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How the ANC's Faustian pact sold out South Africa's poorest

By Ronnie Kasrils

“In the early 1990s, we in the leadership of the ANC made a serious error. Our people are still paying the price…

From 1991 to 1996 the battle for the ANC's soul got under way, and was eventually lost to corporate power: we were entrapped by the neoliberal economy – or, as some today cry out, we "sold our people down the river".

What I call our Faustian moment came when we took an IMF loan on the eve of our first democratic election.”

The following is an edited extract from the introduction to his autobiography, Armed and Dangerous:

“South Africa's young people today are known as the Born Free generation. They enjoy the dignity of being born into a democratic society with the right to vote and choose who will govern. But modern South Africa is not a perfect society. Full equality – social and economic – does not exist, and control of the country's wealth remains in the hands of a few, so new challenges and frustrations arise. Veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle like myself are frequently asked whether, in the light of such disappointment, the sacrifice was worth it. While my answer is yes, I must confess to grave misgivings: I believe we should be doing far better.

There have been impressive achievements since the attainment of freedom in 1994: in building houses, crèches, schools, roads and infrastructure; the provision of water and electricity to millions; free education and healthcare; increases in pensions and social grants; financial and banking stability; and slow but steady economic growth (until the 2008 crisis at any rate). These gains, however, have been offset by a breakdown in service delivery, resulting in violent protests by poor and marginalised communities; gross inadequacies and inequities in the education and health sectors; a ferocious rise in unemployment; endemic police brutality and torture; unseemly power struggles within the ruling party that have grown far worse since the ousting of Mbeki in 2008; an alarming tendency to secrecy and authoritarianism in government; the meddling with the judiciary; and threats to the media and freedom of expression. Even Nelson Mandela's privacy and dignity are violated for the sake of a cheap photo opportunity by the ANC's top echelon.

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South Africa's liberation struggle reached a high point but not its zenith when we overcame apartheid rule. Back then, our hopes were high for our country given its modern industrial economy, strategic mineral resources (not only gold and diamonds), and a working class and organised trade union movement with a rich tradition of struggle. But that optimism overlooked the tenacity of the international capitalist system. From 1991 to 1996 the battle for the ANC's soul got under way, and was eventually lost to corporate power: we were entrapped by the neoliberal economy – or, as some today cry out, we "sold our people down the river".

What I call our Faustian moment came when we took an IMF loan on the eve of our first democratic election. That loan, with strings attached that precluded a radical economic agenda, was considered a necessary evil, as were concessions to keep negotiations on track and take delivery of the promised land for our people. Doubt had come to reign supreme: we believed, wrongly, there was no other option; that we had to be cautious, since by 1991 our once powerful ally, the Soviet union, bankrupted by the arms race, had collapsed. Inexcusably, we had lost faith in the ability of our own revolutionary masses to overcome all obstacles. Whatever the threats to isolate a radicalising South Africa, the world could not have done without our vast reserves of minerals. To lose our nerve was not necessary or inevitable. The ANC leadership needed to remain determined, united and free of corruption – and, above all, to hold on to its revolutionary will. Instead, we chickened out. The ANC leadership needed to remain true to its commitment of serving the people. This would have given it the hegemony it required not only over the entrenched capitalist class but over emergent elitists, many of whom would seek wealth through black economic empowerment, corrupt practices and selling political influence.

To break apartheid rule through negotiation, rather than a bloody civil war, seemed then an option too good to be ignored. However, at that time, the balance of power was with the ANC, and conditions were favourable for more radical change at the negotiating table than we ultimately accepted. It is by no means certain that the old order, apart from isolated rightist extremists, had the will or capability to resort to the bloody repression envisaged by Mandela's leadership. If we had held our nerve, we could have pressed forward without making the concessions we did.

It was a dire error on my part to focus on my own responsibilities and leave the economic issues to the ANC's experts. However, at the time, most of us never quite knew what was happening with the top-level economic discussions. As Sampie Terreblanche has revealed in his critique, Lost in Transformation, by late 1993 big business strategies – hatched in 1991 at the mining mogul Harry Oppenheimer's Johannesburg residence – were crystallising in secret late-night discussions at the Development Bank of South Africa. Present were South Africa's mineral and energy leaders, the bosses of US and British companies with a presence in South Africa – and young ANC economists schooled in western economics. They were reporting to

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Mandela, and were either outwitted or frightened into submission by hints of the dire consequences for South Africa should an ANC government prevail with what were considered ruinous economic policies.

All means to eradicate poverty, which was Mandela's and the ANC's sworn promise to the "poorest of the poor", were lost in the process. Nationalisation of the mines and heights of the economy as envisaged by the Freedom charter was abandoned. The ANC accepted responsibility for a vast apartheid-era debt, which should have been cancelled. A wealth tax on the super-rich to fund developmental projects was set aside, and domestic and international corporations, enriched by apartheid, were excused from any financial reparations. Extremely tight budgetary obligations were instituted that would tie the hands of any future governments; obligations to implement a free-trade policy and abolish all forms of tariff protection in keeping with neo-liberal free trade fundamentals were accepted. Big corporations were allowed to shift their main listings abroad. In Terreblanche's opinion, these ANC concessions constituted "treacherous decisions that [will] haunt South Africa for generations to come".

An ANC-Communist party leadership eager to assume political office (myself no less than others) readily accepted this devil's pact, only to be damned in the process. It has bequeathed an economy so tied in to the neoliberal global formula and market fundamentalism that there is very little room to alleviate the plight of most of our people.

Little wonder that their patience is running out; that their anguished protests increase as they wrestle with deteriorating conditions of life; that those in power have no solutions. The scraps are left go to the emergent black elite; corruption has taken root as the greedy and ambitious fight like dogs over a bone.

In South Africa in 2008 the poorest 50% received only 7.8% of total income. While 83% of white South Africans were among the top 20% of income receivers in 2008, only 11% of our black population were. These statistics conceal unmitigated human suffering. Little wonder that the country has seen such an enormous rise in civil protest.

A descent into darkness must be curtailed. I do not believe the ANC alliance is beyond hope. There are countless good people in the ranks. But a revitalisation and renewal from top to bottom is urgently required. The ANC's soul needs to be restored; its traditional values and culture of service reinstated. The pact with the devil needs to be broken.

At present the impoverished majority do not see any hope other than the ruling party, although the ANC's ability to hold those allegiances is deteriorating. The effective parliamentary opposition reflects big business interests of various stripes, and while

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a strong parliamentary opposition is vital to keep the ANC on its toes, most voters want socialist policies, not measures inclined to serve big business interests, more privatisation and neoliberal economics.

This does not mean it is only up to the ANC, SACP and Cosatu to rescue the country from crises. There are countless patriots and comrades in existing and emerging organised formations who are vital to the process. Then there are the legal avenues and institutions such as the public protector's office and human rights commission that – including the ultimate appeal to the constitutional court – can test, expose and challenge injustice and the infringement of rights. The strategies and tactics of the grassroots – trade unions, civic and community organisations, women's and youth groups – signpost the way ahead with their non-violent and dignified but militant action.

The space and freedom to express one's views, won through decades of struggle, are available and need to be developed. We look to the Born Frees as the future torchbearers.”__________

After reading this, it led us to ask some questions …

How did this happen? Where did the ANC connection with US interests really start? See ORIGINS OF ANNC

Names: Dube, John LangalibaleleBorn: 11 February 1871, Inanda Mission station, NatalDied: 11 February 1946

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In summary: Educator, politician, author, minister of the Congregational (American Board) Church, founder member and first president of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC).John Langalibalele Dube was born at Inanda Mission station of the American Zulu Mission (AZM) in Natal on 11 February 1871 to James and Elizabeth Dube. ‘Langalibalele’, his middle name, means ‘bright sun’. Dube’s grandmother, Dalitha became the first convert of the Lindley Mission Station in Inanda, in the late 1840s. She wanted a clear separation from the traditional AmaQadi way of life. The Christian way of life was perceived and associated with ‘freedom, education and civilisation’. Consequently, James Dube (John Dube’s father) himself became a religious minister and became a leading figure in the Amakholwa (converts) section of the AmaQadi tribe. 

Rev James Dube (who died in 1877) was also one of the minor Zulu chiefs of the AmaQadi tribe and one of the first ministers ordained by the AZM. Thus, John Dube was born of royal lineage, and by right was a chief of the AmaQadi tribe. It was only because Dube’s father was converted to Christianity by the early missionaries that he did not rule over his AmaQadi people. There was conflict between the introduction of western education by the missionaries and the traditional African society’s way of life.

He spent his early schooling years at Adams School at the Inanda station, where his father James Dube served as a Congregational Minister. Missionaries played an important role in shaping the social and political scene in South Africa. The missionary influence was both positive and negative. While mission education helped Dube develop a strong grasp of the English language, missionaries also attempted to culturally indoctrinate their indigenous subjects. This is evidenced by Dube’s generally critical view of his ‘native land’ later in his life.

While he was at school, on one occasion, Dube got into some trouble with other boys at his school, and the school’s Reverend Goodenough approached his colleague, William Wilcox, who was based at Inhambe, to come and have a talk to the boys. From this encounter, Dube and Wilcox developed a relationship.

Dube asked Wilcox if he could accompany him to Oberlin College on his return to the United States. From 1888 to 1890, Dube enrolled at the Oberlin preparatory school to study the sciences, mathematics, classical Greek works, and a course in oratorical skills.

Wilcox left Oberlin to take up the position of a pastor in New York, and invited Dube to visit him there. During this visit Dube assisted Wilcox in printing a pamphlet entitled Self support among the kaffirs. The pamphlet emphasised Wilcox’s belief that industrial education was the best way to uplift the native people of Africa. The

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concept had a profound influence on Dube, to the extent that it would result in the founding of the Ohlange Institute ten years later.

Dube was given the opportunity to lecture while accompanying Wilcox on his lecture tour. He lectured from 1890 to 1892, delivering talks throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Dube succeeded in raising a sum of money which was later used to start a school in South Africa. During this time Dube published a book called A Familiar Talk Upon My Native Land and Some Things Found There. The work reflected the conflict Dube experienced as a mission-educated indigenous person struggling to find a balance between his traditional ethnic roots and Christian teachings. A chronic illness forced Dube to return to South Africa in 1892. Dube built two churches between 1894 and 1896.

In 1897 Dube returned to the US for further training, accompanied by his wife. He enrolled at the Union Missionary Seminary in Brooklyn, in New York. In March 1899, Dube was ordained as a priest by the Congregational Church. During this visit Dube was profoundly influenced by Booker T Washington, whose ideas dominated Dube’s educational and political thought.

Now, let’s see who Booker T Washington was?

Booker T. WashingtonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search

Booker T. Washington

Born Booker Taliaferro Washington

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April 5, 1856Hale's Ford, VirginiaUnited States of America

DiedNovember 14, 1915 (aged 59)Tuskegee, AlabamaUnited States of America

Resting place Tuskegee University

Alma materHampton Normal and Agricultural InstituteWayland Seminary

Occupation Educator, Author, and African American Civil Rights Leader

Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American community.

Washington was of the last generation of black American leaders born into slavery and became the leading voice of the former slaves and their descendants, who were newly oppressed bydisfranchisement and the Jim Crow discriminatory laws enacted in the post-Reconstruction Southern states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1895 his Atlanta compromise called for avoiding confrontation over segregation and instead putting more reliance on long-term educational and economic advancement in the black community.

His base was the Tuskegee Institute, a historically black college in Alabama. As lynchings in the South reached a peak in 1895, Washington gave a speech in Atlanta that made him nationally famous. The speech called for black progress through education and entrepreneurship. His message was that it was not the time to challenge Jim Crow segregation and the disfranchisement of black voters in the South. Washington mobilized a nationwide coalition of middle-class blacks, church leaders, and white philanthropists and politicians, with a long-term goal of building the community's economic strength and pride by a focus on self-help and schooling. Secretly, he supported court challenges to segregation.[1] Black militants in the North, led by W.E.B. Du Bois, at first supported the Atlanta Compromise but after 1909 they set up the NAACP and tried with little success to challenge Washington's political machine for leadership in the black community.[2] Decades after Washington's death in 1915, the Civil Rights movement generally moved away from his policies to take the more militant NAACP approach.

Booker T. Washington mastered the nuances of the political arena in the late 19th century which enabled him to manipulate the media, raise money, strategize, network, pressure, reward friends and distribute funds while punishing those who opposed his plans for uplifting blacks. His long-term goal was to end the

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disfranchisement of the vast majority of African Americans living in southern states, where most of the millions of black Americans still lived.[3]

Overview

In 1856, Washington was born a slave in Virginia. After emancipation, his family resettled in West Virginia. He worked his way through Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) and attended college at Wayland Seminary (now Virginia Union University). In 1881, he was named as the first leader of the new Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Washington attained national prominence for his Atlanta Address of 1895, which attracted the attention of politicians and the public, making him a popular spokesperson for African-American citizens. He built a nationwide network of supporters in many black communities, with black ministers, educators and businessmen composing his core supporters. Washington played a dominant role in black politics, winning wide support in the black community of the South and among more liberal whites (especially rich Northern whites). He gained access to top national leaders in politics, philanthropy and education. Washington's efforts included cooperating with white people and enlisting the support of wealthy philanthropists, helping to raise funds to establish and operate thousands of small community schools and institutions of higher education for the betterment of blacks throughout the South. This work continued for many years after his death. Washington argued that the surest way for blacks to gain equal social rights was to demonstrate "industry, thrift, intelligence and property."

Northern critics called Washington's widespread organization the "Tuskegee Machine". After 1909, Washington was criticized by the leaders of the new NAACP, especially W. E. B. Du Bois, who demanded a stronger tone of protest for advancement of civil rights needs. Washington replied that confrontation would lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks in society, and that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way to overcome pervasive racism in the long run. At the same time, he secretly funded litigation for civil rights cases, such as challenges to southern constitutions and laws that disfranchised blacks.[1][4][page needed] Washington was on close terms with national Republican Party leaders, and often was asked for political advice by presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.[5]

In addition to his contributions in education, Washington wrote 14 books; his autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901, is still widely read today. During a difficult period of transition, he did much to improve the working relationship between the races. His work greatly helped blacks to achieve higher education, financial power and understanding of the U.S. legal system. This contributed to blacks' attaining the skills to create and support the Civil Rights

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Movement of the 1960s, leading to the passage of important federal civil rights laws.

Career overview

Washington early in his career.

Washington was born into slavery to Jane, an enslaved African-American woman on the Burroughs Plantation in southwest Virginia. She never identified his white father, said to be a nearby planter, and the man played no significant role in Washington's life. She married another slave who escaped to West Virginia, which became a state in the Union during the war. Washington's family gained freedom in early 1865 under theEmancipation Proclamation as US troops occupied their region. Later his mother took all the children to West Virginia to join her husband.

As a boy of 9 in Virginia, Booker was thrilled by the day of emancipation in early 1865:[6]

As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted later into the night. Most of the verses of the plantation songs had some reference to freedom... Some man who seemed to be a stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper—the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After the reading we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see.

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She and her husband, the freedman Washington Ferguson, were formally married in West Virginia. When he started school, Booker took the surname Washington after his stepfather.[7][8]

The youth worked in salt furnaces and coal mines in West Virginia for several years to earn money. He made his way east to Hampton Institute, a school established to educate freedmen, where he worked to pay for his studies. He also attended Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C. in 1878 and left after 6 months. In 1881, the Hampton Institute president Samuel C. Armstrong recommended Washington to become the first leader of Tuskegee Institute, the new normal school (teachers' college) in Alabama. He led the institution for the rest of his life.

Washington was instrumental in having West Virginia State University, founded in 1891, located in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia. He visited the campus often and spoke at its first commencement exercise.[9]

Washington was a dominant figure of the African-American community, then largely based in the South, from 1890 to his death in 1915, especially after his Atlanta Address of 1895. To many he was seen as a popular spokesman for African-American citizens. Representing the last generation of black leaders born into slavery, Washington was generally perceived as a supporter of education for freedmen and their descendants in the post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow-era South. Throughout the final twenty years of his life, he maintained his standing through a nationwide network of supporters including black educators, ministers, editors, and businessmen, especially those who supported his views on social and educational issues for blacks. He also gained access to top national white leaders in politics, philanthropy and education, raised large sums, was consulted on race issues, and was awarded honorary degrees from leading American universities.

Late in his career, Washington was criticized by leaders of the NAACP, a civil rights organization formed in 1909. W. E. B. Du Bois advocated activism to achieve civil rights. He labeled Washington "the Great Accommodator". Washington's response was that confrontation could lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks. He believed that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way to overcome racism in the long run.

Washington contributed secretly and substantially to legal challenges against segregation and disfranchisement of blacks.[4][page needed] In his public role, he believed he could achieve more by skillful accommodation to the social realities of the age of segregation.[10]

Washington enlisted both the moral and substantial financial support of many major white philanthropists. He became a friend of such self-made men as Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers; Sears, Roebuck and Company President Julius Rosenwald; and George Eastman, inventor and founder of Kodak.

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These individuals and many other wealthy men and women funded his causes, including Hampton and Tuskegee institutes. Also Julius Rosenwald from Chicago, Washington had Tuskegee architects develop model school designs.

Washington also helped with the Progressive Era by forming the National Negro Business League.[11][page needed]

His autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901,[12] is still widely read today.

Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute

Booker T. Washington's house at Tuskegee University

The organizers of the new all-black state school called Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama made 25-year-old Washington leader.

Wealthy friends and benefactors

Washington's wealthy friends included Andrew Carnegie and Robert C. Ogden, seen here in 1906 while visiting Tuskegee Institute.

His contacts included such diverse and well-known entrepreneurs and philanthropists as Andrew Carnegie, William Howard Taft, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Huttleston Rogers, George Eastman, Julius Rosenwald, Robert Ogden, Collis Potter Huntington and William Henry Baldwin Jr.. The latter donated large sums of money to agencies such as the Jeanes and Slater Funds.

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Washington was friends with millionaire industrialist and financier Henry H. Rogers (1840–1909). Henry Rogers was a self-made man, who had risen from a modest working-class family to become a principal officer of Standard Oil, and one of the richest men in the United States. Around 1894 Rogers heard Washington speak at Madison Square Garden. The next day he contacted Washington and requested a meeting, during which Washington later recounted that he was told that Rogers "was surprised that no one had 'passed the hat' after the speech."[citation needed] 

Anna T. Jeanes

In 1907 Philadelphia Quaker Anna T. Jeanes (1822–1907) donated one million dollars to Washington for elementary schools for black children in the South. Her contributions and those of Henry Rogers and others funded schools in many poor communities.

Julius Rosenwald

Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932) was another self-made wealthy man with whom Washington found common ground. By 1908 Rosenwald, son of an immigrant clothier, had become part-owner and president of Sears, Roebuck and Company in Chicago. Rosenwald was a philanthropist who was deeply concerned about the poor state of African-American education, especially in the Southern states, where their schools were underfunded.[29]

In 1912 Rosenwald was asked to serve on the Board of Directors of Tuskegee Institute, a position he held for the remainder of his life.

Up from Slavery to the White House

Booker Washington and Theodore Rooseveltat Tuskegee Institute, 1905

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Washington's long-term adviser, Timothy Thomas Fortune (1856–1928), was a respected African-American economist and editor of the The New York Age, the most widely read newspaper in the black community within the United States. He was the ghost writer and editor of Washington's first autobiography, The Story of My Life and Work.[32] Washington published five books during his lifetime with the aid of ghost-writers Timothy Fortune, Max Bennett Thrasher and Robert E. Park.[33]

They included compilations of speeches and essays:

The Story of My Life and Work (1900) Up From Slavery  (1901) The Story of the Negro: The Rise of the Race from Slavery (2 vol 1909) My Larger Education (1911) The Man Farthest Down (1912)

In an effort to inspire the "commercial, agricultural, educational, and industrial advancement" of African Americans, Washington founded the National Negro Business League (NNBL) in 1900.[34]

When Washington's second autobiography, Up From Slavery, was published in 1901, it became a bestseller and had a major effect on the African-American community, its friends and allies. In October 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt invited Washington to dine with him and his family at the White House; he was the first African American to be invited there. Democratic Party politicians of the South, including future Governor ofMississippi James K. Vardaman and Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina indulged in racist personal attacks when they learned of the invitation. Vardaman described the White House as

"so saturated with the odor of the nigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable",[35][36] and declared "I am just as much opposed to Booker T. Washington as a voter as I am to the cocoanut-headed, chocolate-colored typical little coon who blacks my shoes every morning. Neither is fit to perform the supreme function of citizenship."[37]

Tillman said, "The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that nigger will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the South before they will learn their place again."[38]

Austro-Hungarian ambassador to the United States Ladislaus Hengelmüller von Hengervár, who was visiting the White House on the same day, claimed to have found a rabbit's foot in Washington's coat pocket when he mistakenly put on the coat. The Washington Post elaborately described it as "the left hind foot of a graveyard rabbit, killed in the dark of the moon".[39] The Detroit Journal quipped

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the next day, "The Austrian ambassador may have made off with Booker T. Washington's coat at the White House, but he'd have a bad time trying to fill his shoes."[39][40]

Death

Booker T. Washington's coffin being carried to grave site.

Despite his travels and widespread work, Washington remained as principal of Tuskegee. Washington's health was deteriorating rapidly in 1915; he collapsed in New York City and was brought home to Tuskegee, where he died on November 14, 1915, at the age of 59. He was buried on the campus of Tuskegee University near the University Chapel.

People called Washington the "Wizard of Tuskegee" because of his highly developed political skills, and his creation of a nationwide political machine based on the black middle class, white philanthropy, and Republican Party support. Opponents called this network the "Tuskegee Machine." Washington maintained control because of his ability to gain support of numerous groups, including influential whites and the black business, educational and religious communities nationwide. He advised on the use of financial donations from philanthropists, and avoided antagonizing white Southerners with his accommodation to the political realities of the age of Jim Crow segregation.[10]

Both Dube and Washington were inspired by the motto ‘learning and labour’, which Oberlin College had adopted. Both men were considered civil rights activists, educators and writers. Washington encouraged his students at Tuskegee to become self-reliant by teaching them skills such as printing, farming, shoemaking, and cooking, amongst others.

This inspired Dube to develop a similar kind of initiative aimed at advancing the rights of Black people when he returned to South Africa. In August 1900 he established the Zulu Christian Industrial Institute which was renamed the Ohlange

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Institute in 1901. The institute functioned as a school where African children obtained education.

Dube established links with like-minded leaders to form the Natal Native Congress (NNC) in July 1900. This was the beginning of his commitment to political action. The aim of the NNC was to find a way whereby black peoples’ feelings, aspirations, and grievances could be brought to the attention of the colonial government. The concerns of the NNC centred around the following issues:

Unobstructed land ownership Education Parliamentary representation Free trade Freedom from enforced labour

The Congress became the main political organ of the Black people throughout the period that Natal remained a separate colony.  Through the NNC, Dube advocated equality and justice for all. He hoped to close the widening gap between the Whites and Blacks of South Africa. He played a leading role in Black resistance to the Union of South African states, from whose legislature Blacks were to be excluded.

The skills of editing and publishing that Dube developed, while working at a local printing firm in the US, were put to good use when he established the first indigenous Zulu newspaper, Ilanga Lase Natal. Officially launched in April 1903, Dube’s aim in establishing the newspaper was for it to be a mouth-piece for the black population, and to propagate the idea of a united African front.

Ilangaexpanded on Washingtonian ideas of self-sufficiency and self-segregation. Dube used his newspaper to expose injustices and evil deeds from all quarters and made black people aware of their rights and privileges. Initially the paper was printed by International Printing Press in Durban, but from October 1903 (the 25 thedition) it was printed at Ohlange itself.

Ilangawas financed from donations and funds which Dube received from associates and friends in the US. There was little evidence of any influence from the American Zulu Mission in the newspaper. Occasionally he would feature editorials and articles in English which were intended for the white settler community, the department of Native Affairs and the Natal Government. Dube hoped in this way to keep them connected to black opinion at the time. As time progressed, black people used the newspaper to criticise government policies. At one stage Dube was accused by the authorities for inciting resentment against the government.

Ilanga Lase Natalfocussed on issues pertaining to: Land controversies (including taxes and land ownership);

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Laws and acts, such as the poll tax; Reports such as those of the South African Native Affairs Commission; Political and social developments.

When Dube returned from the US in 1905 (after his third visit), tensions arose between him and the white missionaries. Ilanga lase Natal attacked the missionaries’ views on land allotment on the Reserves, the Mission Reserve rent, the social aloofness of missionaries and their lack of trust for the converts, inadequate selection of African officers and failure to defend African interests. By September 1906, Dube was calling for a meeting of the Transvaal, Cape and Natal congresses and ‘welcoming signs that tribal antagonisms are dying down as indications of progress’.

In 1906 the Bambatha Rebellion broke out. It was triggered largely by an introduction of new taxes, and also the encroachment of white settlers on land owned by Africans. Dube had followed the debate regarding the poll tax in Parliament and was extremely aggrieved that the government had not consulted with kholwa spokesmen or chiefs on the matter. He noted in his newspaper that the economic situation of Blacks would not allow them to pay the tax without considerable suffering. He argued that the tax was unfair as Blacks were not represented in Parliament.

Despite his opposition to the tax, Dube did not support the rebellion. He wanted to avoid violence at all costs and wanted the government to know that the kholwa would always remain loyal to the government and that they had no reason to rebel. In Dube’s own words: ‘the loyalty of the natives is beyond dispute’. He made it known that the kholwa still identified with the values of the White man and wished to be seen as equals to Whites.

However, Dube bitterly opposed the arrest and trial of Dinizulu in connection with the rebellion and actively assisted in raising funds for his defence. Dinizulu, son of the last Zulu king, was for Black people in South Africa the symbol of their former independence and their identity as a people. Dube, with his recollections of and pride in his African past, understood the significance of Dinizulu and his place in Zulu history. Dube publicised Dinizulu's arrest. The Natal government attempted to suppress Ilanga Lase Natal before and during theBambatha Rebellion – the newspaper was the object of constant suspicion.Dube tried to use his influence during the rebellion by visiting and talking to Zulu chiefs to get their people to keep the peace. Dube had no desire to end British rule and the spread of Christianity, and Bambatha represented the heathen way of life, something Dube had no desire to return to.

Another reason for Dube’s endorsement of the colonists’ reaction to Bambatha was based on the economic and the political status of Blacks throughout Natal. Some colonists saw the rebellion as an opportunity to grab the land of Blacks who supported Bambatha and ousting the people who lived on this land. Dube’s

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programme of self improvement rested upon the precondition that educated kholwa would be able to purchase land. Many of the influential kholwa openly endorsed the war and actively participated in the suppression of the rebels. 

During the rebellion, the White press generated extreme hostility towards the Black population and exaggerated threats of terror. White authorities also became increasingly critical of the activities of the kholwa class and the missionaries who trained them. Dube defended the behaviour of the Black elite during the rebellion and refused to take responsibility for the violence.

Kholwa chief representatives distanced themselves from the disruptive activities of Bambatha. The rebellion had an direct effect on the Ohlange school as a number of students remained at home due to rumours of violence. Dube blamed the government for the conflict and argued in his newspaper that if the government halted the collection of the poll tax it would be seen as showing weak.

Dube also used the rebellion to encourage the kholwa community to collect funds to send representatives to Britain to demonstrate against the unfair poll tax, the pass laws and the oppressive compulsory labour system. This prompted Governor McCallum to demand a public apology from Dube.

In 1908 he resigned from the pastorate of Inanda. The tension between Dube on the one hand and the government and missionaries on the other subsided in 1907 but he was constantly warned that he was ‘playing with fire’. But in the columns of Ilanga and as part of many delegations of kholwa he protested and petitioned the government against proposed legislation.

Nevertheless, ideologically, Dube had accepted the missionary gospel. It could be argued that generally the impact of missionaries on African culture and value systems had been superficial in Africa, but for Dube and subsequent generations the ‘psychological conversion’, if not ‘psychological colonisation’, was near complete.

At the same time numerous meetings were held by Africans, Coloureds, and Indians to protest the whites-only nature of the constitutional discussions that took place from 1908 to 1909.  Dube was part of a delegation that left South Africa in 1909 to present a petition by Blacks to the English House of Commons in London against the Act of Union of 1909, but the deputation was unsuccessful. These activities culminated in a South African Native Convention in March 1909, where delegates called for a constitution giving ‘full and equal rights’ for all Blacks, Coloureds, and Indians.

Political agitation against the Natives Land Act continued, and preliminary drafts of the Act were debated in 1911. Not long after, several hundred members of South Africa's educated African elite met at Bloemfontein on January 8, 1912, to establish the South African Native National Congress (renamed the African National Congress

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in 1923). In 1912, Dubeaccepted the Presidency of the ANC in spite of the pressures put on him by his preoccupation with education. In 1912 Dube addressed a group of Africans in Zululand to explain the new movement (the ANC) and appeal for unity.

The SANNC had a newspaper called Abantu-Batho from 1912 to 1933, which carried columns in English, isiZulu, Sesotho, and isiXhosa. It became the most widely read South African paper at the time. During this time Dube advocated a need for the congress to work closely with the Coloured people and succeeded in his attempts to get representatives of the congress to meet at least once a year with the African Political Organisation (APO), under the leadership of Dr Abdullah Abdurahman. Dube also urged unity amongst the black population through the affiliation to the congress and the removal of provincial bodies, which functioned as separate entities.Dube was instrumental in improving the status of black women, especially those involved in the domestic work sector, and acted as a mediator in women’s dealings with the Department of Native Affairs.

In 1913 the Natives Land Act affected every strata of African rural society, which spurred the SANNC. In 1914 Dube was one of the delegates in London to protest against this legislation, but this delegation caused some controversy within the SANNC. It was believed that Dube had made some compromises on the principle of segregation. The bone of contention within the SANNC was the Land Act, and Dube was ousted from the presidency of the SANNC in 1917 and was succeeded by Sefako Mapogo Makgatho. From this time onwards Dube concentrated his activities in Natal.

In the 1920s, like some of his generation (and the strata of mission-educated Africans) he became involved in a series of liberal attempts to establish ‘racial harmony’ between Blacks and Whites, such as the Smuts Native Conferences established under the 1920 Act (which Dube quit in 1926 on the grounds that they were powerless), the Joint Councils and many missionary conferences. In 1926 he was one of the South African delegates to an international conference at Le Zoute in Belgium, a visit he also used to raise funds for Ohlange. He was involved in replacingJosiah Tshangana Gumede,who was considered left-wing, with Pixley ka Seme as president of the ANC in 1930, and in 1935 Dube became a member of the All African Convention. He represented Natal on the Native Representative Council from 1936 until his death, in 1946, when he was replaced by Chief Albert Luthuli on the Council.

One of Dube's controversial episodes came in 1930 when he openly considered supporting Hertzog's bills in the hope that they might provide some additional funds for development. It should be remembered that Dube was ousted from the presidency of the ANC in 1917 for his apparent acceptance of the principle - if not the contemporary practice - of segregation. Dube forged an alliance with the segregationist, Heaton Nicholls, and he toured the country soliciting the support of

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African leaders in Johannesburg, Kimberly, Bloemfontein and the Eastern Cape for a bill on Land Settlement promoted by Nicholls. This provided for the allocation of seven million morgen of land, to be added to the already scheduled areas, and the provision of adequate funds. The problem was that, like Hertzog's proposals, Heaton Nicholls coupled his land schemes with an attempt to end the franchise of the Cape Africans. This scheme also envisaged the representation of Africans in the senate but this never materialised.

However, this did not discredit Dube. In 1935 he was elected to the Executive of the All African Convention. He became disenchanted with the government’s schemes. At a meeting of the Natal Debating Society in 1935 he launched a sharp attack on the government's policies, which Jabavu printed as a pamphlet: Criticisms of the Native Bills. In it Dube expounded his nationalism and his rejection of African inequality and his belief in the principle of African representation. In 1935 a 50% share of ILanga laseNatal the paper was bought up by Bantu Press and Dube’s control of the paper waned.By 1935, Dube founded the Natal Bantu Teachers' Association, today known as the Natal African Teachers' Union (NATU) for professional Black teachers. He still remained active particularly in the in 1940s after Albert Xuma persuaded him to participate in the movement nationally, but with limited success.

Dube was successful in his endeavours in contributing to the political and socio-economic development of Blacks in Natal. He fought against the injustices against Black people and tried to gain a sense of equity through his lifetime. On 11 February 1946, Dube passed away. Vil-Nkomo summed up his life when he wrote in Umteleli wa Bantu on February 26 1946 that Dube: "has revealed to the world at large that it is not quite true to say that the African is incompetent as far as achievement is concerned". To commemorate Dube’s achievements, the school held a special 'Mafukuzela Day’ in 1950. In time, this became 'Mafukuzela Week', with figures such as the Zulu king in attendance.

Publications by John L Dube Dube first published an essay in 1910, in English on self-improvement and public

decency. The work that was to earn Dube the honorary doctorate of philosophy was the essay Umuntu Isita Sake Uqobo Lwake (A man is his own worst enemy) (1992).

He went on to publish a historical novel that has proven to be popular and influential in the Zulu canon, titled Insila kaShaka (Shaka's Body Servant) (1930). Insila ka Tshaka was translated into English as Jeqe, the Bodyservant of King Tshaka

Dube also embarked on writing biographies of the Zulu royal family, especially that of King Dinizulu, making him the first biographer in African literature.

There are numerous other works of less significant literary quality such as the essay Ukuziphatha [On Behaviour] (1910).

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Isitha somuntu nguye uqobo Iwakhe(1922; The Black Man Is His Own Worst Enemy)

References Hughes, H, (2011), First president: the life of John Dube, founding president of

the ANC, (Sunnyside: Jacana Media), p.312. Shula, M (1986), The ambiguities of dependence in South Africa: class,

nationalism, and the State in the twentieth-century Natal, (John Hopkins University Press), pp 41-73.

Welsh,D, (1971). >‘Missionaries after Shepstone’ in The roots of segregation: native policy in colonial Natal, 1845-1910, pp 270-311.

Marable, M, (1976), African nationalist: the life of John Langalibalele Dube, p. 384

Millard, JA., (1999), Dube, John Langalibalele (Mafukuzela) 1871 to 1946, Congregational South Africa.from Dictionary of African Christian Biography, November 2011 [online], Available at www.dacb.org  [Accessed 22 November 2011]

Kumalo, S, Swinging between Billigerence and Servilty: John Dube Struggle for Freedom(s) in South Africa, from the >University of South Africa, [online], Available at uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/4507/Kumalo-SHEXXXIV%281%29-July2008.pdf?sequence=1[Accessed 22 November 2011]

Giliomee, H & Mbenga, B., (2007), New history of South Africa>, Cape Town, p169.

Gasa, E.D, (1999), John L. Dube, his Ilanga Lase Natali and the Natal African administration, 1903-1910, from the University of Zululand institutional Repository [online]. Available at 196.21.83.35/handle/10530/486 [Accessed 22 November 2011]

John Langalibalele Dube>,from Answers.com, [online], Available at www.answers.com [Accessed 22 November 2011]

John L. Dube: the positive and negative influences of missionaries, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, [online] Available at www.oberlin.edu [Accessed 22 November 2011]

Mohapi, M. S, (2011), The unbroken chains of apartheid: South Africa,United States of America, p.126. [0nline]. Available at [Accessed 22 November 2011]

Switzer, Les (ed.)., (1996), South Africa’s alternative press: voices of protest and resistance, 1880s-1960s>, (Cambridge University Press), pp.83-98.

Makhanda, L, (1982). ‘Heroes of our revolution: Dr. JL Dube (1871-1945)’ in Dawn, 1 January 1982, pp. 28-32, [online], Available at www.disa.ukzn.ac.za[Accessed 22 November 2011]

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