alliance of the ANC with the Communist Party and the South African Indian Congress, and to the approach of direct action being advocated by the militant leaders of the ANC Youth League.

In 1952, the same year of the Defiance Campaign, he retired as editor of Bantu World, becoming in his last days a spokesperson for moral rearmament. Selope Thema died in 1955.

Article appeared in ANC Today Vol.2 No.6, 8 February 2002