A Short History of the African National Congress (South Africa) 1912-1982
Formation of the ANC
Unity and Struggle
Massive Indian Resistance
Coloured Resistance
Mass Struggles
United Front grows and the struggle broadens
The Freedom Charter
In the words of President O.R. Tambo
On January 8, 1982, the ANC commemorates and celebrates the 70th anniversary of its formation. On this occasion we remember the founding fathers of the ANC. We owe it to them to record and report truthfully what they did, foresaw and thought. In a direct and literal sense we are their descendants. It is in their honour - or rather in our honour - that we should record their views and aspirations so as to guide and inspire the younger generation. We need to discuss their ideas in the light of 70 years of experience in a changing world.
The people of South Africa are called upon to:
and to rediscover their revolutionary potential.
This booklet is intended to achieve this. It is also meant to guide our friends and supporters internationally. They have to support us because they understand us and it is our task to tell them who we are and where we come from. Connected with this is the fact that any increase in the sum total of human knowledge is desirable. But the problem is that some of this knowledge is distorted, partly because of prejudice and partly because of ignorance. This booklet will help solve this problem. It will help correct some distortions.
In itself it is not the final word of the ANC on the subject. Indeed, it is a summary of a book to be published by the ANC in the course of this year. It is therefore neither exhaustive nor comprehensive. It highlights some aspects and periods in the history of our march to freedom .
The main theme of the booklet is the indomitable urge and quest for unity. After all, this is the reason for the formation of the ANC in 1912 and 70 years thereafter the ANC declared 1982 The Year of Unity in Action. In the following pages we have attempted to trace the history and evolution of this unity and we hope this booklet will help cement this unity.
South Africa was conquered by force and is today ruled by force. Whether in reserve or in actual employment, force is ever-present. This has been so ever since the white man came to our country. In order to fully appreciate the political and social significance the ANC expresses, the necessity for the type of organisation we have today, we have to look into the past; we have to look into the history of the contact between African people and the whites in South Africa, a bitter and grim story of national struggles and historically unbroken and self sacrificing resistance against foreign invasion, plunder and political, economic and social domination. We have to look into the past to see what forces forged and inspired the formation and functioning of our national liberation movement.
European settlement in South Africa dates back to April 6th, 1652. Because of the intrusive, predatory and aggressive policies of the invaders, disputes which soon led to war, ensued. Having defeated the Khoisan people who inhabited the Cape Peninsula, robbing them of their land, their livestock and frequently their lives, the settlers devoted themselves for a brief spell to farming the fertile land. However, disagreements soon arose between the farmers and the Dutch East India Company over economic and political policies and the amount of control the Company had over settlers. Some left the Peninsula and gradually penetrated the interior until they reached the Cape Western Plateau, an area inhabited by the Xhosa-speaking section of the African people. In the Cape alone 9 wars of resistance against white encroachment were waged covering a time span of almost 100 years. First the Boers and later the combined forces of Boer and British were checked in their advance-however, superior arms helped them to slowly push the indigenous people of South Africa back beyond the Great Fish River, occupying part of their ancestral land. Yet, as was the case throughout the country, our people were never conquered by the Boers.
In order to continue their march into the interior the Boers were forced to change course, to turn northwards and abandon the easterly direction they originally intended to follow. Wherever the Boers went, they met fierce opposition. They were fought and defeated in Natal, Basutoland (now Lesotho) and in the Eastern Transvaal and were reduced to roving bands of brigands. Had it not, in fact, been for the arrival of the British forces the Boers would eventually have been defeated in their quest to occupy, dominate and enslave our country. As it is the Boers never ruled any section of the African people, managing to merely levy tributes from the small and weaker tribes. When they arrived in the Cape every inch of our country was occupied. It was not a 'no man's land'.
The arrival of the British military forces in SA at the beginning of the 19th century marked a qualitative and quantitative change in the resistance struggle, immensely strengthening the forces of colonisation and oppression. With their overwhelming superiority in arms and numbers of well-trained men, they were able, after grim and bitter battles, to eventually subdue all military opposition to their fraud designed to colonise and exploit our country and people. Effectively, the defeat of the Bambata Rebellion in 1906 brought to a close this first, 250-year phase of resistance and set the stage for handing over of the administration of the country to local whites by British Imperialism. There is a direct connection between the Bambata Rebellion of 1906 and the formation of the ANC six years later.
Defeated militarily and totally disarmed, robbed of their land by foreign invaders, denied any say in the government of their country, our people realised that new ways had to be found to continue the struggle. Old forms of organisation and methods of struggle were becoming outdated and proving inadequate to meet the new conditions and situation. The people were looking for new forms of organisation and learning new methods of struggle, methods of fighting without the spear or gun; they were learning the ways of mass meetings, demonstrations, deputations, protests, passive resistance and even strikes. The need for African unity in the face of a common enemy and common problems - a need long recognised by far-sighted African leaders, was forcibly brought home with the promulgation of the Act of Union in 1910, when the government under General Louis Botha moved to consolidate white hegemony within the system established by the SA Act, uniting the formerly embittered feuding sections of the white minority.
The formation of the ANC on January 8, 1912 was not an accident of history, it was a logical development of history, a continuation of the anti-colonial struggle of our people which began with colonialism itself. Of course it did not all happen overnight. There were many factors which led to the formation of the ANC. The introduction of Christianity in South Africa led to an emergence of Black Christians who later rejected the white Christian values, formed their own independent churches with new concepts and values. The first of these black converts to form an independent church was Nehemiah Tile who played a significant religious and political role. He formed the Thembu Church in 1883 in the Transkei. The founding of the Ethiopian Church by Rev M.M. Mokone on the Witwatersrand in 1892 was tantamount to widening the battle front started by Tile.
This period saw the emergence of young African intellectuals who came from mission schools established throughout the country. They helped in establishing the early beginnings of what later developed to be an African press. They wrote articles in English and African languages, and therefore helped to develop the African languages. The first political organisation formed was Imbumba yam a Afrika (Union of Africans) in the Cape in 1882 which advocated African unity as opposed to denominational diversity and planned representations to white authorities. In 1884 two additional organisations were formed, again in the Cape, namely the Native Education Association and the Native Electoral Association which were concerned mainly with electoral politics - those days Africans in the Cape could vote.
But it was during the Anglo-Boer war and immediately after the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902 that concrete steps were taken by Africans to form a movement which would devise some method of presenting grievances and complaints of Africans to the government. This growing awareness and consciousness of a need for a political organisation of Africans on a broader basis led Martin Lutuli, Saul Msane and Josiah Gumede to meet Harriet Colenso to discuss the formation of an African political organisation. In July 1900 the Natal Native Congress was formed and its first secretary was H.C. Matiwane and the Chairman was Martin Lutuli - an uncle of the former President-General of the ANC, Chief Albert Lutuli. Martin Lutuli was chairman for 3 years and was replaced by Skweleti Nyongwana and Lutuli became vice-chairman. Local committees managed local affairs and the object and intention of Congress was to represent the whole African community in Natal.
In the Eastern Cape in 1902 Africans close to the East London newspaper Izwi Labantu and therefore opposed to Jabavu's Imvo Zabantsundu and his pre-occupation with European politics founded the South African Native Congress. The tasks of this organisation were to co-ordinate African activities in the Cape Colony, particularly in connection with electoral politics. The political orientation of the SA Native Congress is contained in a statement of its Executive in 1903: 'Questions affecting the Natives and Coloured People resident in British South Africa'. The Native Vigilance Association of the Orange River Colony presented a testimony before the SA Native Affairs Commission on September 23, 1904. What is striking, but not surprising if one takes into account the ethnic composition of the province, is the 'non-tribal' composition of the leadership of this organisation, that is, judging by the delegation which saw the Native Affairs Commission.
These testimonies and petitions to King Edward VII, e.g. from the Native United Political Associations of the Transvaal Colony (April 25, 1905) or the Orange River Colony Native Congress (June 1906), or the Natal Native Congress (October 1908) or from the 'aboriginal natives of South Africa, resident in the Transvaal' (October 22, 1908) and resolutions of the South African Native Congress (April 10, 1906) or the petition to the Secretary of State for Colonies from the Natal Native Congress (October 1908), give us an insight into the problems and grievances of the Africans who showed an acute awareness of the magnitude of their disabilities and a sharp antagonism to any continuation of the political system of the Boer Republics.
These petitions (the Transvaal Native Union collected 3,764 signatures) asked for a common roll franchise throughout South Africa plus separate representation for the mass of the African people unable to qualify for this. Within 4 months these organisations held congresses. The draft South Africa Act was discussed at these meetings. Resolutions deprecating the colour bar and the failure to extend the African franchise from the Cape to the north were passed. It was from these regional conference that 60 elected delegates came to Bloemfontein to attend the South African Native Convention on March 24-26, 1909.
The South African Native Convention consisted of delegates from the Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, Orange Free State and Bechuanaland (now Botswana). Rev Walter Rubusana, leader of the Cape delegation of the South African Native Congress, chaired the convention and was elected president of the Convention. They discussed those clauses of the draft Union Act which related to African and Coloured people. These resolutions which attacked the racism inherent in the Draft Act were delivered to the Governors and Prime Ministers of the 4 colonies (Cape, Natal, OFS and Transvaal) and to the British High Commissioner for transfer to the Secretary of State for Colonies. lf the Draft Act was not amended, a deputation was to be sent to England. The delegation was to comprise Rev Rubusana, president of the Native Convention, T.M. Mapikela of the Orange River Colony and D. Dwanya of the Cape Congress. The Transvaal Native Congress appointed Alfred Mangena who was already in London and instructed him to 'work in co-operation with the other delegates'. W.P. Schreiner was invited to join them and Tengo Jabavu represented his tiny Cape Convention . The Coloured community was represented by Dr Abdurahman, leader of the African People's Organisation while Advocate Gandhi represented the Indian community. This defiant deputation was later to be disappointed by the attitude of the British government, which once more deliberately ignored the express wishes of the black population of South Africa.
FORMATION OF THE ANC
The South African Act of Union which was passed by the British House of Commons in 1909 and ratified by the South African Parliament on May 31, 1910 - the anniversary date of the Treaty of Vereeniging (May 31, 1902) signed after the Anglo-Boer War - was based on a Colour Bar clause that precluded all Blacks from being eligible to become members of Parliament. On May 31, 1910 the so-called Union of South Africa was formed. But even before May 31, 1910 Africans suffered untold disabilities.
When translated into practice this Act meant the repression of all Blacks in every conceivable form; it was used to curtail African freedom of movement; to deny the Blacks the rights of trading in their areas; to cripple their education and generally to deny them the basic human rights and chances of equality of opportunity in economic development, cultural welfare and social advance.
There were also other grievances, which have been documented by Professor D.D.T. Jabavu, son of Tengo Jabavu. He states that an African was required to carry as many as twelve different 'legal' documents to avoid being imprisoned when challenged by the police a barbarous system-the pass system. According to the pass laws Africans could be arrested and removed from any place to any other place for any reason at any time. This pass system was closely connected with direct taxation. Under the Poll Tax law Africans were forced to pay a tax altogether disproportionate to their earnings-a question which not only made inroads into the earnings of most Africans but constituted one of the most heart-rending single grievances among the Africans. This taxation was painful in many ways: boys under 18 were taxed because magistrates were allowed to judge a boy's age from appearance; this taxation was also used as a means of compulsion to labour in the service of Whites. In addition, many white farmers paid wages in kind only and some paid the ú1 Poll Tax and bound the Africans for a year at a time to their farms. The poll tax receipt was made into a kind of pass, so that when an African failed to produce it to a policeman, he was prosecuted on a criminal charge and was liable to imprisonment. They even taxed blankets - 25 per cent for those imported - and blankets are an indispensable article of apparel among rural Africans.
There were problems - such as the old age pensions - which were paid every month to European men but not to Africans. On the contrary African aged men were compelled to pay the universal Native Poll Tax till death if, in the judgement of the magistrate they had cattle. There were other irritations, such as the curfew regulations which stipulated that it was a criminal offence for an African male - in some provinces even females-to be in town (outside the location) without a night pass after 9pm; excessive rents, lack of adequate transport, indifference of town councils and appalling or non-existent medical services. The injustice of law courts was legalised. The Masters and Servants Laws enabled the white farmers to repudiate a contract entered into with an African servant and then turn round and imprison that servant, if he refused to serve, notwithstanding the white farmer's dishonesty - repudiation of his own contract. The Law further instituted punishment by lashing.
This was in no way the whole source of African grievance; it was just the tip of an iceberg but this tip does drive the point home-namely that the complaints about suffering were not merely a sentimental grievance but real suffering.
Faced with these problems and the fact that their interests had been totally disregarded, in the absence of a political organisation of their own which could voice their grievances and aspirations, these new African intellectuals - some of whom had just come back from Europe and America-started to work and to educate the masses on their rights, duties and obligations to the state and to themselves, individually as well as collectively and to promote mutual help, feelings of brotherhood and a spirit of togetherness among them.
Seme and others became involved in this movement. Seme said he was 'requested by several Natives, Leaders and Chiefs, to write a full and concise statement on the subject of the South African Native Congress' but, he continued, 'I feel, however, that I shall better meet their desire as well as more properly treat this subject if I disregard the pretentious title and write on the simple subject of Native Union, for, after all, this is what the Congress shall be'.
He wanted to emphasise the question of unity -a unity that cut across but did not replace ethnic characteristics. After explaining what he thought Congress should do he emphasised the urgency of forming the ANC'
'Again, it is conclusively urgent that this Congress should meet this year, because a matter which is so vitally important to our progress and welfare should not be unnecessarily postponed by reason of personal differences and selfishness of our leaders'.
We should remember that when Seme was saying Congress should meet 'this Year' he was writing in October, 1911. And then he came to what we consider the central theme of his contribution:
'The demon of racialism, the aberrations of the Xhosa- Fingo feud, the animosity that exists between the Zulus and the Tongaas, between the Basutos and every other Native must be buried and forgotten; it has shed among us sufficient blood. We are one people. These divisions, these jealousies, are the cause of all our woes and of all our backwardness and ignorance today'.
The Africans followed Seme's advice and on January 8, 1912 they came from all 4 provinces of South Africa and Botswana. They met in Bloemfontein, where it was Seme again who gave the keynote address. He said:
'Chiefs of royal blood and gentlemen of our race, we have gathered here to consider and discuss a theme which my colleagues and I have decided to place before you. We have discovered that in the land of their birth, Africans are treated as hewers of wood and drawers of water. The white people of this country have formed what is known as the Union of South Africa - a union in which we have no voice in the making of the laws and no part in their administration. We have called you therefore to this Conference so that we can together devise ways and means of forming our national union for the purpose of creating national unity and defending our rights and privileges'.
What Seme was saying was simply that the ANC was going to represent not just the overwhelming majority of the people of South Africa but exactly that section of the population which had known nothing but violent legislation from the government, especially since 1910.
The opening speeches were made. The gathering sang Tiyo Soga's Lizalis'idinga Lakho, Thixo Nkosi Yenyaniso, Fulfill Thy Promise, God, Thou Lord of Truth). Seme, seconded by Alfred Mangena, moved that those assembled should establish the South African Native National Congress. He was unanimously supported.
A committee was appointed to draw up a constitution. George Montsioa suggested that seven paramount chiefs be appointed as Honorary Presidents of the South African Native National Congress. This inaugural conference resolved that two houses, the Upper and Lower House, should be established. The Chiefs who were to be honourary Presidents were: Dalindyebo of the Thembus, Montsioa of the Barolong, Lewanika of Barotseland (part of Zambia), Letsie 11 of Basutoland (Lesotho) who was elected President, Khama of Bechuanaland (Botswana), Dinizulu, the Zulu Chief who was deposed and exiled to the Transvaal by the British was also included.
The committee proper consisted of: The Rev. John L. Dube, as President; Solomon T. Plaatje became Secretary; Pixley ka Isaka Seme was elected Treasurer; Thomas Mapikela of the Orange Free State became Speaker and Montsioa Recording Secretary. The Rev. Mqoboli of the Wesleyan Church became Chaplain-in-chief with the Rev. H.R. Ngcayiya his Assistant. Rev. Walter Rubusana, Meshack Pelem, Sam Makgatho and Alfred Mangena were elected Vice-Presidents.
This first National Executive of the ANC is interesting in many respects: it consisted of four ministers of religion, lawyers, an editor (Plaatje), a building contractor (Mapikela) a teacher and estate agent (Makgatho) and a teacher, interpreter and Native Labour Agent (Pelem). These are people who went to the mission schools and five of them studied abroad (UK and USA) and others had attended conferences overseas. These men were prominent in local political organisations and even nationally. They were relatively young - in their thirties and early fifties. The four provinces were well represented on the Executive.
A word on the inclusion of the chiefs. They were honoured in accordance with African tradition by being involved in this new organisation as Honorary Presidents in the Upper House. They represented the rural masses who were the majority of the people at the time and the section most affected by the land robbery. There was a need for an alliance between the peasants and the young intellectuals - the working class was still in the process of formation. These chiefs were the recognised spokesmen of their people - they had fought against colonialism and some of them were victimised, deposed and banished. It is said that in 1912 Dube addressed a group of Africans in Zululand to explain the new movement and appeal for unity. A member of the audience shouted:
'I thank Bambata. I thank Bambata very much. Would this spirit might continue! I do not mean the Bambata of the bush who perished at Nkandhla, but I mean this new spirit which we have just heard explained'.
At the inaugural conference of the ANC eleven papers were read and the topics ranged from African marriage and divorce, African beer, schools and churches, African labour, segregation, the land question (Squatters Law).
To conclude the proceedings John Knox Bokwe's Give a Thought to Africa was sung and the delegates returned home to report back.
The formation of the ANC on January 8, 1912 signified the birthday not only of the ANC but also of the nation - the ANC was assigned the task of being a midwife in this process of national rebirth and regeneration. This meant the creation of a loyalty of a new type, a non- tribal loyalty, a loyalty which was inherently anti- colonial and by implication anti-missionary. This was an act of national salvation, a continuation - under new historical conditions - of the anti-colonial struggle of our people which began with colonialism itself.
UNITY AND STRUGGLE
Dr A.B. Xuma, then President-General of the ANC in Bloemfontein, on December 15, 1941 said that the founding fathers of the ANC 'displayed great vision and laid a broad foundation on which the superstructure for African freedom and liberty in the land of their forefathers'. He went on to say that they proclaimed through the organisation they set up and efforts they made, that only through unity and concerted action of all can justice and freedom be achieved. These men made sacrifices and suffered privations in the cause of African freedom, some of them went to gaol but remained popular and loyal and true to the cause of their people. They pointed the way for us - they showed that freedom is precious and a heavy price must be paid to obtain it. Let us now look at these sacrifices and privations Dr Xuma is talking about.
The Native Land Act of 1913 under which the white population of 1.5 million was allotted more than 90 per cent of the total land while the African population of 5.5 million got less than 10 per cent, was one of the most burning issues. In these 70 years nothing has changed substantially in this injustice except the statistics; that out of a population of 27 million there are about 23 million Blacks who possess a mere 13 per cent of the land.
Before 1913 with the exception of the Orange Free State, Africans could purchase and lease land outside of the reserves upon the same basis as Whites. White farmers were, by 1912, becoming alarmed at the increasing acquisition of farms by Africans who secured land from white owners in return for rent paid usually either in services, cash or kind.
The Land Act of 1913 was meant to stop this development. It denied the Africans the right to own land except on the reserves where land is insufficient, infertile, eroded and in areas infested with mosquitoes and therefore regions where malaria is rife. This land robbery (combined with racist legislation) forced many Africans to the cities; led to the beginning of urbanisation and continuation of proletarianisation of Africans. The struggle against the Land Act was a struggle for the return of the land robbed by colonialists from the Africans.
Plaatje, in his book Native Life in South Africa, describes and explains the meaning of the law; an African can neither purchase nor lease and, and African landowners in the Free State could only sell their land to the white people. Plaatje sums up his description of the effects of the law on the daily lives of the Africans by quoting a prophecy of an old Mosotho peasant:
'That the Imperial Government, after conquering the Boers, handed back to them their old Republics, and a nice little present in the shape of the Cape Colony and Natal-the two English colonies. That the Boers are now ousting the Englishmen from the public service, and when they have finished with them, they will make a law declaring it a crime for a Native to live in South Africa, unless he is a servant in the employ of a Boer, and that from this will just be one step to complete slavery.'
This prophecy, written in 1916, describes exactly what is taking place in South Africa today. The anger of the Africans was reaching a boiling point. To illustrate this Plaatje depicts a war situation where 'you found your kinsmen driven from pillar to post in the manner that the South African Natives have been harried and skarried by Act No. 27 of 1913' and you would 'find it difficult to suppress your hatred of the enemy'. The ANC mounted a campaign against the Land Act. Resolutions, telegraphic and other representations were made. The ANC took initiatives: in March, 1913 the Annual Congress of the ANC appointed a deputation to present to the government African objections against the Land Act. The deputation consisted of: J.L. Dube, Dr W.B. Rubusana; Mangena, Rev. I. Dlepu; W.Z. Fenyang; S. Msane; L.T. Mvabaza; D. Letanka and Sol. T. Plaatje. (Sol. Plaatje was unable to proceed to Cape Town).
On July 5, 1913 the ANC called a meeting specifically to receive the report of the delegates to Cape Town and further to consider what other actions might be taken. Africans from as far south as East London and King Williamstown and from as far north as the Zoutspansberg in the Northern Transvaal and also from Natal and Bechuanaland (Botswana) met in Johannesburg: 'they had gathered to discuss the situation arising from the serious conditions created by the Native Land Act'. On the platform were John Dube, President of the ANC (as Chairman), R.W. Msimang and Sol. T. Plaatje. Dr Rubusana gave the report. He told the audience about their four interviews with the Minister of Native Affairs and several interviews with members of Parliament. Every effort failed. Even before that Rubusana had written a letter in May 1913 to Lord Gladstone, asking him not to agree to the Bill until he had heard the African view. Two months later, in July, J. Dube, as ANC President, wrote to the same Lord Gladstone asking him for an interview so that he, Dube, could explain the nature of the damage caused by the Act to the Africans.
It was for these reasons that the ANC considered, and as a result of their deliberations, resolved to appeal to the British government 'and also to take steps to inform the British public of the mode of government carried on in British South Africa under the Union Jack, and to invoke their assistance to abrogate the obnoxious law that had brought the Congress together.'
Why should Britain and the British public help? It was argued that if South Africa were really British, then any suffering taking place in that country must be of concern to His Majesty the King and The British public. Surely, our predecessors were not aware that the Union Act was a creation of Britain. A deputation had to be sent on this mission to Britain, a journey consisting of six thousand miles by sea (from Cape Town) and one thousand miles by rail (from Johannesburg to Cape Town). This is not just a matter of figures, it is a matter of politics because:
'When the Europeans of South Africa went to England to ask the Imperial Government for a constitution, their delegates were easily sent because the native taxpayers, although with hardly any hope of benefiting by the gift-which amounted to a curtailment of their rights-were compelled to contribute to the travelling and other expenses of their envoys: but in the Natives' own case no such funds are at his disposal, even though his taxes had been used by a Parliament in which he is unrepresented as a rod for his back'.
Something had to be done to meet this critical situation. S. Msane was deputed to tour the country and ask for funds from the Africans. In Johannesburg a Committee was formed to superintend this effort and to take charge of the funds which might be raised. The members of this committee were: W.F. Jemsana (Chairman), E.M. Cele (Treasurer), D.S. Letanka, R.W. Msimang, H.D. Mkize, B.G. Phooko, D.D. Tywakadi, D. Moeletsi, M.D. Ndabezita, H. Selby Msimang (Hon. Secretary), S. Msane (Organiser). At the same time a deputation was sent to Pretoria to present the Government with three resolutions passed by the ANC conference:
The members of the deputation to the Union Government in Pretoria were: Chief Karl Kekane and S.M. Makgatho (Transvaal): E. Mamba (Transkei): S. Msane and Rev. Twala (Natal), Sol. T. Plaatje (Cape) and J.M. Nyokong (Orange Free State), S.P. Malan, Minister of Native Affairs 'confessed to a feeling of relief at the moderation of their tone'. General Botha, the Prime Minister was against the idea of an African delegation going to England. Plaatje reports:
General Botha's efforts against the deputation, without offering any homes to the evicted Natives, was probably the best stimulus towards the deputation fund. The Premier visited a northern tribe some time after and was said to have warned the Chief and his people against the pretensions of the Native Congress. When Mr Dube called there a few days later, they handed him ú200 towards the deputation fund, which they had collected since General Botha's visit. Mr Saul Msane similarly raised ú360 for the fund in the Eastern Transvaal where the Premier warned the Natives against the deputation without offering them any relief'.
At this juncture we need to address ourselves to the so-often repeated thesis that the ANC at this time and later was reformist. Perhaps the best way to answer this is to pose concrete questions. First, why did the ANC approach the government before consulting with the masses regarding a deputation to London? Why did the ANC send a delegation at all especially after the first one in 1909 failed? Why did the ANC give condolences to the government when the Minister of Justice and Native Affairs, Sauer, died? And why did the ANC Conference adopt a resolution which stated:
... the Natives dissociated themselves entirely from the industrial strikes on the Witwatersrand and elsewhere and preferred to seek redress for their grievances through constitutional rather than by violent means ?
The three obvious answers that come to mind are:
As a result of the white miners' strike the ANC was refused permission to hold a meeting in Johannesburg but held its meeting in Kimberley on February 27, 1914. There was Makgatho (Vice President of the ANC), Prince Malunge ka Mbandeni of Swaziland, and Chiefs Molotlegi and Maniogale of the Transvaal as well as Moiloa of the Tswana and E.M. Cele of Natal, Meshach Pelem from the Cape, J.M. Nyokong and S. Litheko of the Orange Free State, and others. Also present were I. Joshua, Chairman of the African People's Organisation (APO), a Coloured organisation, Lakey, September and other APO committee members at a public reception. It is reported that the Coloured people attended the ANC reception in their hundreds and cheered the musicians of their African brothers who entertained the people who thronged the City Hall till many were refused admission. The Coloured African People's Organisation sent a speaker, H. van Rooyen, to welcome the delegates on behalf of APO and Joseph Kokozela on behalf of the Kimberley and Beaconsfield branches of the ANC welcomed the delegates to Kimberley. President John Dube also arrived.
The deputation that finally went to London - it was democratically elected through the ballot -consisted of: J. Dube, Dr Rubusana, Sol. T. Plaatje, Saul Msane, T.M. Mapikela.
The idea of a deputation and appeal was inherent in African tradition and custom. The delegation called on a mail ship bound for England on May 16, 1914. Upon their arrival in Britain the deputation contacted the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society (ASAPS) which reported their arrival to the Colonial Office. The Society 'advised' the ANC deputation on how to go about their business. The Colonial Secretary saw the ANC deputation on June 24, 1914. The interview was tense. After this meeting the deputation issued an appeal drafted with the help of the ASAPS to the member of the Imperial Parliament and public of Great Britain. This did not achieve much.
Whilst the ANC was dealing with the problems arising from the Union Act and Land Act a new problem arose - African women in the Orange Free State were being forced either to buy passes every month or go to prison and in both instances they were exposed to the indecent provision of the law which authorised male constables to insult them. There was a new element to these pass laws. In the past the pass regulations were never enforced against clergymen's wives or against the 'families of respectable' Africans, but now a wife of a minister had to produce a pass on demand and like every black woman she had to pay a shilling for a fresh pass at the end of the month, with the result that, as Plaatje says, a family consisting of, say, a mother and five daughters pay the municipality 6 shillings every month 'Whether as a penalty for the colour of their skins or a penalty for their sex it is not clear'.
The Africans made all possible constitutional appeals against these outrages -without success. A deputation of women from Bloemfontein consisting of Mrs A.S. Gabashane, Mrs Kotsi and Mrs Louw went to Cape Town to air their grievances about passes to H. Burton, Minister of Native Affairs. They sent a petition to Lady Gladstone. They exhausted all these constitutional measures; witnessed the spread of trouble to the women and children under the Natives' Land Act and they decided to 'throw off their shawls' and to take the law into their hands.
In Bloemfontein:
'A crowd of 600 women, in July 1913, marched to the Municipal offices at Bloemfontein and asked to see the Mayor. He was not in, so they called for the Town Clerk. The Deputy Mayor came out, and they deposited before him a bag containing their passes of the previous month and politely signified their intention not to buy any more passes.'
At Jaggersfontein a similar demonstration was led by a Mozambican woman. They were arrested. They refused to pay the fines:
'As the authorities were scarcely prepared for such a sudden influx of prisoners there was not sufficient accommodation for 52 women who were conveyed on donkey carts to the adjoining village of Fauresmith'.
In Winburg there was similar trouble. 800 women marched to the Town Hall singing hymns and addressed the authorities. Women were tired of making friendly appeals which bore no fruit. They resolved to carry no passes, much less to pay a shilling each per month for passes:
... they all resolutely refused to pay their fines, and there was a rumour that the Central Government had been appealed to for funds and for material to fit out a new jail to cope with the difficulty.'
Brutal methods were used to deal with the women protestors:
'The first batch of prisoners from Bloemfontein were conveyed south to Edenburg: and as further batches came down from Bloemfontein they had to be retransferred north to Kroonstad'
Plaatje visited the prison in Kroonstad in August 1913 accompanied by the wife of Rev. A.P. Pitso of Kroonstad and Mrs Petrus. He was shocked to see the conditions of the women:
'A severe shock burst upon us, inside the prison walls, when the matron withdrew the barriers and the emaciated figures of ladies and young girls of our acquaintance filed out to greet us. It was an exceptionally cold week and our hearts bled to see young women of Bloemfontein, who had spent all their lives in the capital and never knew what it was to walk without socks, walking the chilly cemented floors and the cold and sharp pebbles without boots. Their own boots and shoes had been taken off, they told us, and they were throughout the winter, forced to perform hard labour bare footed...
Plaatje and the members of his delegation reacted to this scene and their hearts were filled with pity and sympathy - but there was a sense of pride and confidence which expressed itself in mutual solidarity:
'Tears rolled down our cheeks as we saw the cracks on their bare feet, the swellings and chilblains which made them look like sheep suffering from foot and mouth disease... To our surprise, however, they vowed never to buy passes, even if they had to come back'.
The white racist attitude towards this inhumanity was characteristic: 'instead of being sent to prison with hard labour, these mad caps should be flogged'. Plaatje as Secretary-General of the ANC telegraphed General Botha 'and pointed out to him that over two hundred Coloured women were at that time languishing in jail for resenting a crime committed upon them'.
The outbreak of the First World War posed serious political questions for the ANC. The war was fought for more colonies. It is one of those bitter ironies of the First World War that the colonial people had to pay such a high price for their own enslavement. Through deceit, bribery and corruption the Africans were made to believe that the colonialists were going to grant them freedom - of course after the war. The ANC supported the war in the hope that it would bring about a speedy end to Boer tyranny.
South Africa was very much involved. A white South African brigade under the British, Larkin, and 364 airforce personnel from the Royal Flying Corps were sent to France as South Africa's 'contribution'. Out of the 60,000 South African soldiers who participated in the war, 19,556 were reported: 'fallen', 'missing' or 'wounded'. These figures are misleading because:
But we are in a position to use our imaginations if we take into consideration that:
'No official statistics are given of the number of Native and Coloured workers likewise killed and wounded, but unofficial reports reveal even greater losses on their part. Besides, the Native and Coloured toilers received the most brutal, inhuman and slave treatment in "the labour conscript armies", which numbered 23,000 in South West Africa, 17,000 in East Africa and 21,000 in Europe.'
Towards the end of the war, says Peter Walshe, 865 Africans lost their lives including 600 who drowned on February 21, 1917 when the warship Mendi struck a rock near the Isle of Wight in the British Channel and sank.
These factors explain the militant positions taken by the ANC at this period, especially at the annual conference in Bloemfontein in May/ June 1917, when Sol. T. Plaatje in the presence of the Deputy-Mayor of Bloemfontein, the town officials as well as Barlow from the Labour Party made what the South African papers called 'a vicious attack' on the government, a speech which received what amounted to a standing ovation. He had just returned from England.
At this conference there was hot debate over the question of the stand of the ANC on the government policy of separation. Dube and Selope Thema were forced to resign because their positions were unacceptable. The resolution adopted at this conference stated:
'This Congress would strongly and emphatically deny,... that Congress at any time ever approved of the Land Act, its policy or principles, expressed or implied. Our opposition to the measure is shown by over four years protest on both sides of the water. This Congress, having already recorded its thanks to Mr Plaatje and appreciation of his services since the commencement of this struggle, accepts the reference to him contained in the (Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection) Society's letter of March 29 as a further tribute to his work. Further the Congress regrets that the Society continues to ignore the native side of the controversy... '
The influence of the post-world-war crises of capitalism which was deepened by the Great Socialist October Revolution in Russia and the world-wide revolutionary upsurge following it did have an impact on South Africa. It was at this time that a wave of strikes took place: such as in March 1918 when 100,000 African mine workers went on strike for higher wages; the campaign of the ANC against the pass laws in the Orange Free State and Transvaal in 1919, and the protest demonstration in which more than 700 ANC members and sympathisers were arrested. The 1920 strike of 71,000 African mine workers on the Witwatersrand was a success in that the mine owners found themselves forced to make a 25 per cent increase on the wages of African workers. It is not accidental that the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of Africa was formed by Clements Kadalie in 1919 during this period of 'strike fever'. The Africans learnt and saw the importance of the weapon of strike. The repercussions of these strikes was the increase in the membership of the ANC.
The leadership of the ANC was also involved in drafting its own constitution, rules, regulations and bye laws. There was a need for a comprehensive machinery by which to manage and direct national affairs; for the management of officers in the discharge of their duties; for the control of collection and expenditure of funds; for the conduct of the organisation and co- ordination between branches, provincial congresses and the mother body.
It is true that in Bloemfontein on January 8, 1912 a list of '21 objects' was drawn up, including the need; to encourage mutual understanding and to bring together into common action as one political people all tribes and clans of various 'tribes' or races and by means of combined effort and united political organisation to defend their freedom, rights and privileges; to educate Parliament and Provincial Councils, municipalities, other bodies and the public generally regarding the requirements and aspirations of the African and to enlist the sympathy and support of Europeans; to educate African people on their rights, duties and obligations to the state and to themselves and to promote mutual help, to record all grievances and wants of the African people and to seek by constitutional means the redress thereof, to agitate and advocate by just means for the removal of the colour bar in political, education and industrial fields and for equitable representation of Africans in Parliament or in those bodies that are vested with legislative matters affecting the coloured race; to be the medium of representative opinion and to formulate a standard policy on Native Affairs for the benefit and guidance of the Union Government and Parliament; to discourage and contend against racialism and 'tribal' feuds or to secure the elimination of racialism and 'tribal' feuds, jealousy and petty quarrels by economic combination, education, goodwill and by other means; to establish or to assist the establishment of National Colleges or Public Institutions free from denominationalism or state control; to encourage inculcation and practices of habits of industry, thrift and cleanliness among the people and to propagate the gospel of the dignity of labour.
We have quoted these demands verbatim and at length. They show the enormity of the tasks facing Congress at the time. These demands show clearly the thinking of Congress leaders at the time and indicate the shortcomings. The most obvious weakness in these demands is the fact that there is no mention of equality and national liberation of the Africans, a demand which has become central and a hallmark of our movement today. But if one considers that even in Europe in 1912 the working class - which had more than 50 years of experience in class struggle - was still finding its way out of the confusion caused by the Second International, one understands the shortcomings of the ANC at that time. In fact its very existence under the colonial conditions of Africa was a revolutionary step.
The Extraordinary Meeting of the Executive Committee of the ANC held at Bloemfontein on August 1, 1914 'considered, amended, read and confirmed and declared' the draft constitution of both Houses to be the constitution of the ANC. But already a year thereafter, on August 3, 1915 at the fourth annual meeting of the ANC held at Kroonstad, Orange Free State, dissatisfaction with the constitution was expressed and a resolution was adopted for the revision of the constitution. The members of the select committee were:
Natal: J.T. Gumede (Pietermaritzburg) and W.W. Ndhlovu (Vryheid).
Cape: E.P.B. Koti (Queenstown) and E. Tshongwana (Lusikisiki).
Orange Free State: J.B. Twayi, T.M. Mapikela (Bloemfontein) and Rev. A.P. Pitso (Kroonstad).
Transvaal: D.S. Letanka (Johannesburg) and S.M. Makgatho (Pretoria).
Swaziland: B. Nxumalo (Bremersdorp). R.W. Msimang was chairman of the committee.
The committee met at Pietermaritzburg in October, 1916. Most of the discussion was through correspondence. Travelling was expensive. It was not until August 2, 1918 that the Select Committee made its report before the Executive Committee in Bloemfontein which read and discussed it 'clause by clause' made certain alterations and amendments before it was agreed upon and adopted.
The constitution is lengthy, bulky and detailed and therefore we cannot discuss it at any length here. One fact which needs to be mentioned is that the ANC is referred to in the constitution as a 'Pan African Association'. This is of great significance because it shows that as early as 1919 the African National Congress enshrined in its constitution the lofty ideals of African unity which are now embodied in the Charter of the OAU. The ANC was perhaps the first organisation to do so. Even Dr Du Bois, the father of Pan Africanism which, in the parlance of today would be African unity, has this to say about the first Pan African Congress in Paris which he initiated and founded in 1919: 'I was without credential or influence, but the idea took on'. It is true that an ANC delegation was in Britain in 1919-for the third time Africans sent a delegation to appeal to the British government. The delegation consisted of H.R. Ngcayiya, Selope Thema, L.T. Mvabaza, J.T. Gumede and Sol. T. Plaatje. But there is no evidence that the ANC delegation went to Paris as stated in many books. Nor is there any evidence that the delegation attended the congress of the Pan African movement held in Paris in February 19-21 1919. In fact they could not have attended the conference since the delegation arrived in England on May 3, 1919. But the ANC did attend the 2nd congress of the Pan African movement held in 1921. Three of the leading personalities (Dube, Seme, Selope Thema) represented the ANC. The ANC went further and attempted to implement the ideals of Pan-Africanism. In 1925 Mweli Skota, the Secretary-General of the ANC proposed in his report to the National Executive that the ANC should summon a mammoth meeting of African representatives, a meeting which 'he described as vital if the black man was to avoid slavery from Cape to Cairo'. It is said that Skota intended to invite the National Party of Egypt, National Party of Abyssinia, West Africa Congress, Christian Associations of Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Lekgotla la Bafo of Basutoland (Lesotho), Progressive Association of Kenya, National Association of Nyasaland, Chiefs of Swaziland and Bechuanaland (Botswana) and all African organisations in South Africa. Here one can see clearly the influence of Dr Du Bois. In fact even the idea of the existence of the ANC as a permanent organisation was closer to Du Bois' idea rather than to Booker Washington's.
These attempts of the ANC to link our struggle with the rest of the black world, the colonial world, was motivated by a need for a collective and international condemnation of colonialism and racism. This was indeed a shift in Congress policy when the movement no longer depended on deputations to London but on open association with the colonised and oppressed people throughout the world.
MASSIVE INDIAN RESISTANCE
The main context of the present stage of the South African revolution is the national liberation of the largest and most oppressed group - the African people. The strategic aim must govern every aspect of the conduct of our struggle, whether it be the formulation of policy or the creation of structures. Among other things, it demands in the first place the maximum mobilisation of the African people as a dispossessed and racially oppressed national majority. This is the mainspring and it must not be weakened. There can be no ambiguity on the question of the primary role of the most oppressed African masses. But the African, although subject to the most intense social oppression and exploitation, is not the only oppressed national group in South Africa.
The Coloured and Indian communities suffer from varying forms of humiliation, discrimination and oppression. They are part of the oppressed black base upon which is built white privilege, constituting an integral part of the forces ranged against white supremacy.
A unity in action among all the oppressed groups is fundamental to the advance of our liberation struggle. Historically both communities have played a most important part in the intensification of our struggle for freedom. The jails in South Africa are witness to the large-scale participation by Indian and Coloured comrades at every level of our revolutionary struggle. Let us now look briefly at the background of the Indian community in South Africa, and the developments which led to the close unity in action of all the oppressed people of our country.
The first batch of Indian immigrants arrived in South Africa in 1860. They came as indentured labourers to work on the sugar plantations in Natal. The living and working conditions were akin to slavery, working from sunrise to sunset for a pittance. They were insulted and exploited, flogged and deprived of wages and rations. As time went on, especially after the arrival of the second stream of immigrants between 1875 and 1897, who were largely small-scale peasants, they refused to renew their indentures and therefore became 'free men', found employment as market gardeners, mineworkers, railway and council workers, and domestic servants. It is from these indentured labourers that Indian workers emerged who later played an important role in the Indian national movement. These humiliations and insults to their dignity led to sharp economic, cultural and other differences and contradictions; they were segregated into specially designated areas and in 1891 they were summarily expelled from the province of the Orange Free State.
It was in 1892 that a young lawyer by the name of M.K. Gandhi arrived in South Africa to fight a legal case for an Indian businessman. He helped to create and build the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in 1894 and the Transvaal British Indian Association (TBIA) and the weekly journal, Indian Opinion, in 1903.
Gandhi left South Africa in 1914 - but not before he had organised and led two resistance campaigns, in 1906 and 1913. The first resistance campaign was in the Transvaal against the compulsory registration of Indian; the second was directed against a ú3 annual poll tax imposed on all those indentured after 1895. Sixty thousand Indian workers and farm labourers throughout Natal came out on strike, the first mass strike of the Indian workers. Racist authorities opened fire, killing a number of strikers.
There was a growing realisation of the need to mobilise the Indian community. The first conference of the South African Indian Congress was convened in Cape Town in January 1919 by the Cape Indian Congress, but the constitution was adopted at the third conference held in June 1923. There were problems, differences of opinion and even splits, but by February 1928, at the eighth conference of the South African Indian Congress, these were partially overcome.
It was in the thirties that younger men, infused with enthusiasm and vigour, saw the need to change the form and nature of the Indian Congresses. These were men like Dr Dadoo, Molvi Cachalia, Nana Sita, Jasmat Nana- Bhai, Naransammy Naidoo, G.H.I. Pahad, etc. In the Indian Congress itself there was a clash between the moderates and the radicals. The issues were: a more militant and democratic Transvaal Indian Congress; development of links with the African and Coloured organisations; Indian women should be more involved in the struggle and the Transvaal Indian Congress should guarantee their full participation.
The moving spirit was Dr Dadoo, a young militant Communist, who became involved in politics in 1936 after qualifying as a doctor in Britain.
In Natal a similar process was taking place. The main leaders in this drive were militants like H.A. Naidoo, Dr G.M. Naicker, George Singh, M. D. Naidoo, G. Poonen and others. These radicals were either members of or had contacts with the Indian Congress, the Communist Party and trade unions.
The battle was won when the militants managed to oust the moderate leaders - but it was not all that smooth and non-violent.
Besides these internal problems within the Indian Congress, there was a bigger problem: the racist onslaught against the Indians. In 1940, the racist regime, worried about the extent of what they called Indian 'penetration' of white areas in Natal and the Transvaal, set up the Broome Commission to enquire into this question. This Commission reported, and there came the Asiatic Land and Trading (Transvaal) Act in 1941. On March 15, 1946, Premier J.C. Smuts introduced into parliament the Asiatic Land Tenure Act and Indian Representation Bill, which curtailed the movement of the Indians and circumscribed where Indians could reside or trade; prohibited any land transfers between Indians and non-Indians in the Transvaal and Natal, and went even further to propose 'in return' token representation of Indians by three Whites in parliament. This law, which was an insult to the national honour and dignity of the Indian people, anticipated the Group Areas Act of the racist regime.
In February 1946 the South African Indian Congress held a conference in Cape Town which resolved to oppose the new law with concerted and prolonged resistance and Passive Resistance Councils were appointed in Natal and the Transvaal. The 'Ghetto Bill' (as the Bill became known) became law on June 2, 1946, and the Indian community replied by proclaiming June 13, 1946 'Resistance Day' in which a complete 'Hartal' (strike and closing of businesses) was observed throughout the country. Mass meetings of 15,000 in Durban, the main centre of the Indian population, hailed the first batch of volunteers, headed by Dr Naicker and M.D. Naidoo, who pitched tents on land reserved for Whites. White hooligans in full view of the police attacked the 'Resistance Camp': 'The unprovoked vicious attacks continued until finally an Indian-ironically a policeman off duty was killed. In a manifestation of solidarity, 10,000 people attended the biggest funeral ever given to a policeman.'
On June 27. the first group to be jailed included Dr Dadoo and Dr Naicker. Within two months over 2,000 resisters (including 300 women) were sentenced. Dadoo and Naicker were sentenced for a second time to six months' hard labour. The campaign continued until 1948 and one of its by-products was the publication of a weekly Passive Resister from July 1946 until the end of 1948 and edited by I.C. Meer. Many young Indian youth interrupted their studies to do full-time work in the resistance - one typical example being Ahmed Kathrada, who joined the passive resistance campaign at the age of 15 - he was involved in politics at the age of 12 - and has since then known no other life except that of being a practical revolutionary. He is now serving a life sentence on Robben Island. It is stated that by June 1947, 1,710 resisters had courted imprisonment... As well as Indians, there were 47 Coloureds, 15 African and 8 White resisters imprisoned.
The slogans of the resistance were 'Down with the Ghetto Bill' and 'To Hell with the Ghetto Bill'. A message from Joshua Fritz Makue, an African speaking at a mass meeting after his release from prison (before the Indian resistance) said:
'The present struggle is not a struggle of the Indian people alone. It is part of the struggle of the oppressed people of the world. By struggle alone we can liberate our people... I am prepared to go back to prison for we must make the necessary sacrifices. I appeal to all the Non-European people to join in a mighty battle for freedom'.
'A Resister' wrote to Dadoo:
'I felt proud to be a member of the Indian community for in you we have a leader who symbolises our hopes and aspirations to be free. It was difficult to say goodbye to you but we all felt that with you as our leader our community was destined to make a glorious contribution to bringing about democracy in South Africa... You may be in jail, but the spirit of freedom is already sweeping the cities and open roads of South Africa... and in the new dawn of freedom, men, women and children will forever remember your name, the name of Dr Dadoo, the torch bearer of freedom.'
And a message from the ANC Youth League read:
'We salute the Indian people whose resolve to carry on the struggle against the Colour Bar and race domination as a struggle for fundamental human rights. Onward. Forward to Freedom.'
What was the philosophy of resistance? It is usually said that the philosophy of 'passive resistance' was Gandhiism - a non-violent philosophy of Gandhi which some people call 'passive resistance'. (Although these campaigns are known as 'passive' resistance campaigns, they were in fact active campaigns of protest and defiance.) It is true that some people shared and embraced this philosophy, but the movement was broader and included communists and other revolutionaries. Concerning methods and techniques of struggle, our people and movement have never been dogmatic and inflexible; what is important is that the method of struggle should go beyond verbal protests, petitions and deputations and the people should understand and accept it so that they can back it with mass demonstrations and strikes.
The campaign aroused the Indian people to a higher level of political consciousness and militancy. It gained generous admiration and support from African and Coloured people and democratically minded Whites. It certainly stimulated and inspired the struggles of our people in the 50s. The Indian community thrust up its own leaders and organisers-Dadoo and Naicker being the most outstanding. Indian women and girls took part in the demonstrations, withstanding attacks from white hooligans, and Rev Michael Scott, a White, also took part in the Indian mass demonstration. The Indian organisation increased its working membership and the Natal Indian Congress grew from a few hundred to about 35,000. This radicalised the South African Indian Congress, with the result that the conservative leadership was ousted and a new, radical leadership took over: Dr Naicker in Natal, and a few months later Dr Dadoo became the President of the Transvaal Indian Congress.
It is then no wonder that in 1947 Dr Xuma, Dr Dadoo and Dr Naicker signed the famous pact when the Africans and Indians decided voluntarily to join forces in the common struggle against the common enemy. The precondition was overcoming reformism - the total routing of the right wings of the Indians and Africans led to close relations between Indians and Africans. In June 1946 the Indian Government recalled its High Commissioner from South Africa and that meant a beginning of a world-wide condemnation and boycott of South Africa at the UN and internationally.
COLOURED RESISTANCE
Built on such a solid foundation, today the Indian and Coloured people are an integral part of the liberation movement.
We will now briefly look at the background and historical development of the Coloured people in South Africa.
Descended in the main from the survivors of the Khoi and Nama people who inhabited the Cape, from slaves imported by the Dutch as well as white settlers who made free with their female chattels. Over generations the 'Coloured' people evolved from a subject people who were forced to accept the language, customs and religion of their white masters.
Every effort was made by the colonial rulers to create a special status for Coloured people, giving them a modicum of political rights designed to reinforce their own domination over the African majority. Over the years even these meagre 'rights' were whittled away, and dummy institutions and representations were foisted on the coloured population.
The independent Coloured political activity goes back to a period as early as the 1870s. At that time the Coloured people enjoyed 'full political rights' in the Cape, but Britain was already considering forcing 'confederation' on the various South African communities. The Coloureds were alert to the possibility that Britain would be happy to sell their rights as the price of 'unity' and as the newspaper, APO, said in 1909:
'The more intelligent of the Coloured people saw that in such an event it would be necessary to safeguard their interests, or there soon would be no interests to safeguard.'
The end of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) brought new ideas and new threats. As a result, in the opening months of 1902 a group of Coloured leaders formed the African People's Organisation in Cape Town. The President was W. Collins, the Secretary P. Eckstein. Soon there were branches in Johannesburg, Graaff Reinet, Cradock, Paarl and several other towns in the Western Cape Province. The second conference of the organisation, APO which was held in Graaff Reinet in April 1904 and had 30-40 delegates from branches all over the country, elected Matt. J. Fredericks as Secretary-the first person to stand out as a Coloured political leader of importance.
The fact is that the first political organisation of the Coloureds - The African People's Organisation - which is the direct forerunner of the South African Coloured People's Organisation was the pioneer of the Congress movement. It was the first black political organisation on a national level, functioning years before the ANC was formed. Sol. Plaatje, one of tl1e ANC's founders, was a member of the Kimberley branch of APO before tl1e ANC was conceived. Coloureds formed the first nationwide political organisation to demand full equality for all South Africans.
At a conference in Somerset East at Easter 1905 Dr Abdurahman, undoubtedly one of the giants in the history of the liberation movement was elected President. He, together with Gandhi, stands out among the most distinguished black politicians of the early period of the history of our movement.
The new movement expanded with new energy and vitality infused into it by the President, Dr Abdurahman; branches were formed all over the country; in Johannesburg, Cradock, Paarl and several other towns, and the membership roll showed a most gratifyingly large increase. What were the methods of struggle?
All the Black organisations persevered with the deputation type of struggle until as late as 1920. It is not correct to sneer at these deputations. In the circumstances of the times they marked a stage of development of militant approach, they were supported by the most advanced political leaders and strongly opposed by the government and its stooges.
There was another dimension in the Coloured political life: the African-Coloured political unity. In 1907 the APO accepted an invitation to attend a joint conference of Africans and Coloureds at Queenstown in November to agree to a common attitude to the Cape elections of 1918. This was of great significance as the first serious attempt to fuse the Africans and Coloureds into one political whole. At the Conference there were 120 delegates.
The APO official organ, called APO, was published fortnightly from May 24th, 1909 and had 16 glossy well- printed pages, containing well-written articles, well- argued discussion and comprehensive coverage of branch activities. The APO branches were meeting regularly and sending in full reports to the newspapers. APO was functioning amazingly well and had stable, nationwide support.
On the occasion of the approval by Britain in 1909 of the Colour Bar of the Union, APO editorialised:
'The struggle has not ended. It has just begun. We, the Coloured and Native peoples of South Africa, have a tremendous fight before us. We have the war of wars to wage... No longer must we look to our flabby friends of Great Britain. 'Our political destiny is in our hands, and we must be prepared to face the fight with grim determination to succeed... How are we to set about? In our opinion there is but one way and that is the economic method. Undoubtedly the Coloured and Native races of South Africa hold the strongest weapon ever placed in the hands of any class. The very stability, the prosperity, even the continuance, for but a few days of the economic existence of South Africa depends on the labour market, and we are the labour market...' It may ere long come about that the necessity will be imposed on us, not in any isolated sphere and throughout the whole sub-continent to refuse to bolster up the economic fabric of the people who refuse us political freedom. That would bring the selfish white politicians to their knees.
'It would even go far to show the white manual workers the value of combination which is the only weapon whereby they will free themselves from the shackles of the cursed wage system which is sapping the independence of the people, weakening the national love of honour, and increasing the severity and extent of poverty for the production of a few sordid millionaires.'
After Dr Abduraham - or rather during his time of leadership - Jimmy La Guma was the outstanding Coloured leader who, in political terms, went even further. He was a member of the ANC, CP and the ICU until his death at the Groote Schuur Hospital at the age of 67 on July 29 1961.
Built on such historic, strong foundations, the unity of the African, Coloured and Indian people has been tempered in the heat of battle and today the coloured community, as with the Indian, form an integral part of our fighting alliance.
In the mid-forties, young men and women in their mid- twenties or early thirties, mainly teachers or students of medicine or law, became dissatisfied with the manner in which things were being done by our movement and the pace with which they were done. They came from the Anglican (Episcopal) Secondary School of St Peters in Johannesburg; from Lovedale or Healdtown; Adam's College and Fort Hare. Walter Sisulu, a worker, was a notable exception. They were not only men-young women too. These were prominent members of provincial and/or local student associations who articulated the aspirations of their generation and the masses of our people as a whole. They held political discussions frequently.
The African youth were concerned with the deteriorating conditions of our people; the rise of fascism in Germany and Mussolini's attack on Ethiopia in 1935-36 aroused interest not only about the fate and future of South Africa but of the whole continent. The growth and new militancy of African trade unions and the activities of the Communist Party were other factors which led to the rise of the ANC Youth League. These young people participated in militant mass actions.
It was in response to this situation that the annual conference of the ANC on December 21, 1942 resolved that 'This annual conference of the African National Congress authorises the Executive to institute a Youth League of the African National Congress to include students at Fort Hare', and the 1943 annual conference adopted a similar resolution.
These young men consulted with the ANC leadership, especially with Dr Xuma, before the ANC Youth League was formally established at the inaugural meeting held at the Bantu Men's Social Centre in Johannesburg in April 1944. Anton Muziwake Lembede became its first president and Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela its secretary. The aim of these young men was simple and honest: a desire to remould the ANC.
There was a noticeable shift towards recruiting a broader circle and organising a permanent youth league within the ANC.
Before we take a closer look at their ideas and ideology, let us answer the question: who were these Youth Leaguers? There were many of them-the most notable being Lembede, Mandela, Sisulu, Tambo, Mda, Njongwe, Nkomo, Ngubane, Sobukwe, Ntsu Mekhehle and others.
Lembede was definitely the most dynamic and articulate. Born in the rural district of Georgedale near Durban in Natal in 1914, Anton Muziwake Lembede was of peasant origin. His parents were extremely poor. He went to Adam's College on a bursary in 1933 to train as a teacher. During his spare time he did matriculation, which he passed in 1937 with a distinction in Latin. He taught in Natal and the Orange Free State at the age of 29 and at the same time learned Sesotho and Afrikaans. In 1943 he obtained a BA degree through correspondence with the University of South Africa and, again through self-education, he obtained an LLB degree. Pixley ka Isaka Seme agreed to article Lembede as a law clerk and he became a full partner - the firm became 'Seme and Lembede' in 1946. He later achieved an MA degree in Philosophy.
Lembede was militantly nationalistic, with very strong views on the Africanness of our struggle-his philosophy he called 'Africanism'. He was a practising Catholic and this explains his mysticism in his ideological concepts. He was controversial and his ideas were full of contradictions. Lembede was preoccupied with working out a 'nation building faith', the philosophy of 'Africanism', and Lembede claimed that '... the dynamic human energy that will be released by African Nationalism will be more powerful and devastating in its effects than... atomic energy'. But Lembede tended to be idealistic and his ideas of self-reliance, which were inspired by all sorts of ideologies including reactionary ones, denied the need for solidarity and unity. But he was not alone - he was part of a bigger collective.
Let us take a closer look at the ideas of this collective. We shall start with the 1944 Manifesto of the ANC Youth League, which was issued by the Provisional Committee of the ANC Youth League in March 1944, a month before the formation of the ANC Youth League.
The preamble of this document states that 'Africanism must be promoted' and this meant that Africans must struggle for development, progress and national liberation so as to occupy their rightful and honourable place among nations of the world; that the African youth must be united, consolidated, trained and disciplined because from their ranks future leaders will be recruited. The document goes on to explain the policy of the Youth League, which is based on the conviction that 'the contact of the white race with the Black has resulted in the emergence of a set of conflicting living conditions and outlooks on life which seriously hamper South Africa's progress to nationhood'. The Whites, said the Youth Leaguers, possess superior military strength and superior organising skill and therefore have arrogated to themselves the ownership of the land and invested themselves with authority and right 'to regard South Africa as a White man's land'.
On civilisation it was stated that:
'The African regards civilisation as the common heritage of all Mankind and claims as full a right to make his contribution to its advancement and to live free as any White South African: further, he claims the right to all sources and agencies to enjoy rights and fulfill duties which will place him on a footing of equality with every other racial group.'
The devastating effects of the Land Act are dealt with at length and the Colour Bar Acts are scrutinised, as are the Mines and Works Act of 1926, 'which shuts Africans from skilled trades', and the 1923 Urban Areas Act 'which warned Africans clearly that they were bidding farewell to freedom', the 1927 Native Administration Act, which 'established the White race as the Supreme Chief of the African people. The conquest of the African was complete'. The 1937 Native Laws Amendment Act, it was said, closed up any other loophole through which the African could have forced his way to full citizenship.
The dilemma of the Africans during the Second World War was that 'South African blood-of Whites and Africans alike-has been shed to free the White peoples of Europe while Africans within the Union remain in bondage'.
On an optimistic note, the document goes on:
'These conditions have made the African lose all faith in all talk of Trusteeship. He now elects to determine his future by his own efforts. He has realised that to trust to the mere good grace of the White man will not free him as no action can free an oppressed group other than that group itself.
'Self-determination is the philosophy of life which will save him from the disaster he clearly sees on his way... The African is aware of the magnitude of the task before him but has learnt that promises, no matter from high source, are merely palliatives intended to drum him into yielding to more oppression. He has made up his mind to sweat for his freedom; determine his destiny himself and, through his African National Congress is building a strong national unity front which will be his surest guarantee of victory over oppression.'
The African National Congress was described by the ANC Youth League as 'the symbol and embodiment of the African's will to present a united national front against all forms of oppression' - but it was admitted that Congress had not been able to make progress and this had drawn to it criticism 'in the last 20 years'. The arguments of the critics are dealt with and the correct conclusion is drawn:
'But it does no good to stop at being noisy in condemning African leaders who went before us. Defects in the organisation of the people against oppression cannot be cured by mouthing criticisms and not putting our heads together to build what has been damaged and to find a way out of the present suffering... In response to the demands of the times African Youth is laying its services at the disposal of the national liberation movement, the African National Congress, in the firm belief, knowledge and conviction that the cause of Africa must and will triumph.'
This positive attitude towards the solution of problems that faced the ANC at the time was accompanied by an articulation of a positive strategy which took a form of a programme, a goal and clarifying ideological questions in the process. This was expressed in the subsection Our Creed which states:
We have quoted at length from this important document because its adoption had far-reaching repercussions on our movement. This also helps us to identify the trends and tendencies in the ideological struggle and the problems that faced the ANC at the time. The central theme of the document is the struggle for national self-determination which will be brought about by 'building a strong national unity'. The document is oriented towards mass action; action to strengthen the ANC and to fight for freedom.
At the ideological level one notices an attempt at defining an ideology that corresponds to reality in South Africa - a striving towards the rediscovery of the African personality. This ideology is called 'Africanism' and its essence is to be found in the formulation: 'We believe that the national liberation of Africans will be achieved by Africans themselves'. This sounds almost literally like the philosophy of the present-day 'Black Consciousness' in South Africa which states: 'Black Man! You are on your own!' This was interpreted to mean that Africans are struggling, through their own efforts, to occupy 'their rightful and honourable place among nations of the world'.
There is a serious attempt to work out an ideology for liberation and a need is expressed 'to borrow useful ideologies from foreign ideologies, but we reject the wholesale importation of foreign ideologies into Africa'. This statement is significant because it correctly - despite the unfortunate formulation - points out that ideology should be subject to popular demands and express popular aspirations. At the same time the Young Leaguers recognised their inadequacy - their ideas were not consistent and fully developed; they were still at a formative stage in the process of development.
Another important aspect of the Youth League Manifesto is that it viewed our struggle in the context of the struggle in Africa and expressed the idea of African unity: 'from the Mediterranean Sea in the North to the Indian and Atlantic Oceans in the South - and that Africans must speak with one voice'. This was 30 years before the formation of the OAU and definitely not a new idea.
In talking about the ideology of the Youth League, it is important to stress that the slogan of Marcus Garvey, 'Africa for the Africans', was not mentioned in the Manifesto. Not that the slogan was wrong in itself but in the South African context it had the implication that Whites and other non-Africans are irrelevant to the struggle. This is important to mention because in 1959 the PAC claimed to be successors of the ANC Youth League under the slogan 'Africa for the Africans'. They failed to modify the aspirations of the Africans to suit the concrete reality of our country by accepting the historical fact that there is room in our movement for those Whites who are prepared to fight side by side with the Africans and who are willing to accept the policy of the ANC under African leadership. What the PAC did was to latch on to aspects of the philosophy of young Lembede: self-reliance without solidarity; African exclusivism and anti-Marxism. But they forgot that Lembede was developing.
Let us see how he was developing. On March 9,1947 a meeting of the Joint Committee of the African National Congress, the Natal Indian Congress and the Transvaal Indian Congress was held in Johannesburg. Present were Dr A.B. Xuma, in the chair, Dr Y.M. Dadoo (Transvaal Indian Congress); J.B. Marks (ANC); M.P. Naicker of the Natal Indian Congress; D. Tloome (ANC); C.S. Ramohanoe (ANC); Y.A. Cachalia (Transvaal Indian Congress); J.N. Singh; A.I. Meer (both of the Natal Indian Congress); and, significantly, A.M. Lembede.
Dr Xuma, President-General of the ANC, explained that the cause of so much exchange of correspondence was due to some difficulties confronting the ANC in regard to the invitation coming from the Passive Resistance Council and not from the Indian National Congress as they had anticipated. The ANC desired to co-operate with the national body of the Indians.
Dr Dadoo emphasised the need for proceeding with some preliminary plans which would ultimately be the final steps agreed. The Joint Committee was to work out a practical basis of cooperation between the national organisations of the two people.
A sub-committee, consisting of Drs Xuma and Dadoo; Messrs J.N. Singh, A.I. Meer and A.M. Lembede, was appointed to draft a joint declaration. The joint declaration, which was read and accepted by the joint committee, stated
'that the next meeting of the joint committee be held on 23rd March 1947 at 11.00am in which representatives of the African People's Organisation should be invited to attend.'
This historic fact, that Lembede was part of the Joint Committee of Africans and Indians, that he was a member of a sub-committee which appealed to the Coloureds to join the Africans and Indians, is of great political significance because it proves that it is the ANC which has upheld the tradition set by Lembede. Even ideologically he was developing and changing his views and ideas about the Communist Party as Brian Bunting remarks:
'Before he died at the tragically early-age of 33, Lembede had also changed his attitude towards the Communist Party. "They are workers, not just talkers," he admitted grudgingly to Kotane.'
Unfortunately Lembede died in July 1947. This change in the ideas of Lembede reflected the change in the social composition of the African society when workers were beginning to play a more important role. This is what the PAC did not understand when they said they were the upholders of African nationalism 'as expounded by Lembede'. What they did was to cling to some of the early, immature concepts of Lembede; before he changed; before he realised the need for unity and solidarity; before he discarded his anti-communist attitudes. Yet Lembede was changing.
So that we should not be misunderstood, we are far from maintaining that Lembede had overcome all his earlier weaknesses. He was in the process of doing so. He was becoming more and more socialist inclined but his socialism was 'African socialism'. In an article on the 'Police of the Congress Youth League' in Inkundla Yabantu in May 1946 he wrote:
'Africans are naturally socialistic as illustrated in their social practices and customs. The achievement of national liberation will therefore herald or usher in a new era, the era of African socialism. Our immediate task, however, is not socialism, but national liberation. Our motto: Freedom in Our Life Time'.
In 1948 the ANC Youth League issued the Basic Policy Document, which does not differ much from the 1944 Manifesto and therefore we shall not go at length into analysing it. This document articulates the basic aspects of the national question, though not without errors of emphasis and judgment: 'we are oppressed not as a class, but as a people, as a Nation'. This one- sided approach missed the point that the overwhelming majority of the Blacks are oppressed as a class and as a people, or a nation if you like. Let us take a closer look at the national question and the ideology of African nationalism as expressed in this document .
The document explains the fundamental aim of African nationalism as:
It stated categorically that the African has a primary, inherent and inalienable right to Africa, which is his continent and motherland, and that the Africans as a whole have a divine destiny, which is to make Africa free among the peoples and nations of the earth. In order to achieve this - it was stated - the Africans must build a powerful national liberation movement and, in order that that national liberation movement should have inner strength and solidarity, it should adopt the national liberatory creed-African Nationalism-'and it should be led by Africans themselves'. The history, bravery and 'unparalleled heroism' of the struggle is recorded and there is even mention of a 'possibility of a compromise' on condition that:
The need for a 'long, bitter and unrelenting struggle' was acknowledged:
'It is known, however, that a dominant group does not voluntarily give up its privileged position. That is why the Congress Youth puts forward African Nationalism as the militant outlook of an oppressed people seeking a solid basis for waging a long, bitter, and unrelenting struggle for its national freedom.'
The Youth League refuted the accusation that African nationalism was one-sided and racialistic, and they also rejected what they called 'pseudo-nationalism': 'People who pretend to be Nationalists when in fact they are only imperialist or capitalist agents, using Nationalistic slogans in order to cloak their reactionary position.' 'Fascist agents', 'vendors of foreign methods' and 'tribalism' were equally denounced. What was the attitude of the Youth League to other nationalities? The majority of the Whites (then called Europeans) were said to be sharing the spoils of white domination; they have a vested interest in the 'exploitative caste society' in South Africa. 'A few of them love justice and condemn racial oppression, but their voice is negligible, and in the last analysis counts for nothing. In the struggle for freedom, the Africans will be wasting their time and deflecting their forces if they look up to the Europeans, either for inspiration or for help in their political struggle.' It is interesting to notice the similarity between this statement and many statements of the same kind uttered and published by the Black Consciousness Movement in the recent past. But the problem is that this statement was ambiguous and even controversial because, while we agree that the Africans will never look up to the Europeans for inspiration, there is no need why they should reject the help coming from the Europeans in the political struggle if it is forthcoming. This 'help' might even be more than 'help': direct participation, contribution and even commitment to the cause of the black masses.
It is interesting to record that the Youth League noted what they called the 'Two Streams of African Nationalism'. The Youth League states:
'Now it must be noted that there are two streams of African Nationalism. One centres round Marcus Garvey's slogan - "Africa for the Africans". It is based on the "Quit Africa" slogan and on the cry "Hurl the white man into the sea". This brand of African Nationalism is extreme and ultra-revolutionary. "There is another stream of African Nationalism (Africanism) which is moderate, and which the Congress Youth League professes. We of the Youth League take account of the concrete situation in South Africa, and realise that the different racial groups have come to stay. But we insist that a condition for inter-racial peace and progress is the abandonment of white domination, and such a change in the basic structure of South African society that those relations which breed exploitation and human misery will disappear. Therefore our goal is the winning of National Freedom for the African people and the inauguration of a people's free society where racial oppression and persecution will be outlawed.'
This statement is important for two reasons: firstly, the national liberation of the Africans was interconnected with another vitally important issue: social emancipation-'such a change in the basic structure of South African society that those relations which breed exploitation and human misery will disappear' - and secondly it takes into consideration the reality which is different from many African countries. It must be said - in fairness to the Congress Youth Leaguers - that they were not attacking the theories of Marcus Garvey, which had a liberating effect on Africa. After all, Marcus Garvey is now a national hero in Jamaica - his home country - and the Jamaican revolutionaries assess his contribution to the liberation of the black people all over the world positively. This attitude of the ANC Youth League was meant to emphasise South African reality - a multinational society - and to underline the non-racist and anti-racist policy of our movement.
This document concludes with a powerful message:
'The historic task of African Nationalism (it has become apparent) is the building of a self-confident and strong African Nation in South Africa. Therefore African Nationalism transcends the narrow limits imposed by any particular sectional organisation. It is all-embracing in the sense that its field is the whole body of African people in this country... The strength, solidarity and permanence of such a front will, of course, depend not on accident or chance, but on the correctness of our front...the most vital aspect of our forward struggle is the political aspect.'
Two things need to be said about the character of African Nationalism as propounded by the Youth League. Firstly, this was a 'nationalism of an oppressed people, seeking freedom from foreign oppression'. The Youth Leaguers were very much aware of this, as the letter A.P. Mda wrote to G.M. Pitje (August 24, 1948) reflects:
'Please note that our Nationalism has nothing to do with Fascism and National Socialism (Hitleric version) nor with the imperialists and Neo-Fascist Nationalism of the Afrikaners (the Malanite type). Ours is the pure Nationalism of an oppressed people, seeking freedom from foreign oppression.'
Secondly, though the ANC Youth League was African, it was not exclusive because its constitution stated that 'Young members of the other sections of the community who live like and with Africans and whose general outlook on life is similar to that of Africans may become full members...' This does not mean there were no tendencies towards African exclusivism and anticommunism.
The Youth League learnt a lot from the ANC leadership and they in turn contributed positively to the formulation of a new militant policy of the ANC. Some of their ideas were incorporated in the famous 1949 Programme of Action. The emphasis was on:
As we have noted above, the concepts and ideas in the ANC about the principle of self-determination developed and were incorporated in the 1949 Programme of Action adopted by the annual conference. This conference received messages from Dr Naicker of the South African Indian Congress and from as far afield as Nyasaland (Malawi), from the Nyasaland African National Congress. Mzamane gave a report of the coordinating committee of the Programme of Action, which was thoroughly scrutinised, paragraph by paragraph, and then accepted and adopted unanimously in its amended form, and it was pointed out that only those people who signified their willingness to carry out this Programme should be elected onto the incoming Executive. They were:
1. President-General: Dr J.S. Moroka
2. Secretary-General: W.M. Sisulu
3. Treasurer-General: Dr S.M. Molema
Committee
4. Dr A.B. Xuma 5. Dr R.T. Bokwe 6. Rev. J.A. Calata 7. A.P. Mda 8. Rev. J.J. Skomolo 9. L.K. Ntlabati 10. O.R. Tambo 11. J.L.Z. Njongwe 12. G. Radebe 13. J.A. Mokoena 14. G.M. Pitje 15. D. Tloome 16. M.M. Kotane 17. R.G. Baloyi 18. V.V.T. Mbobo
The policy and line of the youth League had triumphed. Now the ANC was put on a path of struggle with a more concrete and radical programme than ever before. These Youth Leaguers were students and teachers and professional men. They were thrown up by the national liberation struggle and therefore testify to the dynamism of the ANC.
MASS STRUGGLES
The adoption of the Programme of Action in 1949 ushered in a new militant era of mass struggles. Thus, in 1950, the ANC in the Transvaal Province participated in the launching of a one day strike on May Day. On June 26 the same year, the ANC together with the South African Indian Congress called a national day of mourning in the form of a nation-wide strike to mourn the victims of police shootings during the May Day strike and to protest against new repressive legislation.
In 1951, the ANC National Conference in Bloemfontein resolved to embark upon a massive Campaign of Defiance of Apartheid laws. On June 26, 1952 together with the South African Indian Congress, the ANC launched the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign. The Defiance Campaign carried on through 1953 covering all major centres in South Africa. Over 8,000 volunteers belonging to the ANC and its allies defined Apartheid and were jailed. In 1954 the ANC launched a struggle against the imposition of the inferior Bantu Education System calculated to reduce African youth into 'hewers of wood and drawers of water' for the White man. Massive agitation took place among the parents and teachers and a boycott was organised against Bantu Educational schools.
UNITED FRONT GROWS AND THE STRUGGLE BROADENS
In the meantime, the question of unity among all genuine democratic forces which has always consumed the serious attention of the ANC was beginning to take a more concrete shape. A firm basis of solidarity and joint action in the struggle among Africans, Indians and Coloureds was firmly established. Later, during the Defiance Campaign of 1952 some progressive Whites joined the struggle on the side of the oppressed people, and the Congress of Democrats was formed.
This alliance was further strengthened with the South African Congress of Trade Unions formed in March 1955, the only non-racial trade union federation in South Africa actively joining in.
Having succeeded substantially in mobilising the various African ethnic groupings into a single fighting nation, the ANC, in keeping with its overall strategy, to lead a united front of all anti-racist and democratic forces, hammered out a common programme with the representatives of the various racial groups and the trade union movement.
This programme was further crystallised when early in 1955 the ANC called for 50,000 volunteers of all sections of the South African people to go among the people and collect freedom demands to be incorporated into a common programme for South Africa.
Thus began one of the greatest campaigns in the history of the Southern African liberation movement. Demands flowed into the offices of the ANC from every corner of South Africa; from Africans, Indians, Coloureds and Whites; from workers and peasants; from shopkeepers and intellectuals.
On June 26, that year at the historic Congress of the People, the fighting demands of the people were enshrined in The Freedom Charter.
The success of this campaign and the widespread support the Charter received from the people did not go unnoticed by the racist regime in South Africa.
In 1956, the political police swooped and arrested 156 leaders of the ANC and its allies and charged them with High Treason using the Freedom Charter as the basis of its charge. It was alleged that the ANC planned a revolutionary overthrow of the regime. In 1957, the ANC together with local residents' associations organised the Alexandra and Pretoria bus boycott. In April 1958, the ANC organised another one day national strike. In 1959 at its national conference in Durban, the ANC resolved to conduct the following year a massive nation-wide struggle against the Pass Laws. This campaign was under way when the PAC sought to wreck it by launching its passive resistance campaign only ten days before the National Anti-Pass Campaign was to begin on 31st March, 1960. When the police shot the people at Sharpeville and PAC was in disarray the ANC called a national one day strike on March 28, 1960 and ordered massive burning of passes. The South African regime, alarmed by the powerful wave of mass action by the masses of our people, declared the African National Congress illegal. The ANC refused to accept the order of the powers that be, and decided to continue the struggle as an underground and illegal organisation.
On December 16, 1961, organised acts of sabotage against government installations took place, marking the emergence of Umkhonto we Sizwe (The Spear of the Nation) which was later to become the armed wing of the ANC. The date, December 16, which was chosen for the initial sabotage acts, was of historical significance. It is a public holiday in South Africa commemorating the military victory of the Afrikaner Voortrekkers over the African warriors on the banks of the Ncome River (re-christened by the settlers Blood River) in Natal in 1838 and is thus symbolic for the ascendancy of white power over the Blacks.
To the Africans this day symbolises resistance and the indomitable quest for freedom - it was on this day that Johannes Nkosi, a communist activist was killed in Durban in 1930. It was logical that on December 16, 1961 a leaflet issued by the High Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe was widely distributed in the country. The leaflet stated that:
'... Umkhonto we Sizwe will carry on the struggle for freedom and democracy by new methods, which are necessary to complement the actions of the established national liberation organisations. Umkhonto we Sizwe fully supports the national liberation movement and our members jointly and individually, place themselves under the overall political guidance of that movement.'
This document goes on to say:
'But the people's patience is not endless. The time comes in the life of any nation when there remains only two choices: submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no choice but to hit back by all means within our power in defence of our people, our future and our freedom... We are striking out along a new road for the liberation of the people of this country. The Government policy of force, repression and violence will no longer be met with non-violent resistance alone!'
The document then determines the place and role of Umkhonto we Sizwe in the overall strategy of the movement:
'Umkhonto we Sizwe will be at the front line of the people's defence. It will be the fighting arm of the people against the Government and its policies of race oppression. It will be the striking force of the people for liberty, for rights and for their final liberation... In these actions, we are working in the best interests of all the people of this country-black, brown and white-whose future happiness and well-being cannot be attained without the overthrow of the Nationalist Government, the abolition of white supremacy and the winning of liberty, democracy and full national rights and equality for all the people of this country.'
In other words, this document spells out the policy of armed struggle as conceived by our movement; it signalled the dawn of a new era - that of armed struggle in its proper perspective, that is, under the overall political guidance of our movement.
The question arises: who then formed Umkhonto we Sizwe and under whose political direction and guidance was it to operate? This question becomes legitimate when one considers that, although Umkhonto we Sizwe consisted of members of the Congress Alliance and the Communist Party-and this fact became more and more obvious with the number of trials taking place - none of the constituent organisations of the Alliance had adopted the policy of armed struggle.
Nelson Mandela answers the question:
'At the beginning of June, 1961, after a long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I, and some colleagues, came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our demands with force'.
Mandela continued to explain that the problem was not whether to fight but how to continue the fight. The main issue to resolve was not a technical one i.e. the military training of cadres to advance the struggle along a violent path. It was essentially political and lay at the heart of the discussion on the new strategy and the future conduct of the struggle.
What were the problems? Two points are important in Nelson Mandela's statement. The first is that the decision to form Umkhonto we Sizwe was not an organisational decision, but by individual members of the liberation movement. The second point, and probably the key political problem facing Mandela and his comrades, was how to inform the national liberation organisations, convince them of the need of the armed struggle as a necessity to continue the struggle, and establish the proper political relationship between the liberation movement and Umkhonto we Sizwe. It is this dilemma which inspired the opening statement of the Manifesto of Umkhonto we Sizwe: 'Umkhonto we Sizwe is a new independent body, formed by Africans' and such formulations:
'complement the actions of the established national liberation organisations' or 'Umkhonto we Sizwe fully supports the national liberation movement...'
Nowhere in the manifesto is the ANC mentioned; allegiance to it is rather implied.
These problems were of a temporary and transient nature. The policy and politics of Umkhonto we Sizwe at the beginning of the 1960s were to be later explained - ably at that - by Nelson Mandela in his address at the Rivonia Trial.
Operating underground, organising the May 1961 general strike - which included travel throughout the country, living now in African townships, then in country villages and again in the cities - Mandela was guided by the All-ln African Conference which took place in Pietermaritzburg on 25 and 26 March, 1961. This Conference was attended by 1,500 delegates from town and country, representing 145 religions, social, cultural, sporting and political bodies. The conference established an All-ln African Action Council-Mandela became its Secretary. The conference further resolved that, to avert the dangerous situation developing in South Africa a 'sovereign national convention' representative of all South Africans to draw up a new non-racial and democratic constitution should be called. This convention would discuss the national problems of South Africa and work out solutions which would seek to preserve and safeguard the interests of all sections of the population. The convention was to be called before May 31 and failing which, country-wide demonstrations would be held on the eve of the Republic-that is from the 29th to 31st May. Further the Africans would be called upon to refuse to cooperate with the proposed 'Republic'.
Mandela as Secretary of the National Action Council wrote letters to Prime Minister, H.F. Verwoerd on April 20 and again on April 30. No reply, no acknowledgement was received. On the contrary more than ten thousand Africans were arrested under the pass laws and meetings of Africans were banned. But, in spite of this, the strike was a success.
It was during this period of underground mobilisation that the ANC received an invitation to attend a conference of the Pan African Freedom Movement for East and Central African (PAFMECA)-it later became PAFMECSA, including Southern Africa and was one of the predecessors of the OAU. Mandela attended this conference in Addis Ababa and addressed it on behalf of the ANC. Part of his mission was to tour Africa and to make direct contact with African leaders on the continent. 'The tour of the continent made a forceful impression on me' he later remarked.
He met Julius Nyerere and Rashidi Kawawa (Tanganyika); Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia); General Abboud (Sudan); Habib Bourguiba (Tunisia); Modiba Keita (Mali); Leopold Senghor (Senegal); Sekou Toure (Guinea); Tubman (Liberia); Ben Bella and Colonel Boumedienne (Algeria); Milton Obote (Uganda); Kenneth Kuanda (Zambia then Northern Rhodesia); Oginga Odinga (Kenya, then a British colony); Joshua Nkomo (Zimbabwe, then Southern Rhodesia) and many others. It is important to note that some of these leaders were then freedom fighters - their countries were not yet independent. 'In all these countries we were showered with hospitality, and assured of solid support for our cause', remembered Mandela. In Britain he was received by Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party and by Jo Grimond, leader of the Liberal Party, among others.
This African trip of Mandela was very important for the strategy of our movement and the nascent Umkhonto we Sizwe. Mandela states:
'I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and... underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them...I acknowledge that I made these studies to equip myself for the role which I might have to play if the struggle drifted into guerrilla warfare.'
Mandela did not stop at that. He also made arrangements 'for our recruits to undergo military training...The first batch of recruits actually arrived in Tanganyika when I was passing through that country on my way back to South Africa'.
Whilst on the African tour Mandela had discussions with leading African politicians and freedom fighters:
'I had discussions with leaders of political movements in Africa and discovered that almost every single one o f them, in areas which had still not attained independence, had received all forms of assistance from the socialist countries, as well as from the West, including that of financial support. I also discovered that some well-known African states, all of them non- communists, and even anti-communists, had received similar assistance... I made a strong recommendation to the ANC that we should not confine ourselves to Africa and the Western countries, but that we should also send a mission to the socialist countries to raise the funds which were so urgently needed.'
These are some of the results of Mandela's trip to Africa about which he reported to the ANC. Mandela returned to South Africa in July 1962 and worked underground until he was arrested in Natal on August 5, 1962. He was convicted on November 7, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment on the charge of incitement and two years for leaving the country without valid documents. At the close of the trial the crowd ignored a special prohibition on all demonstrations relating to trials and marched through the streets singing Tshotsholoza Mandela (struggle Mandela).
The struggle continued. Mandela's colleagues, notably Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Rusty Bernstein, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni continued the struggle, planning recruiting, sending recruits abroad for training and continuing with the acts of sabotage.
This continued until 11 July 1963 when the police raided a farm, Lillieslief, at Rivonia near Johannesburg and arrested them, capturing documentary evidence which was later used against them. They appeared in court on October 9, 1963 on charges of 193 acts of sabotage committed between 27 June 1962 and the date of the Rivonia raid. Mandela was brought from prison to become Accused No. 1. These acts of sabotage were allegedly carried out by people recruited by the accused in their capacity as members of the High Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe. Denis Goldberg - it was alleged - had been negotiating for the purchase of components which would have been sufficient for the manufacture of some 200,000 hand grenades. The National High Command had certainly got past the negotiating stage in its efforts to acquire tons of high explosives; boxes had been ordered in vast quantities for the manufacture of land mines. The aim was to start guerrilla warfare coupled with an 'armed invasion and a violent revolution or uprising'. Among the accused - as we stated before - was Nelson Mandela, who was brought from prison to stand trial as the first accused. He had by then completed one year of a five year sentence of imprisonment.
After a long, boring and tedious procedure which involved no less than 173 prosecution witnesses- including Bruno Mtolo and Patrick Abel Mthembu who had inside knowledge of ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe, Mandela made his statement from the dock in Pretoria Supreme Court on April 20, 1964 at the opening of the defence case. The main content of his speech - which we have already quoted elsewhere in this chapter - was:
Sisulu was the a defence witness. He followed Mandela's keynote speech in that he refused to implicate others who were still not arrested. By refusing to answer questions the Rivonia accused broke new ground in the South African courts, and certainly new as far as the political trials were concerned. Prior to this case, there had been a series of trials of people said to be members of the Pan African Congress (PAC) or POQO who attempted to exonerate themselves by naming or implicating dozens of others who had participated in their activities and so spreading the persecution even wider.
But the Rivonia accused were political people. They hoped thus to set a new standard which would be followed by others in political trials in South Africa's future. In fact, the example they set there has become a precedent, and in subsequent political trials many of the accused have followed it; many unwilling witnesses have refused to testify and have faced months of imprisonment for this refusal.
All the accused went through the same process. As an illustration of their calibre, courage and conviction, in the face of a death sentence, we quote the case of Ahmed Kathrada. Vernon Berrange led Kathrada's evidence. He was as much concerned to let the judge see the man as to get him to see the case. Berrange led Kathrada through the story of his life-how he had come to dedicate himself to political struggle, and what led him to devote virtually the whole of his life and activity to the national liberation struggle of the black people. Kathrada described his reaction when the African National Congress had been declared illegal in 1960: 'I was greatly disturbed' he declared. 'For many years the African and Indian Congresses had cooperated on numerous issues which affected both races. I believed that the disappearance of the ANC from the political scene in South Africa would deprive the African people, or should I say all the oppressed people in the whole of South Africa, of a most responsible leadership'.
Berrange: And as a member of a minority group where do you think your future lies?
Kathrada: I have long come to the conclusion, and so have the Indian people, that our future lies with the policies of the African National Congress.
Kathrada explained and described how he had been placed under house arrest in 1962. This prohibited him from entering factories, though his work at that time required his daily entry into printing works for whom he was a canvasser. It prohibited him from communicating with any other banned or listed people, from attending social gatherings, or from being out of doors during the hours of darkness or over the weekends. Up to 1963 - he said - he had been arrested 'something like seventeen times since 1946...I am not including charges for just putting up posters or distributing leaflets or that sort of thing. In fact I was acquitted on nearly every charge except five'. The story went on up to the time of the Rivonia raid when they were arrested.
Then Percy Yutar, the state prosecutor, started his cross-examination. It was really a battle of unmatched weights. Dr Yutar in the field of politics was in the flyweight class; Kathrada being a heavyweight with a devastating upper cut and unexpected left. The case was much to the amusement of the accused and the public, who enjoyed nothing quite so well as seeing Kathrada strike out with that left and uppercut to the discomfiture of Dr Yutar who spoke in a voice several octaves higher than his normal tones, a real sing-song voice, rising to a crescendo; a dramatic wail accompanied by a dramatic falsetto which resulted in a cacophonous sound. Yutar's aggressive fashion and aggressive attack on Kathrada brought out the really aggressive side of Kathrada's personality. Yutar's manner acted as a spur to the aggressive sarcasm of Kathrada in discussion. Let us take a few excerpts of this battle to illustrate our point:
Yutar: You have called them [the cabinet ministers] amongst other things, criminal?
Kathrada: That's what they are.
Yutar found it hard to keep his temper with Kathrada, especially when Kathrada refused to answer questions about other people and their activities.
Yutar: Sisulu adopted that attitude in the box and you are doing the same.
Kathrada: Is there anything wrong with that?
Yutar: Don't ask me...I am telling you that you are adopting the same attitude as Sisulu.
Kathrada: That's obvious.
Yutar: And this political organisation to which you owe this loyalty; does it also include the African National Congress?
Kathrada: Yes.
Yutar: It also includes the Umkhonto?
Kathrada: If I knew anything about the Umkhonto I would not tell you. If the fact of it was to implicate anybody, I would not tell you.
Yutar: Then how am I to test your story and what you are telling us?
Kathrada: I feel very sorry for you Doctor, but I am unable to help you there.
Yutar: How is His Lordship to test the accuracy of your evidence?
Kathrada: I am afraid I have no suggestions.
And so it went on. In his irritation Yutar picked up one of the Mandela diaries in which there had been some entries referring to a certain 'K'. Yutar was rather anxious to prove that the 'K' referred to was Kathrada
Yutar: Are you sometimes referred to as K?
Kathrada: I am not referred to as K.
Yutar: Never?
Kathrada: I don't know anybody who refers to me as K.
Yutar: Do you know anybody else who goes under the initial K?
Kathrada: Yes.
Yutar: Who?
Kathrada: Mr Krushchev.
There was laughter in court. Yutar is incapable of laughing at a joke at his own expense. He bellowed: 'So you are trying to be funny at my expense?' and Kathrada replied that Yutar asked him of a Mr K he knows of and he replied.
On Friday June 12, 1964 eleven months to the day after the Rivonia arrests Judge Quartus de Wet passed the sentence of life imprisonment on our comrades. The case was over. They were flown secretly to Robben Island.
All these comrades spoke up in defence of their actions; in defence of the movement; in defence of the aspirations of our people and gave an explanation why they took such actions. Their inspiring words are remembered and will be remembered for centuries to come wherever and whenever men talk of freedom. Besides their invaluable contribution to our struggle for decades before the Rivonia arrests what they achieved in 1963 was to implant Umkhonto we Sizwe in the political history of our country; Umkhonto we Sizwe was born and it later grew and is now bearing fruits. Chief Lutuli, restricted as he was to Groutville, made a statement as President-General of the ANC on the same day of the pronouncement of the sentence:
'The African National Congress never abandoned its method of a militant, non-violent struggle, and of creating in the process a spirit of militancy in the people. However, in the face of the uncompromising white refusal to abandon a policy which denies the African and other oppressed South Africans their rightful heritage - freedom no one can blame brave and just men for seeking justice by the use of violent methods; nor could they be blamed if they tried to create an organised force in order to ultimately establish peace and racial harmony... They represent the highest in morality and ethics in the South African struggle; this morality and ethics has been sentenced to an imprisonment it may never survive.'
On the 25th April 1969 an ANC conference was held in Tanzania -the Morogoro Conference. Its main task was undoubtedly to bring about organisational changes, a 'new framework and structure' as some people said. Commenting on this conference, Mayibuye remarked:
'Comrades and supporters may well wonder why it has only been possible now to give expression to an organisational necessity which arose some years ago'. It gives an answer: 'The answer lies in the scientific fact that there is always a time lag between the demands of history and the development of social forces except at that precise moment of revolutionary change when both factors coincide perfectly to advance society to a new, and qualitatively different, higher plane.'
Some sceptics call this moment a 'crisis'. Surely at the Morogoro Conference there was no 'crisis' - but problems - lots of them.
The main task before the conference was to map and chart the way to victory. But this could only be done through a democratic way to victory. This explains why the ANC involved all its members in large scale pre- conference discussions at all levels in all the centres where ANC people were to be found. These pre-conference preparations which took the form of expert papers, objective analysis and discussion of issues and rebutless criticism of our work; formulation of proposals aimed at removing shortcomings and ensuring improvements were a guarantee not only for the fruitful results of the conference but also for a solid basis for our future operations: that is total mobilisation of the millions of our people; radical changes in our machinery and style of work to enable us to accomplish the tasks that lie ahead. In short to fashion the instruments that will enable us to achieve a further spur forward towards the great goals of our movement. The question of collective responsibility and a pooling of experiences and ideas was very important and vital especially for a movement like ours which was then largely cut off from the masses at home.
There were many questions which were raised, discussed and partly solved at the Morogoro Conference. Central to all and most burning was the problem of reaching the fighting front. Relevant to this, and basic to it, were the problems of internal organisation coupled with and to a large extent dependent on, the means of communication between external centres and the home front.
Questions arose: Is our order of priorities correct? In other words are we concentrating revolutionary manpower, talent and material resources where they are most urgently required? This is in terms of short-term and long-term plans. Did our then existing organisational structures make for efficient and effective implementation of these plans? To consider and agree on the answers to these questions and the solutions to these problems was one of the central aims of the conference. We needed correct answers and correct solutions because, although historically time was on our side, strategically, it was not. The South African fascist regime was on the one hand constantly strengthening its defences and extending its horizons of economic domination and political influence