Number 13, December 2001
We Shall not Submit!
The Time When Dawn Broke
On 16 December 1961, the retort of armed actions against the symbols and infrastructure of white minority rule reverberated across the still of the night. The high command of Umkhonto we Sizwe declared: "The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain 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".
A people's army had been formed. A conscious decision had been taken by bold men and women, to demonstrate, in the face of massacre and repression, what it means to be a warrior and a patriot. In the words of our President, comrade Thabo Mbeki:
"It was a time of great heroic efforts and unprecedented sacrifices. It was a time of massacres and a savage attempt to silence those who fought for our liberation. It was the time when the dawn broke to signal the start of a new day, even as the night sought to claim dominion over both day and night, both the past and the future.
It was that time in the evolution of our country into its future, when the new infant, even when it was a mere conception in the minds of those who were destined to die, was engaged in a difficult struggle to be born. It was the time in the evolution of our country when the old and decrepit fought to extend its life, by strangling the new being, even as it emerged from the troubled womb of our society.
It was an era of historic decisions. It was the moment when those who lived and had a conscience, had to take epoch-making resolutions. It was that difficult period when responses to the questions of the day by those who lived and had a conscience, perhaps beyond the understanding of they who had to decide, were responses to the question whether freedom would forever be deferred.
Forty years on the infant that was mere conception in the minds of those who were destined to die has been born. Our freedom has been born in the glorious light of dignity thanks to the heroic decisions of those bold patriots who acted in that bleak and hopeful time.
We dedicate this issue of Umrabulo, to the combatants of our glorious people's army, Umkhonto we Sizwe, the Spear of the Nation. You cut the trail that we follow today. You are the pioneers of our freedom, the Masupatsela of our dignity. Through resolute struggle, preparedness to sacrifice and determination to serve your people, you have set the examples that we strive to emulate.
We salute those who paid the supreme sacrifice, that fell in the field of battle: you are the warriors who have given us freedom and dignity, and your spirit lives on among us. In the words of Solomon Mahlangu, your blood has indeed nourished the sweet fruits of freedom. You did not die in vain: our dignity is a living monument to your historic sacrifice.
As we mourn the death of comrade Joe Modise, and mobilise our people in pursuit of reconstruction and development, we pay tribute to our all our revolutionary forebears.
To those cadres of MK who continue to live and work amongst us, you are a daily inspiration. Even as our movement grows to meet the challenges of this new era, which is the fruit of your contribution, the unique experience and collective memory of the former MK combatants within our ranks continuously remind us of what it really means to be a cadre of the African National Congress.
It is no accident that you should be held in such high esteem, since Umkhonto we Sizwe was consciously designed as the cradle of a new cadre.
In the dark days of the 1960's, when it appeared that the revolutionary tide had been thwarted, the Luthuli detachment set a precedent of struggle, service and sacrifice that was keenly followed by all those patriots that came after them. As they carved their way through the steep ravines and treacherous gorges of Wankie, the Umgwenya of our struggle learned that, for the soldier of Umkhontho we Sizwe, political comprehension and comradeship were as important, if not more so, than ability to handle weapons of war.
Following them, the June 16 detachment, the Moncada detachment, the Madinoga detachment, the Barney Molokoane detachment and many others learned the art of war, were schooled in the science of revolution, and imbibed the spirit of Letsema that marked the soldiers of MK and continues to inspire our work in this new century.
Through the years this dedicated and committed cadreship volunteered its services without seeking personal reward or benefit. They kept the flame of struggle alive and inspired many within the rank and file of our movement to work selflessly for the achievement of democracy. This culture of voluntarism, of struggle, service and sacrifice are rare and precious qualities that cannot be neglected as we prepare to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the African National Congress.
Let us all learn from the history of Umkhonto we Sizwe what it means to be patriotic, what it means to contribute selflessly to the freedom and dignity of our people. On December 16, 2001, let us dip our revolutionary banners in honour of our forbears, and make a covenant with these martyrs, to respect their memory by serving our people.
Let us not submit to the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance. Let us fight the fight their sacrifice has blessed us with and continue the struggle for freedom, peace and dignity.
Ke Nako! Mayihlome!
Units of Umkhonto we Sizwe today carried out planned attacks against government installations, particularly those connected with the policy of apartheid and race discrimination.
Umkhonto we Sizwe is a new, independent body, formed by Africans, It includes in its ranks South Africans of all races It is not connected in any way with a so-called 'Committee for National Liberation' whose existence has been announced in the press. 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.
It is, however, well known that the main national liberation organisations in this country have consistently followed a policy of non-violence. They have conducted themselves peaceably at all times, regardless of government attacks and persecutions upon them, and despite all government-inspired attempts to provoke them to violence. They have done so because the people prefer peaceful methods of change to achieve their aspirations without the suffering and bitterness of civil war. But the people's patience is not endless.
The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain 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. The government has interpreted the peacefulness of the movement as weakness; the people's non-violent policies have been taken as a green light for government violence. Refusal to resort to force has been interpreted by the government as an invitation to use armed force against the people without any fear of reprisals. The methods of Umkhonto we Sizwe mark a break with that past.
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 only! The choice is not ours; it has been made by the Nationalist government which has rejected ever peaceable demand by the people for rights and freedom and answered ever such demand with force and yet more force! Twice in the past 18 months, virtual martial law has been imposed in order to beat down peaceful, non-violent strike action of the people in support of their rights. It is now preparing its forces - enlarging and rearming its armed forces and drawing the white civilian population into commandos and pistol clubs - for full-scale military actions against the people. The Nationalist government has chosen the course of force and massacre, now, deliberately, as it did at Sharpeville.
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! Let the government, its supporters who put it into power, and those whose passive toleration of reaction keeps it in power, take note of where the Nationalist government is leading the country!
We of Umkhonto we Sizwe have always sought -as the liberation movement has sought - to achieve liberation without bloodshed and civil clash. We do so still. We hope - even at this late hour - that our first actions will awaken every one to a realisation of the disastrous situation to which the Nationalist policy is leading. We hope that we will bring the government and its supporters to their senses before it is too late, so that both the government and its policies can be changed before matters reach the desperate state of civil war. We believe our actions to be a blow against the Nationalist preparations for civil war and military rule.
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.
We appeal for the support and encouragement of all those South Africans who seek the happiness and freedom of the people of this country.
Afrika Mayibuye!
The path of the revolutionary struggle of our people has always been carved by volunteers and informed by an overwhelming sense of service, sacrifice and a commitment to the struggles of the oppressed masses. We call to mind also that the formation of the African National Congress on 8 January 1912 was a manifestation of the selfsame spirit of volunteerism precisely because the organisation was formed by men and women of unparalleled courage, patriotism and vision. They were all volunteers, fired by the ideals of freedom and independence from colonial bondage. From the outset, they aimed at taking the struggles of the people to the highest possible levels.
The infamous landing of the Dutch colonists, in 1652, at the Cape planted the seeds of conflict. The establishment of colony and the relentless extension of settlement into the interior, along with similar incursions by Britons, in Natal, subsequently set-off a process destined to alter the course of natural development in the history of South Africa.
Settlement bred encroachment on the habitat of people and communities; it kindled resentment which Britons and Afrikaner invaders met with fierce muskets and organized military campaigns. The era of plunder in the name of civilizing the natives, the conversion of pagans and the "Law of First Occupation" had commenced.
The settlers confiscated cattle, annexed lands, decreed Native reserves and coerced labour through the imposition of taxes. The forces of colonialism, keen on establishing domination by force of conquest or bible had arrived.
Aggression and annexation sparked resistance; it ignited clashes, battles, and uprisings. In the eyes of the settlers, these were rebellions to be quelled severely in the interest of the Crown and Boer imperial aspirations.
Resistance took on many forms: organized or spontaneous and sporadic pitched battles, religious or spiritually inspired insurrections and outright protracted insurgency by warriors. These periods witnessed, variously, the imprint of the daring exploits and deeds of warriors, medicine-men and chiefs alike. Notable in this regard were the famed Gonema, Autshumayo, Makhado, Moshoeshoe, Shaka, Makana, Hintsa, Ngungunyana, Sekhukhune and Ramabulana and others.
The epic resistance mounted against the forces of foreign domination and expropriation inspired an enduring challenge today known in the annals of the liberation struggle as The Wars of Resistance. It bequeathed a succession of parallels and legends like Thaba-Bosiu, the fortress of Moshoeshoe, The Battle of Income, also known as "Blood River" and immortalized in Inkandla, Isandlwana and the battles of Thaba-Leolo in the North of the country.
The combined might of both Boer and British predation were unable to reign completely over the land until two centuries had elapsed. The last battles of this era only closed when the "rebellions" by Vha-Venda under Ramabulana/Makhado, and the challenge by Cetshwayo and Sigananda were fiercely put down towards the close of the nineteenth century. In the end, the "civilising" mission of the colonists had triumphed over the indigenous owners. Quite curiously, the new sovereign was not, in the least, averse to behead the vanquished enemies. Many a head of a warrior or chief became trophies with the hope to deter the so-called seditious intentions of natives.
Sworn enemies, Boer and British settlers, when not fighting each other, to the extent of building internment camps, could reconcile animosities, finding unity in their commitment to exclude the indigenous in matters of state and religion.
The discovery of diamonds in Kimberly, upon which the South African economy was later established, had paved the way for the colonists' convergence of interests. Both Boer and Briton found reciprocal accommodation; their interests coalesced. They closed ranks and confirmed the fact through the Treaty of Vereeniging of 1902 that guaranteed them usurped undivided authority over the land.
Unity, while desirable for both the settler communities, was deemed unsuited for the indigenous peoples. For the latter, separate reserves and enclaves were prescribed and pre-ordained. Our people were tolerated for the conscripted use of their labour on the farms, mines and industry. They became migrants, commuters and temporary sojourners at the service of white capital and nationalism. Modern South Africa was in the making.
The Union of South Africa Act in 1910 sealed the marriage of Afrikaners and Britons. They excluded the majority Black population, impervious to the petitions, deputations and nationwide outrage that accompanied their intentions. The British Crown declined many requests and pleas of intervention made by deputations and representatives of the majority, and instead referred them to the Union government (Roux) because the latter was sovereign.
Against the backdrop of colonial dispossession and for the fact that the peoples' interests had been totally disregarded, the need for a political organisation of their own became more pressing. In the ensuing situation, several hundreds of Africans convened in Mangaung, Bloemfontein, in 1912, to found the South African Native National Congress, later to be known as the African National Congress (ANC). This was happening in the wake of organised political forms that had begun ascendancy at the very dawn of Black National Awareness towards the end of the 1800's. Those efforts had, however, remained disparate.
The ANC was formed to unite Africans, to harness their efforts and to create a national consciousness; it was assigned the task of being a mid-wife in the process of national rebirth and regeneration" to continue the anti-colonial struggle under new conditions. (Meli, in African Communist No 48, 1972).
The emergence and development of the ANC as the principal organism of the National Liberation Movement came in the context of heightened political awareness. It mirrored the efforts and strivings of other parties and organisations of labour; it complemented and cooperated with them. Acting, at times in combination, sometimes independently diverse techniques of struggle were employed. These ranged from strikes, campaigns and boycotts.
For four decades, the ANC and other forces, inspired by the goal of liberation and equality, waged relentless campaigns. The pleas, albeit assuming the nature of determined fights, encountered deaf ears and hearts of stone. The Land Acts of 1913 had disinherited Black people of 87% of their birth -rights to land and livelihoods leaving them only 13%. Pass laws proscribed the African people movement and turned law-abiding citizens into criminals. A battery of other repressive legislation: The Suppression of Communism Act, Group Areas Act and Bantu Education sought to outlaw dissent and to stifle even peaceful protest, besides denying the entire African people of a dignified nationhood.
The Nationalist Party was destined to balkanize the country into "Bantustans" and institutionalise racial discrimination with its creed of apartheid, euphemistically, named Separate Development. A distorted First World was in the making at the expense of the indigenous majority.
South Africa witnessed unprecedented mass ferment. This was more examplified by the historic Defiance Campaign of 1952, which saw batches upon batches of volunteers nationwide break apartheid laws and court arrest. The ANC Youth league, formed in 1944, was catapulted into history. Known as, Amadelakufa -Those Who Defy Death, the emergence of the Youth League and Volunteers imparted to the ANC a militancy hitherto unknown in the land.
"Amavolontiya", with national Volunteer-in-chief, Nelson Mandela, at helm, set out to "make history and focus the attention of the world on the racist policies of South Africa (Mandela)." But above all, to insist through militant action on the people's right to be free.
Dubbed, " From Protest to Challenge" (Karis & Carter), this period resulted in mass involvement, mobilization and recruitment. It rattled the protagonist of apartheid, and the ANC " received an enormous amount of publicity and the membership of ANC shot up from some 20 000 to 100 000".
(Mandela). The Defiance Campaign became the incubator of mass mobilization and movement. The campaign demonstrated the possibility and feasibility of victory built upon the commitment and sacrifice of those volunteers that were willing to lay down their lives for the greater good.
Typically, the apartheid authorities responded with yet more repressive laws; they passed the Public Safety Act to enable them to impose martial law and the detention of people without trial and the Criminal Laws Amendment Act authorizing corporal punishment for persons defying their designs.
The fifties closed with a renewed spirit; the fear of prison was broken albeit with immense sacrifices. Previously in 1955, the Congress of the People had adopted the Freedom Charter, a statement of aims that encapsulated a set of guiding principles and a broad vision for a future democratic South Africa. Indeed, the Charter Charter "captured the hopes and dreams of the people and acted as a blueprint for the liberation struggle and the future nation".
The People had spoken defiantly and asserted that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it. And that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people." They vowed to spare neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes set out in the Charter had been won.
The regime responded swiftly and very harshly. Several leaders and representatives of the Congress Movement, amongst them Volunteer-in-Chief, Nelson Mandela, were arraigned and charged with Treason. In the aftermath of the Treason Trial apartheid laws were fine-tuned, activists restricted, and banned from public activity or banished from center-stage.
The apartheid regime prepared to declare South Africa a Republic.
Subsequently, the Liberation movement and other formations were outlawed.
The nationalist government, bent on achieving their cherished dream to cut off ties with the British Crown and become a republic, refused to heed the ultimatum of the Congress Alliance to convene a constitutional convention.
Even before the actual banning of black political organizations in 1960, there was already debate as to whether, in the midst of the intense and granite-like repression by the minority government, the time had not arrived to adopt armed struggle as part of the strategy of the national liberation movement. The overriding feeling amongst the volunteers of the ANC and the broad Congress Alliance was that this option was now open.
The situation that obtained in 1960 called for a review of the strategy and tactics until then adhered to by the ANC and its allies. Beginning in 1950 the ANC had found every avenue of peaceful resistance to discriminatory laws blocked. This was the beginning, of the most intense period of mass mobilization in the history of the ANC. The aim of building a mass movement of the people anew, in addition to the employment of extra-parliamentary pressure, was dealt a blow with the banning of the ANC and other formations.
The regime closed all peaceful, legal and constitutional means of resistance.
The time had, therefore, come in 1961 that necessitated an appropriate response for the policy and strategic decisions that gave birth to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). Among these were:
The creation of MK was a noble and heroic act; it underscored the will and determination of the people to achieve the goal of liberation. It was a fitting response to a situation that left the liberation forces with one of either two choices: submission or fighting back. MK embodied the latter- the commitment to fight and, " to hit back by all means within our power in defence of our people, our future and our freedom". The people's patience had run out.
In deciding on the formation of MK, the ANC, alongside its allies, "acted in accordance with firm revolutionary guidelines" informed by the recognition of the new situation, as well as, the grasp of the art and science of armed liberation struggles in the modern era. Detailed preparations for the launching of guerrilla warfare were undertaken. Mandela, himself, underwent military training in Algeria and China, visited Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and toured Africa accompanied by selected senior cadres. They succeeded in securing arrangements for MK recruits to undergo military training in preparation to lead the eventual battle for South Africa.
There was recognition, even at that time, that the opening steps of the new path had to meet a threefold requirement:
The ANC and the military wing, MK, fully appreciated that armed struggle was a political struggle by means which included the use of military force. The basic tenet was that the primacy of political leadership must remain unchallenged and supreme, and that all revolutionary formations, armed or not, are sub-ordinate to that leadership. The understanding was equally that the struggle had to be won through all-round political mobilisation that was to accompany military activities. In the envisaged people's war, MK was perceived as the core of the people's army and constituted the cutting edge of political efforts.
MK carried out the first acts of sabotage against selected targets of the enemy on 16 December 1961. These attacks, launched in several centers in the country, announced the arrival of MK on the scene and occurred with the appearance of the MK manifesto heralding the formation.
The volunteers who swelled the ranks of MK at its inception were drawn principally from ANC and SACP structures. A visible percentage also came from organizations belonging to other oppressed groups including a few white revolutionaries who were ready to make common cause with the aspirations of the most oppressed African masses. The SAIC and CPO were among these.
The first crop of MK recruits, the selected volunteers, were indeed pioneers and Amadelakufa in their own right. Many of them were tempered in the Defiance campaigns, while several had participated in the WW II and saw action in Egypt and the Sudan. Among these, are counted the names of Graham Morodi popularly known as Ntate Mashego and Jack Hodgson (Desert Rat). The latter imparted to MK the skills of manufacturing explosives that he had acquired during WW II.
In the wake of the sabotage campaign that heralded the birth of the MK on 16 December 1961, as well as the resultant repression, members of the MK High Command were forcibly removed from society following the raid on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, Johannesburg. They were later condemned to languish for the better part of their lifetimes on Robben Island. Cadres like Vuyisile Mini, Zinakile Mkhaba and Walter Khayingo and others were sentenced to death. They went to the gallows singing; Na'ntsi indoda emnyama...Pasopa Verwoerd - Here comes the Black man...Watch out Verwoerd. (Verwoerd was then Prime Minister of the newly created Republic).
This generation of MK combatants also provided the first recruits to set up base outside South Africa. The first batch had arrived in Tanzania as Mandela was winding his mission of Africa negotiating training facilities, before his arrest upon returning to the country. Umgwenya - Veterans, as they came to be known, evetually arrived in Kongwa, Tanzania, in the early sixties. In their midst counted several leadership cadres of the Alliance, among others, Moses Mabhida, J.B. Marks, Moses Kotane, Dr Yusuf Dadoo and Joe Modise (J.M) and several others. JM later became Army Commander of MK for many years until the big return to South Africa after 1990.
Umgwenya were the pathfinders at a time when Southern Africa was a laager of hostile borders of Portuguese, Rhodesian and Afrikaner colonial states. This early detachment trained in places as far-flung as Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. To reach their destination, O. R. Tambo had this to say, " They traveled by land from Cape-Town, now on foot; now on trucks and then on boats in the night; then by train through the Sudan until Cairo -through immense difficulties, a journey that, incidentally, fulfilled Cecil Rhodes's dream of a link from Cape to Cairo. We did that in the course of the struggle. And every phase of that trip was a challenge". (Cited from a speech delivered on the occasion of MK withdrawal from Angola by President, O.R Tambo: The Year of Convergences and Dispersal, 1988).
Their quality, discipline, dedication and courage as a group was such that the then President of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere told people who then informed OR Tambo that he thought MK "was the most disciplined army in Southern Africa- including his own army!" O.R, ever the modest, thought that that was unfair!
Umgwenya laid the foundation of the partnership between the sister people of South Africa and Tanzania and their army the Tanzanian People's Defence Force (TPDF). This was the precursor of the alliances that were later forged among MK, SWAPO, ZIPRA, FRELIMO and FAPLA.
Later generations of MK found a beaten path laid by Umgwenya, who subsequently, took upon the mission of training and nurturing others, particularly, The June 16 and Moncada detachments.
PART 2, which focus on the later detachments of MK and the alliances with other liberation movements and armies on the continent, will be published in the next edition of Umrabulo.
The Central Committee of the South African Communist Party warmly greets all Communists who are taking part in the armed struggle for the liberation of our country.
For decades it has been a cardinal principle of the South African Communist Party, the revolutionary party of the working class, to support the struggle for freedom and democracy. For this reason our party has given primary importance to the building of a united front of National liberation centred around the African National Congress. In all the struggles of the past forty years and more, Communists in common with their non-communist colleagues have fought numerous campaigns against national oppression, racialism and exploitation. Communists believe that ultimately the whole world including South Africa will become a communist society in which classes and exploitation have been abolished and all human beings enjoy complete equality in all spheres of life. But the task of building such a society cannot even begin until the people are free from national oppression and the system of white minority rule is smashed. The paramount duty of the SACP today is to participate in and support the struggle for freedom in our country whose main content is the freedom of the African people. This struggle has now entered the new phase of armed revolutionary war.
The Luthuli Detachment was one [of] those detachments that were well prepared and well trained. I'm saying this because I personally participated in the preparations. A lot of time was allocated for the detachment to be together in the bush to be able to train together in order to ensure that physically we were ready for the rigorous task that lay ahead. But in addition to the physical preparation there was also the political preparation, the need for us to forge an understanding between the forces of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the forces of ZAPU and to understand the historical necessity of the battles of Wankie. . . .
When we began the process of crossing, we were ready for anything, and the spirit of MK combatants was very high. The crossing point was not an easy one, it was a place which was quite rocky and the current of the Zambezi was strong. But these seeming obstacles and difficulties did not deter us at all. After crossing the river, there was a spirit of elation and joy, due to the fact that we had already crossed the first obstacle, mainly the river, and we were now all looking forward to participating in the long march deep into Zimbabwe and ultimately reaching our destination, South Africa.
The spirit of cohesion and unity between ourselves and ZAPU was magnificent.
We were working together as one unit, consulting and discussing together.
There was no friction whatsoever within this unit. . . .
From the very beginning we began to notice that we were not at all conversant with the terrain across the river. For instance, moving away from the Zambezi river we had expected to come across streams and rivulets with water, but as soon as we moved a few kilometres from the Zambezi river we realised that it was quite a dry area. There were no rivers, no streams, and people were getting water from boreholes. So this problem of no rivers necessitated an earlier contact with the people. . . .
Secondly, we were beginning to run low on food supplies. So again we had to contact the people. It is important in all military preparations, whatever military strategy is worked out, to emphasise the need to contact people.
But it is dangerous to contact the people at random and that is what we were forced to do. . . .
But in all fairness when we established this contact we were met with enthusiasm by the people. We were given water and even fresh supplies of food. This was very useful and enabled us to continue for a few days marching towards the South of Zimbabwe. Within the game reserve of Wankie a decision had been taken by our HQ in Lusaka that the unit had to split into two. There was the unit that had to move towards the east, towards an area called Lupane, and there was also the main unit which had to march towards the South.
Within the unit moving towards the South was quite a substantial number of those comrades whose mission was eventually to reach South Africa and establish MK units within the country. In the unit moving towards the South with the eventual aim of getting to South Africa were comrades Lennox Lagu, myself, Peter Mfene, Douglas Wana, Mbijana, the late Victor Dlamini, Castro, Mashigo (the ANC Chief Representative to Lusaka), Paul Sithole, Desmond, Wilson Msweli, Shooter Makasi, Eric Nduna, Basil February and James April.
Lennox was the most senior in our group. I was the group's commissar.
The unit marching towards the East was to base in Zimbabwe, the aim being to establish an MK presence in Zimbabwe which could be used in future to service MK combatants passing through Zimbabwe. In other words, the whole concept of the Wankie campaign was to build bridges, a Ho Chi Minh trail to South Africa. . . .
They made contact with the enemy quite early, about two weeks after we had parted. One of the battles they were engaged in will probably go down in the history of MK military operations as one of the most heroic. . . . So this caught them [the Pretoria regime] by surprise, and there was so much panic that immediately after this, the regime in Pretoria dispatched more troops to Zimbabwe to fight the Luthuli Detachment.
A big battle was now looming on Zimbabwean soil, not just between the settler forces of Ian Smith but the combined forces of Smith and the SADF [South African Defense Force]. We noticed after three to four weeks of our presence in Zimbabwe that there was a lot of aerial reconnaissance by the enemy. . . . We were sure that it was only a matter of days before we would have to engage the enemy.
But interestingly enough there was a spirit of looking forward to battle with the enemy . . . . We had undergone very serious training in the Soviet Union and other places and had always looked forward to this historical engagement between ourselves and the forces of the enemy. . . . [T]here is nothing [so] scintillating and stimulating to a soldier as to test his whole reactions in actual battle, your responses when you are under fire. . . .
There were reasons why we moved mostly at night. We discovered once again that the terrain was very bad. It was empty, with no cover except for shrubs, especially as we moved deeper into Zimbabwe towards Matebeleland. .
. . During the day we took cover, dug foxholes and trenches in preparation for any possible engagement with the enemy and used the cover of darkness to cover as much ground as possible in our march towards the South. But again I want to point out that I as a Commissar found the spirit of the men quite magnificent. . . . We could only survive on game meat and that was also risky. Shooting and killing wild animals was a way of signalling to the enemy and his agents that we were around. Yet there were no alternatives. .
I think the biggest legacy of the Luthuli Detachment at Wankie was the sort of absolute commitment of our fighters to the revolution to an extent where to them things like hunger and thirst were not primary. . . .
Then came the days of our battles. The first battle we fought was in the afternoon. . . . we noticed that the enemy was not far from us. We had detected the motorised enemy earlier. The vehicles were visible from a distance. Since it was during the day we deliberately refrained from engaging the enemy at that particular point in time. But it was quite clear that the enemy also noticed that we were around. . . . In the afternoon the enemy moved into the offensive by firing at random at the sector where we had taken position.
We had decided earlier on that each and everyone ought to be very economic with the ammunition he had due to the fact that we did not have access to enough ammunition except what we were carrying. . . .
So the usual psychological war of the enemy of firing furiously at our sector continued coupled with shouting and calling on us to surrender. From the very beginning during the course of our preparations we had made it clear amongst ourselves that surrender was out of the question. We were not going to fire back unless we had a clear view of the enemy. The enemy got impatient. They stood up and began to ask "Where are the terrorists?" This was when there was a fusillade of furious fire from us. That fusillade, the furious nature of that reply, drove away the enemy. They simply ran for their dear lives leaving behind food, ammunition and communication equipment. In this first epic battle we lost three comrades: Charles Seshoba, Sparks Moloi and Baloi _ one comrade Mhlonga was wounded. On the side of the enemy we must have killed between 12 to 15, including a lieutenant, a Sergeant-Major, a Warrant Officer and a number of other soldiers. The rest literally ran helter-skelter for their lives. One memorable thing about that encounter was the fact that this was the first time that we had what I can call a civilised meal, cheese, biltong, meat and other usual rations carried by the regular army. For us this represented a feast. So it was a good capture. We also captured a brand new LMG, some machine guns, uniforms and boots.
It was a memorable victory and to every soldier victory is very important.
This was a virgin victory for us since we had never fought with modern weapons against the enemy. For us that day was a day of celebrations because with our own eyes we had seen the enemy run. We had seen the enemy frozen with fear. That lifted our spirits and transformed us into a fighting force.
We had also seen and observed each other reacting to the enemy's attacks. A feeling of faith in one another and recognition of the courage of the unit developed.
This was important and we knew from then on there was no going back. . . .
We moved on after having that fantastic feast. We proceeded because it could have been dangerous just to celebrate and wait there. We knew the enemy was going to organise re-inforcements. . . .
We were running short of food, there was no water and our uniforms were tattered. There was not even rivers where we could have a decent bath. But again this has to be taken in its proper perspective. Despite these difficulties basically our morale was not affected. There were days after that when the enemy was quite fanatic in its aerial reconnaissance.
A week after this battle there was another one. . . . the enemy had carried out furious bombardment not far from us using Buccaneers and helicopters.
But fortunately for us the bombing and strafing was about two kilometers away. .
The commander of the joint MK-ZAPU Detachment took the decision that this was the time to raid the enemy. We organised units to go and raid the enemy.
I was in that together with James April, Douglas Wana, the late Jack Simelane, Victor Dlamini and others. We crawled towards the enemy's position and first attacked their tents with grenades and then followed with our AKs [AK-47 guns] and LMGs. The enemy fought back furiously and after fifteen minutes we called for reinforcements from the rear, and within ten minutes we overran the enemy's position. In that battle we killed the enemy's colonel who was commanding. His name was Thomas, a huge chunk of a man wearing size 10 boots. We killed a few lieutenants and other soldiers.
The story was the same as in our previous battle. The enemy fled leaving behind supplies, weapons, grenades, uniforms and communication radios.
Another victory for our detachment. I want to emphasise the question of victory because the Luthuli Detachment was never defeated in battle.
Our supplies became depleted and we were moving to a barren part of Zimbabwe. We decided that it would be futile to continue fighting because the enemy was bringing in more reinforcement. So we deliberately took a decision to retreat to Botswana. The aim of this decision is important to emphasise. This was no surrender to the paramilitary units of Botswana government. It was important for us to retreat to strategic parts of Botswana, refresh ourselves, heal those who were not well, acquire food supplies and proceed. We then crossed over to Botswana. But by this time the South African regime had pressurised the Botswana government to prevent us from getting into Botswana. We found a situation where the Rhodesian security forces joined by the South Africans were pursuing us, and within Botswana the para-military force had been mobilised to stop us from entering Botswana. We had to discuss seriously what our response was going to be if the Botswana security forces confronted us. It was difficult to reach a decision, it was really a dilemma. Botswana is a member of the OAU, and in theory it is committed to the struggle for the liberation of South Africa.
So Botswana does not constitute an enemy of the liberation movement, an enemy of ZAPU and the ANC. We came to the correct political decision that we were not going to fight them. When they came to meet us they played very conciliatory and friendly, saying that they had not come to harm us. They said their instructions were not to engage us and that all they wanted was that we surrender and our fate would be discussed amicably. They also promised that we would not be detained. We accepted the bonafides and surrendered, only to discover that they were actually being commanded by white officers from Britain and South Africa. This caused problems for us.
All of a sudden we were manacled, hand-cuffed and abused. Of course all this is history now. We were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment: 3, 5 to six years and ended up in the maximum security prison in Gaborone. . . .
Our experiences of exile and armed struggle, however painful, were a source of strength and inspiration during hard times. This story is about the life and activities that took place in the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) camps, in forward areas and on the battlefield in South Africa itself. It is about the dedication and heroic acts of valour of MK fighters. It is about the history of the Luthuli Detachment, the trailblazers of armed struggle, who withstood all the hardships and deprivation of exile and camp life in order for MK to survive. It is about the detachments formed from the June 16 1976 generation and others that followed.
This story tells our parents, relatives and friends that what we did, we did for our country and posterity. Some comrades might not have gained from the struggle for liberation after we obtained our freedom, but they served with honour.
The ANC faced an influx of new recruits after the June 16 uprising in Soweto and other areas, and needed secure and reliable training bases for the new arrivals. Both the MPLA in Angola and FRELIMO in Mozambique, who had taken power in these countries in the mid-1970s, were strong allies of the ANC.
Angola had declared itself as the firm trench of the Southern African revolution. Dr Agostinho Neto had declared that MPLA was ready to suffer for the decolonisation of the whole of Southern Africa. It was therefore to Angola that the ANC looked to accommodate the new generation of recruits.
After a lot of delays and promises the day for us to go for further training arrived. In April 1977, news that we were to go to the ANC military training camp in the south of Angola initially came through the grapevine at Engineering camp. When the buses that were to take us south entered the camp cadres began to whistle and sing. People began preparing themselves for the journey and packed whatever little belongings they had into bags. Those who remained in the camp were the sick ones or those who were earmarked for early missions, like the Solomon Mahlangu group.
The Cuban patrol that was to accompany the buses also came in their transport vehicles. Strict security was required for the journey because UNITA was quite active in the south. The journey to the south was long and arduous. We finally landed at the base for training in a place called Nova Katengue, south of the Benguela province. We later called this camp the 'University of the South' because it was a cradle of a new cadre of the African National Congress. It was here where cadres were educated not only in the art of war but in politics and philosophy.
The camp was about fifty kilometres from the city. It was in the midst of nowhere and there were no people living in the vicinity of the camp. The camp was a former Portuguese farm complete with a workshop. The only link the camp had with the outside world was the Benguela railroad, which was only used occasionally by passenger trains. Whenever we heard a train approaching we would rush to the donga (ditch) beside the railway line and wave at the passengers. Some passengers would throw packets of cigarettes to us, and for days afterwards we would have the pleasure of smoking a brand name.
Otherwise, we were connected to the outside world by radio. The camp had a news team that monitored various radio stations like the Voice of America, BBC, Deutschevelle, and the SABC External Service, which was an unapologetic mouthpiece of the apartheid regime. We would be given news about the outside world at the formation in the mornings when the news would be read to us.
We would listen to commentaries from the SABC about communism and ANC terrorists. Peter Finn and Alexander Stewart, who read the SABC External Service commentaries after the morning news bulletin, were true ideologues of the apartheid regime. Later we were able to link these commentaries to impending raids of the SADF in the forward areas or in Angola. Thus, when the South African Airforce bombarded the Nova Katengue camp in April 1979 the camp was deserted because the cadres had already been withdrawn from the camp.
At the time the South African regime regularly attacked Angolan and SWAPO bases in Angola. This was the period during which the regime's policy of total strategy, whose design was to wipe out the liberation movement in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, was taking form. Therefore, as we arrived at this camp we were mindful of the dangers and challenges that lay ahead. Yet in our youthfulness and romanticism we zealously looked forward to the danger.
After being welcomed into the camp by Mzwai Piliso we were divided into companies, platoons and sections. The group was divided into four companies with about 120 people in each company. The overall number of the group was 500, excluding the instructors and the camp administrators. Company, platoon and section commanders and commissars were appointed. There was also a Cuban group with their own instructors and administrators.
The camp commander was Julius Mokoena of the Luthuli Detachment. Francis Meli was the camp commissar, but he was soon posted to head the editorial board of Sechaba in London. Mark Shope, former general secretary of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), replaced Francis. The chief of staff was the late Thami Zulu. Chief of security was the Wankie battles veteran, Alfred Wana. Our medical team was made up of the late Drs Peter Mfelang and Nomava, who were later joined by Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
Most of us owe our lives to these doctors.
Each person was given a few blankets and an airbed. The uniforms allocated to us were from the Cubans and Russians. We used cases or boxes as wardrobes. We cut oil drums to use as our washing basins. We had to share the water for washing because water was so scarce in the camp.
The first group of MK soldiers we met in the camp was the 'Mgwenya' group, the members of the Luthuli Detachment. These comrades constituted the core of Umkhonto we Sizwe during its first decade in exile and held the fort during the most difficult years of our struggle. When the first batch of June 16 fighters arrived in Zambia, Tanzania and Angola, the troops of Mgwenya were the inspiration and proof that, with conviction and political will, it was possible to survive.
We would gather around them to listen to stories of how they sustained themselves in the difficult conditions of exile. They would tell us about Oliver Tambo, JB Marks, Moses Mabhida, Moses Kotane, Robert Resha and others as leaders who taught them to be loyal. They told us that Moses Kotane once told them that for one to be a true cadre of the movement it is necessary to be born again, to become a new person.
The instructors in Nova Katengue camp were mainly Cubans, assisted by members of the Mgwenya group and the mid-70s group that had trained before us. After being allocated our respective barracks we were assigned the task of cleaning up the camp. Once this was completed we had to dig the toilets and create a defence system for the camp. Trenches were dug all round the camp.
The morale in the Nova Katengue camp was very high from the outset, and a sense of purpose was visible in the brisk walk and chattering of the comrades. During the formations, when we gathered for classes and news reading, the comrades would sing freedom songs with gusto.
Not long after we had been in the camp we, the group that had recently come from Luanda, were called to the hall by the camp authorities. Francis Meli read a letter from one comrade. The author's name was James Makhulu, known as 'Master' because of his skill in soccer. Master had written the letter and forwarded it to the administration in order to air some discontent. He had made observations that most of the newly appointed commanders and commissars were Tswanas. He pointed out that this confirmed what some people were saying in the transit places in Tanzania and Luanda - that when we arrive at the training base they are going to rule over us. When he saw the appointments in the camp it confirmed his fears and he thought it wise to raise his concerns officially.
Mark Shope stood up and pointed out that the ANC had consistently fought against tribalism and divisions among the African people in particular from its inception. Francis Meli stood up and spoke about the history of the ANC and some of the areas where people tried to use tribalism to pursue their own agenda. They also thanked Master for raising his views in an organised and constructive manner. The floor was opened for comrades to add their points of view. A number of comrades supported Master's views while others came out in defence of the camp authorities. People stood up and pointed out the problems around tribalism that existed in Tanzania and Luanda that supported Masters's fears. The matter was settled amicably and no one was subjected to any disciplinary action.
Though some comrades thought that Master had landed himself in deep trouble, subsequent events proved them wrong - the comrade continued to be held in high esteem and eventually went to Europe for further training.
As time went by there were an increasing number of signs that morale was waning. Exile, in particular camp life, was not easy. The fact that comrades did not know when or if they would ever go home or see their loved ones was at times difficult to bear. There were other problems that were specific to camp life and which had a major impact on morale. One was the way the camp administration was behaving and another was the general rumour that the Cubans were paying special attention to our female comrades.
In September 1977, we had our first experience of infiltration by agents of the South African establishment. This was when the whole camp was poisoned.
The effects of the poison took hold during our evening classes. Comrades would request permission to go to the bush in order to relieve him or herself. More and more would follow. The instructors decided to abandon the classes and all headed back to the main base. We streamed back to the camps and occasionally people would leave the formation to relieve themselves or to vomit. Some were wriggling on the ground with excruciating stomach pains.
The pain was beyond description. It was simply unbearable.
As we entered the main base we observed that other platoons were also returning to the camp. We realised then that something was seriously wrong.
Everyone was going to the medical post. Everyone was complaining about the same problem - stomach pain. This problem was affecting about 90 percent of the more than 500 people in the camp. The two doctors at this time - Nomava Ntshangase and Peter Mfelang - were unable to cope and the camp did not have many trained medical orderlies.
Some comrades had to go to the Cuban medical post in the camp. Cuban reinforcement from nearby Benguela were also called in to assist. The Cubans provided doctors and other cadres to man the guard posts. Luckily nobody died and after a few days all was back to normal. This day was called the Black September.
This poisoning was to be one of many that our comrades were to face. One of the daring cadres of MK, Reverend Mandla Msibi, died when his drink was poisoned in Swaziland. Another, comrade Mondlane, who was deployed in Radio Mozambique's English service, met a person from South Africa who befriended him. This person gave him some tinned beers that were spiked, leading to his death.
Our weapons training in the camp began with the AK47. We were taught how to disassemble and assemble it. After that we were trained in the theory of firing and all the firing mechanisms. After completion of this we were taken to the shooting range to learn firing positions. However, putting this theory into practice was one of the most difficult things to do. You now had to cope with the recoil and jerking of the AK47, and the loud bang that resulted from firing the weapon. Nevertheless, in time we all became proficient and confident that we could use the weapon. We were also trained to use Makarov and Tokarev pistols.
Also exciting was the Engineering course, where we learnt to deal with explosives. The general warning here was that you had no chance to repeat any mistake you make in handling explosives because you would be dead. The other difficulty here was the mathematical training - formulae and calculations - that we had to master in order to complete the course on explosives. Another terrifying aspect of the explosive classes was training to use detonators. However, after training for some we gained confidence in our ability to use explosives.
We completed the general course after six months of training. We were by then competent in firearms, military engineering and clearing of mine fields, topography, military tactics, signals, physical training and overcoming of obstacles, artillery, and politics. Jack Simons and Mark Shope, who were later replaced by Ronnie Kasrils, taught the politics course. The politics course was quite extensive and a bit complicated for some of the cadres who had not had an opportunity to go to school or go far in their studies.
But the question of politics and its supremacy over the military was strongly emphasised by both the ANC leadership and the camp administration.
All commissars were required to inculcate this policy in the cadreship. It was emphasised that our war was an extension of political objectives by military means, particularly in view of the arrogance and violence of the apartheid regime against defenceless people.
The main reasons for the limited interest in the politics course among some comrade were the different levels of education and the use of English as the medium of instruction. Some instructors would translate into the vernacular but this normally took too much time. Translation into Nguni or Sotho was mandatory during news reading and addresses by the leadership. In order to overcome these problems the commissariat decided to establish literacy classes and set up a camp education department.
The course outline for political classes included the history of colonialism, the emergence of the Working Class in South Africa, and the history of the African National Congress. It also dealt with the four pillars of our revolution - underground organisation, mass mobilisation, armed struggle and international support. We then turned to the history of the international communist movement and theories of Historical and Dialectical Materialism. Jack Simons would insist that we situate everything within the context of the South African situation and avoid being pedantic and dogmatic. Finally, meetings would be held to analyse the international and local situation, as well as the analysis of news.
Jack also played a crucial role in developing our understanding of the concept of non-racialism. At the same time he also tried to ensure that we do not just mechanically accept non-racialism by forgetting the realities of South Africa, especially white minority rule and all its effects and ramifications.
Professor Simons was against dogmatism. He caused a stir in the company when he criticised certain aspects of the Soviet Union, especially those arising from Lenin's writings on the national question. Once, when the group was dealing with the basis of Marxism, Jack asked us to list the basic needs of life. The group, relying on the writings of Frederick Engels, replied: "food, shelter and clothing". He then asked the group if sex was not a basic need of life. This was a shocking question and, because of embarrassment, difficult to answer. He then shouted that sex is one of the most basic needs of life because society has to reproduce itself.
Mark Shope was a fatherly figure with a strong trade union background. Every morning he would come to the detachment for a political briefing. His usual greeting was - "Good morning sons and daughters of the working class". Every time he addressed a meeting he would say that we are fighting for every child in South Africa to have a pint of milk a day.
Jack later introduced special classes in the evening for a select group of comrades. This was aimed at preparing a new group of political instructors to replace him and Mark Shope. This was seen as "a way of Jack and Mark reproducing themselves". Some of these comrades were then used as instructors in the camp and would assist in presenting certain classes.
These included comrades such as Mkhize (Welile Nhlapo), Peter Ramokoa (Joel Netshitenzhe) Duncan Mahlo and Mavis Twala (Dr Thandi Ndlovu).
In November 1977 we were told that we would soon be completing our course.
We were very excited because we were now going to be recognised as trained cadres, and were now fully prepared for the next mission - going home.
We were a group of 500 people who were highly trained and fully committed to the struggle. This group had come from all over South Africa. We had met as strangers speaking different languages. We came out of the distilling pot of the University of the South and, after breaking the numerous cultural and language barriers, emerged not only as comrades but also as friends.
As part of the final acts for completing the course we were informed that we were to undertake a long march to last three days. We were given a ration of condensed milk, biscuits and tinned meat. We took off for the long march in our various formations. It was an exercise of endurance and fitness.
After the long march we began to prepare for the graduation ceremony. The Cubans used the caterpillars of the previous Portuguese farm owners to clear the ground where the march-past was to take place, and built a stage where the salute was to be taken by President Oliver Tambo. This was one of the most memorable days of our lives. Our uniforms were washed and ironed and our boots polished.
The Cubans organised an ox and vegetables from Benguela for the occasion.
They also brought along beer (cerveja) and desserts. There was general excitement. Cultural groups were busy with preparations for the evening session. Security was tight, with both Cubans and members of our contingent manning all the vantage points. The Cuban contingent in Benguela tightened its own security and ensured that the road leading to the camp was routinely patrolled. When Tambo came we marched to the grounds according to our companies. President Tambo took the salute from each company as it goose-stepped passed the stage where he stood throughout the ceremony.
He christened the detachment the June 16 Detachment, in honour of the heroic student uprising of 16 June 1976 and in recognition of the fact that the majority of the graduates participated in those uprisings. The best soldiers of the company and the detachment were announced. The June 16 Detachment was the second such detachment of Umkhonto we Sizwe after the Luthuli Detachment.
After the graduation various members of our detachment were deployed elsewhere. Some were selected for various missions and sent abroad for further training either in military science or specialised political training. However, frustration and uncertainty crept in among those who remained behind. This was made worse by the absolute secrecy surrounding the selection and destination of people. It was also made worse by the secrecy of departures. Normally people would leave early in the morning before the start of the daily routine. Even those who were close to you would not indicate to you about their imminent departure - you would simply find an empty bed in the morning.
Those who remained behind often developed a sense of guilt and uncertainty about their own future. The innuendoes and reckless comments that were made by some officials at the time aggravated this. This situation also presented a great opportunity for gossipmongers and agent provocateurs to wreak havoc on the morale of the detachment.
The naming of each detachment after completing the training course became a tradition. Mostly these would be named after great leaders of the struggle against colonialism and apartheid, or important events in the struggle against colonialism and apartheid. The detachment trained after the June 16 Detachment was called Moncada, after the Cuban struggle against the Batista regime when the July 26 Movement stormed the Moncada barracks. The name of the detachments created a sense of pride and association. It assisted in moulding the new cadre of Umkhonto we Sizwe. The christening of the detachments would be led by the President and if he was unavailable the Secretary General or somebody nominated by them.
It was also in 1979 that the NEC introduced the oath for all MK members.
Oliver Tambo, the President, and Joe Modise, the Army Commander, would visit the camp and people would be called according to detachments. Your name will be called and you will march forward towards the President. The President would present a spear to you. You would accept the spear from the President and say the following words: "With the Spear of the Nation. Till victory or death...". Then about turn and back to your formation.
Oath taking made you proud but those who were not afforded the opportunity were deeply hurt and terribly embarrassed. Those who got the opportunity were filled with elation and would wish for a mission as soon as possible.
However, in many cases you would not get a mission for months, if not years.
Your contact with the outside world would only be trips to fetch water or firewood or trucks passing by the camp.
A cause worth serving
As we build this delicate democracy it should be borne in mind that historians and students of today and tomorrow should not be allowed to ignore the history of MK. Many illustrious fighters, the living and the dead, the celebrated and the unsung contributed to the process that led to our democracy with their blood, limbs and souls. They sacrificed their youth and livelihood for future generations. When monuments of struggle are erected at home and abroad for the heroes and heroines of struggle and resistance, their memory should forever be etched in our hearts. With fond memory when I look back at the quarter of a century I and many of my comrades decided to be part of the glorious army, Umkhonto we Sizwe, one can proudly proclaim that it was the cause worth serving.
This is an extract from a soon to be published book by the author of this article.
On 8 January 2002, the African National Congress will celebrate 90 years of existence. The ANC was founded in 1912 to unite the African people against white minority rule and to act collectively for the creation of a non-racial and democratic South Africa. From its inception, the ANC saw this task as a part of what the organisation's founders called the "regeneration of Africa".
Over nine decades the ANC has forged and led a powerful national liberation movement which has united millions of South Africans in a hard-fought struggle for freedom. Through years of hardship, amid numerous setbacks, but thanks to the sacrifices of countless patriots, we have together defeated the forces of racial oppression and ushered in a new era of peace, democracy and reconstruction.
We have much to celebrate. But we also have much to do. As we recall our past, as we honour our heroes, as we commemorate our achievements, we need to remember that the historic mission for which the ANC was formed is not yet complete.
As we continue the struggle to free South Africa's people from all forms of oppression - alongside our efforts to achieve the regeneration of the entire African continent - we need to draw lessons, strength and inspiration from 90 years of struggle.
South Africa was conquered by force, and for much of the last century has been ruled by force. White settlers first came to South Africa in 1652. Many wars were waged with the indigenous people, and although the African kingdoms lost land and cattle they were still independent some 200 years after the arrival of the first settlers.
The arrival of the British military forces in South Africa at the beginning of the 19th century marked a qualitative and quantitative change in the anti-colonial resistance struggle, immensely strengthening the forces of colonisation and oppression. By 1900 the power of the African kingdoms had been broken and they had been brought under the control of the colonial government. Africans had to find new ways to fight for their land and their freedom. A rebellion against the Poll Tax, led by Chief Bambatha in 1906, was brutally suppressed by the Natal colonial authorities.
With the African kingdoms militarily defeated, and the Boer republics incorporated into a larger British colony, the white inhabitants of South Africa forged a political union which would consolidate their control over the land to the exclusion of the black majority. The Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910, entrenching the loss to Africans of freedom, land and dignity which had begun in previous decades.
Following a decade of organisation among Africans, coloureds and Indians in different parts of the country, there was a growing desire for a single movement to champion the interests of South Africa's majority. On 8 January 1912, representatives of people's organisations, religious bodies, prominent individuals, clergymen and chiefs gathered at Mangaung in Bloemfontein and formed the South African Native National Congress. Its aim was to bring together all Africans as one people to defend their rights and to fight for freedom. In 1923 the organisation changed its name to the African National Congress (ANC).
Following the discovery of gold and diamonds in the late 19th Century, various laws and taxes had been introduced to force Africans off the land to provide cheap labour in the white economy. The emergence of a black working class gave rise to worker organisation and resistance. The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), formed in 1919, won some major victories for black workers through militant action. Socialist organisations had also begun to organise black workers in the 1920s. The International Socialist League together with other socialist organisations formed the Communist Party in 1921.
During the 1920s government policies became harsher and more racist. A rigid colour-bar was established to stop blacks from holding skilled jobs in a number of industries. Josiah T. Gumede, who was elected ANC President in 1927, sought to revitalise the ANC to fight these racist policies. However, in 1930, Gumede was voted out of office in a conservative backlash. Under the more cautious leadership of Seme the ANC withdrew into itself, and became divided.
The rise of fascism in Europe was accompanied by efforts by right-wing Afrikaners to stir up ethnic nationalism and racial hatred in South Africa.
A group taking its inspiration from Nazism in Germany set up the Ossewa Brandwag (OB) and began agitating for a Nazi-type government in South Africa. To oppose the rise of fascist movements in South Africa a number of organisations came together in 1936 to form a united front. Short-sightedly, many of the whites refused to ally themselves with the ANC and other black movements.
To fill the political vacuum created by the weakness and divisions in the ANC, James La Guma and John Gomas took the lead in establishing the National Liberation League. They attracted support from among younger coloured and Indian militants. The League was central to the formation of the Non-European United Front (NEUF) with an anti-racist and anti-fascist programme that sought to unite Africans, coloured and Indians in one front to fight for freedom.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, the white parliament voted by a small majority to join the war against Nazism.
The ANC was boosted with new life and energy in the 1940s. Under the leadership of Dr AB Xuma, with the Reverend CR Calata as Secretary-General, ANC branches throughout the country had steadily been rebuilt after 1940. In 1943, Dr Xuma called together a committee of African leaders, thinkers and opinion-makers to draft the 'African Claims', published in 1946.
In 1944 a group of younger ANC members led by Anton Lembede and Walter Sisulu helped establish the ANC Youth League, which aimed to involve the masses of people in militant struggles.
Strikes, boycotts and other mass struggles during the war years culminated in the strike by African mineworkers in 1946. In the rural areas of Northern Province and the eastern Free State peasants rose in revolt against the impositions of the white government and oppressive chiefs in their pay. When the Smuts government passed laws to prohibit Indians from acquiring land in certain parts of the city, its action was met with a Passive Resistance campaign led by the South African Indian Congress.
The Youth League drew up a Programme of Action calling for strikes, boycotts and civil disobedience. It was adopted by the ANC in 1949, and led to the Defiance Campaign of the 1950s.
The introduction of apartheid by the National Party after it came to power in 1948 increased the determination of South Africa's majority to resist it.
During the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign of 1952, volunteers deliberately broke apartheid laws. The government tried to stop the Defiance Campaign by banning its leaders and passing new laws to prevent civil disobedience. But the campaign had already made huge gains.
The Congress Alliance, which brought the ANC together with Indian, coloured and white organisations, organised the Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter at Kliptown on 26 June 1955. A huge campaign was mounted by women countrywide against the extension of the pass laws to African women, culminating in the women's march on the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956. In the same year, the government 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. All the accused were eventually acquitted.
On 21 March 1960, police opened fire on an anti-pass demonstrations in Sharpeville, killing 69 people and wounding 186. On 30 March the government banned the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress, declared a state of emergency, arrested and detained thousands without trial.
The massacre of peaceful protestors and the subsequent banning of the ANC made it clear that peaceful protest alone would not bring about change. On 16 December 1961 organised acts of sabotage against government installations took place, marking the emergence of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC. During the following 18 months MK carried out 200 acts of sabotage. In 1963, police raided MK's secret headquarters at Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia and arrested the leadership of MK. This led to the famous Rivonia Trial where the leaders of MK were charged with attempting to cause a violent revolution, and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 1967, MK launched a joint campaign with ZIPRA, a people's army fighting for the liberation of Zimbabwe, to find a route into South Africa by first crossing the Zambezi River from Zambia into Zimbabwe, then marching across Zimbabwe through the Wankie game reserve, and crossing the Limpopo River into South Africa. The cadres acquired valuable experience in combat but were unable to reach South Africa. It was clear other ways of getting into the country would have to be found. The ANC consultative conference at Morogoro, Tanzania in 1969 was called to look for solutions to this problem.
The conference resolved that freedom called for an all-round struggle, which included armed struggle, mass political struggle, underground struggle and the international isolation of apartheid.
In the 1970s new struggles against the system began to grow. In response to the poor conditions of workers, spontaneous strikes began in Durban in 1973 and later spread to other parts of the country. In the segregated black universities a new movement, dubbed 'black consciousness', was developing.
Strikes and class boycotts erupted at the University of the Western Cape, at Turfloop near Pietersburg and at the University of Zululand.
Student anger and grievances against Bantu Education exploded in June 1976.
Tens of thousands of high school students took to the streets to protest against compulsory use of Afrikaans at schools. Police opened fire on marching students, sparking an uprising that spread to other parts of the country. This was the turning point in the struggle for liberation.
Thousands of young people flocked to the ANC, MK and the re-emerging trade union and workers movement.
In the 1980s, people took the liberation struggle to new heights. All areas of life became areas of political struggle. The ANC was able to step up the armed struggle inside South Africa dramatically after 1975. Underground organisers, armed militants and propagandists of the movement helped stoke a mood of rebellion and defiance. Sensational armed operations demonstrated the vulnerability of the apartheid regime and captured the imagination of the youth.
Community organisations such as civics, women's structures, and student and youth organisations began to spring up all over South Africa. There was a rebirth of the mass movement, culminating in the formation in 1983 of the United Democratic Front (UDF). Massive national school boycotts rocked the townships in 1980s and again in 1984/5.
Worker organisation and power took a major step forward with the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in 1985. Cosatu committed itself to advancing the struggles of workers both in the workplace and in society at large and adopted the Freedom Charter as its programme.
In April 1985, the ANC called on the people to make South Africa ungovernable by dismantling all the structures of apartheid. As resistance mounted, the regime became more vicious, declaring states of emergency, detaining thousands of people, assassinating activists and arming vigilante groups to combat the democratic forces.
The 1980s also saw the escalation of the international campaign against apartheid. This massive international effort complemented, and was guided by, the mass struggles of South Africa's people themselves. Through internal resistance and international isolation, the apartheid government began to crumble.
In February 1990, the regime was forced to unban the ANC and SACP, and to release Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners. The ANC began again to recruit members openly, and establish branch and regional structures.
The negotiations process in the early 1990s became a terrain of struggle itself. The NP planned to lock the ANC into protracted negotiations, while the structures of the ANC on the ground would have been rendered ineffective by ongoing state-sponsored violence. In the face of this violence -including the massacre of 39 residents of Boipatong in June 1992 - and the intransigence of the regime, the ANC embarked on a campaign of mass action to bring about an end to the violence and break the deadlock in negotiations. As a result of these efforts, a Record of Understanding was signed with the NP, which paved the way for the resumption of multi-party talks. The talks resulted in agreement on constitutional principles for a final democratic constitution and the adoption in 1993 of an interim constitution.
On 27 April 1994, millions of South Africans went to vote for the first time. The ANC won the country's first democratic election with a vast majority. On 10 May, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the President of South Africa, heading a Government of National Unity. Apart from the immediate tasks of governance - transforming the public service and security forces, stabilising the economy, and beginning the process of meeting basic needs - the ANC focused its attention on the task of writing a new democratic constitution.
The new Constitution was adopted in 1996, making provision for a united, democratic South Africa in which all enjoyed equal rights. It established institutions to support, protect and enhance democracy, such as the Human Rights Commission, Commission for Gender Equality, Public Protector, Auditor General and Electoral Commission. The ANC-led government proceeded to implement the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), adopted in 1994 as the basic policy framework guiding the transformation of the country.
South Africa's second democratic election was held in 1999. Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa. With an increased mandate, the ANC-led government continued to build on the foundation established during the first five years of democratic rule.
As the world marked the beginning of a new millennium in January 2000, the ANC joined leaders and organisations across the continent in declaring the 21st century an African Century. The ANC has therefore given substantial support to efforts by African leaders to develop a continent-wide programme for the renewal of Africa. This programme, adopted by the OAU in July 2001 and endorsed by a number of developed countries and organisations, envisages a multi-pronged strategy to eradicate poverty and place African countries on a path of sustainable growth and development.
From its formation, the ANC has always been a movement for the liberation of all the peoples of Africa, including South Africa. It has always seen itself as a fighter for freedom and independence, and the restoration of the human dignity of all Africans. Loyal to this human and patriotic tradition, the ANC is convinced that Africa's time has come. Afrika ke Nako.
For the first 30 years of the its existence, the exclusion of women from full membership in the Constitution of the South African Native National Convention (SANNC/ANC), contrasted with the participation of women in the deliberations, decision making and campaigns of the organisation, (though not in the leadership). This apparent contradiction arose from the reality of African women's involvement in resistance and the peculiar structure of the ANC, which allowed for ways in which women could participate.
The exclusion of women was not surprising nor exceptional for the time. The societies from which the white settlers originated and the indigenous societies they encountered in South Africa were male dominated and patriarchal. In 1912, throughout South Africa government and politics were generally seen as the terrain of men, and all women, black and white were denied the right to vote. 2
That women were excluded from membership of the major political organisation of the African people was to be expected: the more so, as the formation of the SANNC was intended to unite the African people, and constructed to express an alliance between the traditional rulers, the educated petty bourgeoisie and aspirant middle class. The absence of women from political institutions does not necessarily lead to their absence in the political arena. The ways in which women worked with and in the ANC is complex, and it is not correct to say, that the exclusion of full membership "...laid the basis of the ANC's treatment of women for the next twenty five years, as a separate category of members outside of the scope of its regular activities." (Walker, 1982)
While all Africans were subjected to conquest, colonial rule and dispossession, the way in which women and men experienced these differed as did their political, economic and legal status. These differences shaped their particular response, helped to determine the issues they took up, and the methods of struggle adopted.
In the wake of the conquest, there emerged a group of Africans, mostly mission educated, who turning their backs on traditional African society sought entry into the colonial one. The liberal values as proclaimed by British Imperial and colonial governments, and adopted by Africans, had led to a not unreasonable expectations that Africans would be admitted into the new society being established in South Africa. Though the expectations of the African people had been repeatedly frustrated, they continued to hope and form organisations to protect and expand African interests and rights from within the constitutional framework an and institutions of the new system. These organisations adopted the style of the conquerors and addressed the authorities in ways that would be considered acceptable by whites, and would not alienate them. They saw the franchise as a gateway to this society and focused their political demands on it. As a consequence, the leadership and membership of the organisations inevitably came from those who would qualify for the franchise: men of property and education.
While sharing the overall objectives, women, and those without property and education, did not feel it necessary to operate only within the parameters laid down by colonial society and were less inclined to comply with or accommodate settler rules and sensitivities. While some women saw themselves as gender images, "the wives and daughters" of the ANC leadership, most of those who participated in resistance differed in the issues they took up, their organisation, mobilisation and methods, as well as economic status and educational levels. To a greater extent than the SANNC, the women's resistance was shaped from below.
Because women chose to engage in issues of immediate and direct relevance to their daily lives, they found it easy to mobilise support and mount campaigns. In the context of colonialism and the nature of the oppression of the African people, these issues were relatively easy to resolve. But they were not linked to long term goals, the campaigns did not lead to lasting organisational formations. Men assumed, and women conceded, that defining and achieving the long term goals was men's territory.
When dealing with officials women were handicapped by a lack of fluency in European languages, and of confidence. These handicaps were made worse by the frequent refusal of white officials to meet with or listen to women.
Men, sometimes national leaders, were requested to act as go-betweens or interpreters. Generally they tried to control women's initiatives and steer them away from militant and direct action. It was not so much that they were opposed to such methods in principle, but rather that they were concerned to ensure that an 'acceptable' and reassuring image of Africans were always presented to whites.
Two cases in East London act as an example of the influence exercised by national leaders. In August 1908, Izwi (18 August 1908) praised the women for the way in which they brought their grievances to the attention of the authorities and said their 'activities were far more organised than any ever attempted by men'. A report (Izwi laBantu, 1 September 1908) of another meeting two weeks later presents a totally different picture. This time women spoke through an interpreter. They said this was their birthplace and they had nowhere else to go. They told the mayor that if they were arrested for rent arrears, they would not resist.
The issues around which women mobilised before and after the formation of the Union of South Africa, were materially based. In the Transvaal in 1910, women protested at the lack of employment opportunities.
"It is well known that our husbands are getting low wages and cannot afford to discharge their liabilities unless they get our assistance...All classes of work formerly performed (by women) are now in the hands of men, e.g.
kitchen or general servants work, washing and ironing, eating houses for natives, nursing in native hospitals...
(Petition by Ellen Leeuw and 122 Native women to the Mayor of Johannesburg, 23 March 1910)
In the two case in East London referred to above, women complained that Indians and Chinese were taking over all the work as washerwomen and wanted the Mayor to put an end to this as they had no other employment opportunities. They further asked the Council for permission to start 'a coal and wood business.' Other complaints were high rents and bus fares.
The trigger for the militant Orange Free State Anti-pass campaign was the enforcement of the regulation requiring women to purchase permits to use the municipal wash house, which further limited their ability to retain economic independence3.
These were very different concerns from those that prevailed amongst the founding fathers of the SANNC who met in Bloemfontein on 8 January 1912.
They clearly conceived of it as an organisation of men in which women's participation would be limited to their stereotyped 'traditional' domestic roles. The draft constitution4 placed before the founding Congress refers to three classes of membership. The prevailing patriarchal notions of women's roles in society were inscribed in the constitutional provisions for and duties of a category of "auxiliary" members, automatically enrolled without fee and hence with no vote.
"All the wives of the members of any affiliated branch or branches and other distinguished African ladies where the Congress or Committee therefore shall be holding its sessions shall ipso facto become auxiliary members of the Congress during the period of such session... It shall be the duty of all auxiliary member to provide suitable shelter and entertainment for delegates to Congress."
"Ordinary membership" on payment of a fee of 2s 6d, was open to "men who belong to the so-called Negro or aboriginal African races south of the Zambezi." Their duties were to "join some local organisation or in person to attend to all the Annual sittings of the Congress."
Provision was however made for the participation of "exceptional" women. In addition to a class of Honorary Members composed of "Ruling Chiefs and Hereditary Princes of African blood", honorary membership could be conferred on "Men and Women who shall have rendered eminent service to the native races of South Africa". Honorary members paid an enrollment fee of 10s 6d and had two votes.5
However, by 1912, women had been participating in a number of overtly political Associations and Congresses which were later to constitute the SANNC. In 1902 Charlotte Manye, later Maxeke was one of the three representatives from the Transvaal who was sent to the SANNC conference in the Cape. Her contribution was highly praised, but the franchise orientated SANNC concluded that the time was not right for women to participate in political organisations (see Odendaal, 1983).
In the Afrikaner Republic there was no history of involvement in constitutional or electoral politics, and the focus of the Orange River Colony Native Congress (ORCNC) ranged over a number of issues, including passes for women. As African organised in opposition to the racist constitution of the proposed Union of South Africa, leaders such as Thomas Mapikela tried to organise local and regional groups, and establish a permanent national organisation.
After the 1909 African delegation returned to South Africa having failed to move the British Government on the constitution, Mapikela traveled around the Orange River Colony, explaining the results of his mission at well attended public meetings in most of the major urban centers of the province.
He also used the occasions to organise support for the ORCNC. He asked local groups and people to submit statements on any matters they wished to be discussed at the annual Congress in January 1910. These would possibly be put to the South African Native Convention before being submitted to the colonial authorities (Odendaal, 1984). This grassroots mobilisation brought women and the pass issues into greater prominence in the province.
The Free State Anti-Pass Campaign highlighted the different approaches of women and men in pursuance of a common demand, and serves to illustrate aspects of women's relationship with the male dominated political organisations.
Opposition to passes for African women had featured regularly in most of the representation that were made to the authorities, and the 1912 SANNC Conference passed a resolution urging the repeal of all laws which compelled African women to carry passes. Less than a month later, women in the province began collecting signatures for a petition which they decided to present directly to the authorities in Cape Town. Within weeks they had collected over 5000 signatures (no mean accomplishment) and began to prepare to go to Cape Town. (Wells, 1982).
The authorities as well as the political organisations were discomforted by women who took initiatives, especially at national level. The Minister of Native Affairs wrote to the President of the SANNC, John Dube, advising the male African leaders to prevent the women's deputation from coming to Cape Town, as he feared such a deputation would lead to further agitation and excitement amongst whites that would make it more difficult for the SANNC other representations to succeed. However, the women would not be dissuaded and in the event Walter Rubusana assisted in the presentation of the petition and accompanied the women's deputation to the Minister (Wells, 1982)6.
In the Afrikaner Republics no distinctions had been made between Africans and Coloureds and the communities lived together in the same locations and under the same restrictions. Coloured women who were also required to carry passes, were involved in the campaigns against them. Their independent actions caused the African People's Organisation (APO) to express it concerns and its paper chided them: "We think the deputation might have awaited the Native Congress. It is also regrettable that Coloured women of the Orange Free State did not consult the executive of the APO's Women's Guild. We feel sure that no deputation of Coloured men of the APO would come to Cape Town without first acquainting the Executive with the object of its mission." (APO 6 April 1912)
The ORCNC however called a special general meeting of its members to hear a report from the deputation after its return from Cape Town. Later, many centers elected one man and one woman as their delegates to the Annual Conference, where one of the women's leaders, Katie Louw, reported on the progress of the anti-pass campaign. (Odendaal, 1984)
The Free State women did not confine themselves to making representations, and in May 1913 decided to stop carrying passes or buying permits. The action spread across the provinces and there were numerous confrontations with the police as they tried to rescue those being taken to prison after sentence. The women who went to prison for refusing to carry passes lived in the urban centers, but were not all from amongst the elite. While some of the leaders of the Native and Coloured Women's Association formed during the campaign were the wives of Congress leaders, three of the eleven executive members of the Native and Coloured Women's Association (NCWA) were not literate.7
Initially women had mobilised through manyanaos, but as the campaign spread across the province and the number of women in prisons grew, women from the Orange Free State Congress and the APO Women's Guild came together and set up the NCWA to oversee the campaign (Wells, 1982). The NCWA tried to mobilise support, and raised funds to provide for those in prison and for medical treatment after they completed their sentence.
As the Free State campaign involved both African and Coloured women, there would have been a need for some coordinating body, but there is little information on how and why the new organisation was set up. Neither has it been possible to ascertain the precise relationship between this 'women's' organisation and the SANNC or APO or their provincial affiliates. The few surviving documents of the organisation, relate to its solidarity work, i.e.
petitions, letters in the press, fund raising appeals, etc. This is precisely the sort of task that one would have expected the existing organisations to have undertaken. However, both the provincial and National Congresses were preoccupied with the recently enacted (1913) Land Act. They may as well have felt it inappropriate to divert their attention and scarce resources to the women's campaign.
As the campaign progressed, the earlier misgivings about women's independence and militancy had given way to admiration and a general pride in the women's achievements. The Secretary General of the SANNC Sol Plaatje visited the women in prison, expressed his admiration (and surprise at their determination), and tried to publicise the resistance and mobilise support.
The African press rallied to the support of those who were imprisoned, as did the APO journal and the Indian Opinion.
The NCWA addressed an appeal to "many Europeans friends in the provinces" urging them to use their influence to get legislation introduced in Parliament abolishing passes for women. They also addressed a petition to Governor Gladstone. These were initiatives similar to those of the SANNC, but there they were being undertaken in a context where women were continuing to go to prison for refusing to carry passes. Also the content and approach in the representations differed from those made by men.
The NCWA addressed such issues as sexual harassment by police in enforcing pass laws, and cited examples in explaining their resistance: "A white Superintendent of the Location demanded a pass from the girl at home and failing to produce one was arrested and taken to the charge office.
The Superintendent made improper overtures on the way to the girl. The latter resented the overtures, but she was ultimately taken by force and outraged by this man." (Petition of the OFS Native and Coloured Women to Governor General in 1914)
This contrast with the protests made by male leaders about the sexual harassment of African women:
"I marry a women in the church and I think I have done what civilisation demands and that as my wife she will be protected as a respectable married woman, but I find her being mauled by a man who is far lower in the scale of civilization than she is herself and merely because the law gives him the power to do so."
(Joseph Twayi in Minutes of Interview between Mayor and Natives, Bloemfontein 1913, quoted in Wells, 1982:85).
Women acknowledged the national leadership of the SANNC, and followed its general directive in suspending their campaign for the duration of the 1914-18 War.
The SANNC did not adopt a constitution until 1919. By then, women had established through the Anti Pass campaign that they had a role in the political life of the nation that went beyond providing entertainment and accommodation. Though acknowledging this, the SANNC was not yet ready to admit them to full membership. At the inaugural Conference it had been resolved:
"that it was expedient and desirable that a well digested and accepted native opinion should be ascertainable by the Government and other constituted authorities with respect to the Native problem in all its various phases and ramifications.
That opinion was to continue to be expressed by men. There appears to have been no demand from women for membership, and they did not consider the SANNC or its provincial affiliates as appropriate vehicles to mobilise for their own campaigns. A pattern had been established of grassroots mobilisation and participation by women, while dealing with authorities at local or national level was to remain the province of men.
The SANNC leadership had encouraged the formation in 1918 of the Bantu Women's League (Wells, 1982)8 to organise women against proposals to extend passes to women throughout the Union. The Constitution adopted the following year, provided that Auxiliary Membership of the SANNC "should be open to all Women of the aboriginal races of Africa over the age of 18 years, who shall be members of the Bantu Women's National League of South Africa... auxiliary members under the auspices of the League whenever required shall provide suitable shelter and entertainment for member or delegates to meetings of the Association." (Constitution of the SANNC, 1918)
There were two significant changes from the 1912 daft. The original reference to "wives of " members... and other distinguished African ladies" was altered to "women", and there was an acknowledgement that women were entitled to organise politically.
The Bantu Women's League pursued an independent course, and did not affiliate to the SANNC9. Nor did it function as expected. In Charlotte Maxeke it had a leader of national standing among the African people and one who was capable of dealing directly with legislators and officials. Women no longer had need of interpreters or spokesmen, but could articulate their demands and make their own representations. At a National level, the League made representations to authorities through delegations meeting with the Prime Minister and other officials, appearing before Commissions and Inquiries (Walshe, 1970: South African Outlook, 1921).
At the grassroots, women's militancy was being encouraged by Charlotte's appearance and statements on the platforms of the Industrial Commercial Workers Union (ICU)10 and the radically orientated Transvaal ANC of the post war period. The League formed branches across the country, some of the most active being in the Transvaal and OFS. These took up local issues and participated in the campaign initiated by political organisations and trade unions at local and national level.
Within days of the inaugural conference of the ICU, the Bantu Women's League of Pietersburg drew up a list of grievances of women farm workers. Examples were cited of farmers making women do exceedingly heavy physical labour, even when they were in advanced stages of pregnancy and detailed the case of a farmer who forced women workers to stand in a pool of clod water for half a day as punishment for complaining about conditions. The workers also objected to being forced to work until midnight without time off for meals.
The League's representations were sent to Pretoria, where no action was taken, as the complaints were considered to be "exaggerated" (Kimble & Unterhalter, 1982).
Little is known about the other leaders or members of the Bantu Women's League, except some names. Clearly Charlotte Maxeke was dominant. To a greater extent than the SANNC, the Bantu Women's League suffered from organisational weakness: the bulk of women were rural, poor, non-literate and inexperience in western style politics and organisation. There was little financial support - money was raised from teas etc - quite literally in pennies and occasional shillings. There were not full time officials, and leaders had to find the time from their employment or professions, and frequently also had to fund their planned activities themselves.
After the death of her husband in 1928, Charlotte Maxeke devoted more time to her career. She established an Employment Bureau and was later employed as a probation officer by the Johannesburg Municipality. She devoted more attention to welfare work and less to politics. The League remained in existence for some years, though mainly in the person of Charlotte Maxeke.
She participated in the All African Convention, where the decision was taken to establish a new women's organisation which became known as the National Council of African Women, with Charlotte Maxeke as its President.
It has not yet been possible to ascertain the date and manner of formation of the ANC Women's Section, nor to locate its constitution. It is likely that as the Bantu Women's League asserted its independence, the Women's Auxiliary was revived as a subordinate body within Congress and renamed the Women's Section. By the 1920's the Women's Section had branches in a number of centers and announcements of the officers of the Congress, often included the names of the Chairwomen of the 'Women's Auxiliary' or 'Women's Section'.
The Women's Section was represented on the Executive through the Provincial President of their Sections (National Gazette, 1927) and branches were supposed to be self-financing and self-sufficient. Members paid an annual subscription of 3 shillings on which branches could draw for their expenses.
After the Transvaal ANC had incurred a debt of 110 pounds in 1926 to fight the imposition of passes on women through the courts, a circular letter was sent urging Women's Section branches to send whatever monies they had in their possession to pay off "this debt incurred on their behalf". (Circular letter to Provinces and branches, own emphasis)
The Women's Section and the Bantu Women's League operated as separate organisations, but had an overlap of members and leader. Charlotte Maxeke was considered to be an ANC leader, taking full part in proceedings and appearing on platforms at public meetings. The African Yearly Register published in 1930 by the Secretary General of the ANC, Mweli Skota, lists a number of women who were founder members or officers of the ANC Women's Section, and a number who were also active in the Women's League. Mrs. Nuku of Beaconsfield Kimberley is described as a social worker and a leading member of the church temperance movement who had been "Chairman of the local branch of the Women's League and Women's Section." (Skota, 1930: 230). Two sisters, Mrs. M. Kondile and Mrs. M. Bobojane were foundation members of the "Women's Section of the African National Congress" (Skota, 1930: 166 & 133).
The elder, Mrs Kondile, who at one time was in charge of a grocery store and a news agency, is described also as a "prominent member of the Women's League" and one of the best women's organisers in the Transvaal. Charlotte Maxeke who assisted in preparing the biographical sketches for the volume is described as "founder and President of the Bantu Women's League" (Skota, 1930:195)
In the late 1930's in the context of the attempts to revitalise and reorganise the ANC, the role and function of the Women's Section was also debated.
As we have seen women were active in the provincial congresses before the formation of the SANNC, and continued to be involved at branch level particularly in the Free State and the western Cape. Women participated in the Annual Conference which was the highest decision making organ. The majority were elected as part of the provincial Congress delegates. Others represented affiliate women's groups such as Daughters of Africa and Zenzele. 11
They spoke on a range of issues, rarely on matters affecting women exclusively. On the first day of the 1937 Session, celebrating the 25th Jubilee, the lone woman speaker criticised the Congress for its extensive attention to festivities when it had no money for organisation (Bunche, 1937)12. Later in the same session a Mrs. Peters moved a resolution urging that The Wages and Conciliation Act be amended to make all wage determinations apply to African workers in all industries. The following year, Mrs. Benjamin leading the debate on National Policy of Congress appealed for support for the low paid African workers in the Bloemfontein water works who were earning only 1/9d per day.
Their contributions particularly in these years, made constant reference to the need to reorganise and strengthen the ANC. The Conference Minutes of 1938, report the intervention of a delegate of the Cape African Congress, Mrs. LP Nikiwe of Port Elizabeth, who advanced "several interesting arguments to prove that the African women were interested in Politics." Amongst their recommendations was: "To acquaint Congress with the Masses."
Women also served on important Conference Committees such as Resolutions and Finance and voted on all resolutions as well as for the Officers. The extent to which women's de factor participation in the ANC was considered unremarkable is illustrated in the course of disputes over the re-election of Pixley ka Seme as President in 1933. Three years earlier he had ousted the radical James Gumede, who, on his return from the Soviet Union, had proposed radicalising the ANC by organising mass demonstrations and forming an alliance with the Communist Party. In the interim the ANC had become moribund. In 1993 when Seme was due to stand for re-elections, he packed the Annual Conference. Thirty seven of the 69 delegates were from Bloemfontein, the majority of them women. Of the 27 delegates who voted to re-elect Seme, 22 were women. The Speaker declared the proceedings unconstitutional, but Seme continued in office. Seme was attacked and accused of not getting the necessary votes from all provinces, but non of his critics challenged the right of women to vote and determine the leadership of the organisation. (Cape Times 22 April 1930. Umteteli wa Bantu 29 April 1933).
As the ANC went into decline, so did the Women's Section. But many of the women who were prominent in ANC conferences, appeared in the meetings of the All African Convention (AAC) in 1935-38: Charlotte Maxeka, Minnie Bhola, Mrs. Mahabane.
The National Council of African Women and the revival of the ANC Women's Section
Over 30 women attended the AAC in 1935. Among the women's organisation in the participant were the Pimville Women's League and the Africa Women Self-Improvement Society.
The women delegates met separately during the Convention and resolved:
"that the time has come for the establishment of an African Council of women on similar lines to those of the National Councils of other races in order that we may be able to do our share in the advancement of our race."
Their decision was later endorsed by the AAC. In the following years, several branches were set up and a national organisation launched in 1937, called the National Council of African Women (NCAW).
The NCAW did not regard itself as primarily a political organisation, but rather one involved in "non-European welfare". Most of its members were teachers or nurses. It took up issues of teachers salaries, education, provision of crèches, widows rights of inheritance, delinquent children, etc. The NCAW immediately came under the influence of white liberals such as Mrs. Rheinhald-Jones, and many African women attacked it as being run by white women (Walker 1982)13.
The AAC had expected the new organisation to be responsible to it. In 1936 the Convention resolved "that women be authorised to form branches of the NCAW in terms of the decision of the last Conference". (AAC, 1936, own emphasis). However, the NCAW did not affiliate to the AAC, though some of its branches did. The reluctance to affiliate arose from the NCAW desire to speak for itself, and not subordinate itself to the AAC. The AAC had not approved of the women making direct representations to the authorities.
Divisions within the AAC almost led to Mina Soga losing her seat on the Council (AAC, 1940)14. Mina Soga was a founding member of the NCAW and its first Secretary General and Organiser.
The ANC welcomed the formation of the NCAW, but eventually found itself with the same difficulties as the AAC. The NCAW send greetings to ANC Conferences and promised to work together, but steadfastly retained its independence. In May 1939, the ANC invited the NCAW to participate in the Joint Deputation to the Minister and Secretary for Native Affairs. ANC President General Mahabane voiced his concern, as not only had the NCAW not come to Cape Town and joined the delegation, but he had learnt that Charlotte Maxeka had been there earlier and seen the Minister independently (Cape Times, 16 May 1939).
When the NCAW was formed there was some uncertainty about the continuation of the Women's Section. The appointment of the Chief Organiser of the Women's Section in 1937, was deferred until the final constitution of the new organisation was known. The following year brought a significantly larger number of women15 to the ANC conference and Mrs. Nikiwe spoke on "The Organisation of African women as a section of Congress". A suggestion that the Women's Section affiliate to the NCAW was not taken up.
Even before the formation of the NCAW a debate begun among women, about the nature of a new women's organisation. Some like Charlotte Maxeka had been calling for an organisation dealing with the growing welfare needs of the African people in the 1930's. Others felt that priority should be given to an organisation with a strong political orientation. Josie Mpama was the most articulate spokesperson for this view. Following the Urban Areas Act of 1937, which further restricted the mobility of African women, she urged:
"We women can no longer remain in the background or concern ourselves only with domestic and sports affairs. The time has arrived for women to enter the political field and stand shoulder to shoulder wit their men in the struggle." (Umsebenzi, 26 June 1937)
She also attacked the NCAW for its ineffectiveness and called for an effective organisation that would bring women into the general political struggle.
In 1941, the ANC resolved to revive the Women's Section, and that women "be accorded the same status as men in the classification for membership." The resolution recommended further:
"That the following means be made to attract the women (a) to make the programme of the Congress as attractive as possible to women, (b) a careful choice of leadership." (ANC, 1941)
The revival of the Women's Section was part of the process of reorganisation of the ANC. A draft document on organisational structure dated 1942 indicates that the Women's Section was seen operating "under the supervision and direction" of the parent body (ANC Draft Constitution).
In 1943, the ANC resolved that a Women's League be formed. The debate on the status of the League continued with the women calling for autonomy and the men wanting greater control. In 1945, a resolution from the Executive read:
"that the women of this Congress be allowed to organise autonomous branches wherever they desire within the ANC." led to protests from some men, and statements of appreciation from women delegates. (ANC, 1945)
But the following year, the ANC Bulletin (194)warned that the granting of permission to women to set up the League "does not mean parallelism, but co-operation and mutual assistance in the building up of membership and funds for both sections."
When women were accepted as full and equal members of the ANC, there was a consensus that women's mobilisation was necessary to strengthen the organisation. While recognising some of the practical problems faced by women in participating fully, there appears to have been limited understanding of the inherent problems of at the same time providing for a separate women's organisation.
In 1945, a draft constitution explained the need for a women's section:
"In the Congress women members shall enjoy the same status as men, and shall be entitled to elect and be elected to any position including the highest office. Notwithstanding this fact, however, and without in any way diminishing the rights of women members, the Congress may, recognising the special disabilities and differences to which African women are subjected and because of the peculiar problems facing them, and in order to arouse their interest and facilitate their organisation, create a Women's Section within its machinery, to be known as the ANC Women's Section."
Further on the same document contains this telling sentence "...the relations between the Women's Section and the men's section shall be on the basis of co-operation and..."
In the 1943, the constitutional hurdle had been overcome, but there was, and is today, a long way to go towards realizing that: "...the socialist revolution needs women's creative participation at least as much
REFERENCES
In his inaugural address as ANC President in 1927, Josiah Tshangana Gumede appealed for the unity of all African leaders, advising that personal ambitions be subordinated to the "greater ambitions of the race". He went on to say, "I know there are two wings to the Bantu movement of political and economic emancipation . . . the conservative and the radical. These two wings are absolutely necessary for our progress. They are the right and the left wings of a great movement. Just as a bird must have both wings for successful flight, so must any movement have the conservative and radical wings. That is to say, we may differ in our views but this should not necessarily mean divisions and bicke