Known in the movement as "The Lion of the East" for his political
and trade union work in the Eastern Transvaal, Comrade Richard Gert Nsibande
was born in 1901 in Swaziland. He came from a family of farm labourers.
Having moved from Swaziland to Bethal in South Africa, Comrade Nsibande
became actively involved in the struggle for trade union rights and the
struggle for political and social emancipation, led by the ANC. For his
political work he was subsequently banned from residing in Bethal and banished
to Evaton. He was elected the Transvaal ANC President at George Goch on
October 1959 - a post he deserved for building a strong ANC fortress in
the Eastern Transvaal, and a post he never relinquished, for he died being
the last Transvaal President of the ANC. No one was elected when he left
South Africa for Swaziland, since the ANC was outlawed.
His family background and the banishment order to rural areas, contrary to the wishes of the racists, contributed a lot to the struggle, making him indispensable from the late 1930s until the late 1950s in the political mobilisation of rural workers and peasants in the Transvaal, as their organiser. He was the first person to publicise the degrading conditions that farm workers were subjected to in Bethal - disguising himself as a farm labourer to witness and experience farm workers' life. His contribution on this issue was taken up by journalist Ruth First, assassinated wife of the South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary, Joe Slovo, and Michael Scott in New Age and culminated in the famous and effective potato boycott of the 1950s that swept South Africa and called attention to the conditions of farm labourers.
Through the Agricultural National Organising Committee, Comrade Gert Nsibande had a hand in bringing into SACTU leaders who themselves had been born and raised in peasant families in rural Transvaal. And not only that, his influence as an organiser in farm workers' affairs was deeply felt in the Farm, Plantation and Allied Workers' Union - the union he founded, even though he was banned.
Following his continual harassment by the racist authorities, Comrade Nsibande, who was a Swati by birth, moved to Swaziland in the late 1960s, where he was perpetually troubled by the Swazi authorities ordering him to dissociate himself from ANC and South African workers' activities. He stood his ground on that, telling them that he regarded the ANC as his father and mother.
He continued working for the movement in Swaziland. Whenever there was political work to be done in the Eastern Transvaal he was always consulted to assist - giving advice and so on. Even on his sickbed, dying from an illness related to aging, Comrade Gert Nsibande always discussed organisational work. Chief Albert Lutuli's memorable message - "SACTU is the spear, ANC the shield" - delivered at the 1959 SACTU conference - was fully utilised in the outlook and deeds of Comrade Nsibande. As the Transvaal ANC leader, he assisted the movement's units in the overall political mobilisation of rural workers and peasants, thus bringing to the fore and setting a practical pace and example of that vital alliance necessary between the liberation movement and the trade union movement in uprooting capitalism.
Comrade Gert Nsibande, who was among the 156 accused in the treason trial from December 1956 until March 1961, is remembered by Comrade Helen Joseph as a valiant comrade who bore persecution with dignity and courage. Shortly after the end of the trial - in which all accused were acquitted - Comrade Nsibande was banned and restricted to Komatipoort. He leaves behind children from his first wife, who died at Bethal, and from the second wife, still residing in Swaziland, whom he married after the death of the first wife. He will always be remembered as a hard worker, dedicated to the cause of liberation.
1. This obituary was reprinted from the SACTU paper, Workers' Unity.