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In the first article that appeared on the 4-10 February 2011 edition of ANC Today we depicted the socio-economic and political environment that existed in South Africa few decades before the formation of the African National Congress (ANC). We also traced the introduction of western religion to the indigenous by the colonizers.

In response to the latter development our country experienced the proliferation of African independent Churches led by the then emerging African intellectuals who were starting to make their presence felt in shaping the direction of public discourse. This happened through activism in the liberation struggle and in various ways of intellectual stimulation of society. Resistance against colonialism was the main driver of this beehive of activity using modern methods of struggle.

In 1904, the British government instituted the Native Affairs Commission, the outcome of this commission brought about a change of how the black majority was to be viewed and treated after 1905. Before 1905, they were viewed as potential citizens of the empire, with certain rights and as second-class British subjects. After 1905, they ceased to be potential citizens but just subjects. The effect of this commission was to be felt for the next nine decades.

The defeat of the Bambata Rebellion in 1906 brought to a close the first phase of resistance. The British Imperialists set, flowing from the treaty of Vereeneging and the outcomes of the Native Affairs Commission, a stage for the handing over of the administration of the country to local whites.

Defeated militarily and totally disarmed, robbed of their land by foreign invaders denied any say in the governance of their country, our people realized that new ways had to be found to continue with the struggle.

Regeneration of Africa
Pixley ka Isaka Seme
He was born in Zululand, in the Northern parts of the now KwaZulu-Natal Province. He graduated at Columbia University, admitted to the bar from the middle Temple and practiced law in Johannesburg.

In 1906, while a student at the University of Colombia, Seme entered an oratorical competition. He chose to speak about Africa and her historical contribution in the civilization of humanity. In his seminal work on the regeneration of Africa he sought to represent hope in the future of the continent when he stated amongst others the following:

"I have chosen to speak to you on this occasion upon "The Regeneration of Africa." I am an African, and I set my pride in my race over and against a hostile public opinion∑ My thesis stands on this truth; time has proved it. In all races, genius is like a spark, which, concealed in the bosom of a flint, bursts forth at the summoning stroke. It may arise anywhere and in any race∑ The giant is awakening! From the four corners of the earth Africa's sons, who have been proved through fire and sword, are marching to the future's golden door bearing the records of deeds of valor done.

He has refused to camp forever on the borders of the industrial world; having learned that knowledge is power, he is educating his children. You find them in Edinburgh, in Cambridge, and in the great schools of Germany. These return to their country like arrows, to drive darkness from the land. I hold that his industrial and educational initiative, and his untiring devotion to these activities, must be regarded as positive evidences of this process of his regeneration".

Seme at that particular time outlined the tasks of the newly formed middle class. He articulated a vision that culminated in the formation of the ANC in 1912. He appreciated the challenges of struggle that Africans face, but always emphasized the centrality of unity in action. Driving this point home, he said the following " the demons of racialism, the aberrations of the Xhosa-Fingo feud, the animosity that exists between the Zulus and Tsongaas, between the Basutos and every other native must be buried and forgotten; it has shed amongst us sufficient blood. We are one people. These divisions, these jealousies, are the cause of all our woes and of all our backwardness and ignorance today".

In 1962, addressing the International Conference of Africanists in 1962, President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana quoted Pixley Ka Isaka Seme seminal work in full and he stated that he does not normally do this but because he was persuaded by this powerful, eloquent and visionary display of hope and future of the continent.

In May 1996, addressing the Constitutional Assembly, the then Deputy President of the ANC and the Republic of South Africa, Comrade Thabo Mbeki, revived the debate. He was walking on the footsteps of this African giant, when he chose the theme of "I am an African", flowing from Seme's seminal work. The significance of that speech lies in the fact that, till today the ANC is still guided by that understanding, in its relations to Africa and the world at large.

The formation of the ANC

The formation of the ANC was not an accident of history but an evolution of struggles from wars of resistance against colonialism to the fight against apartheid colonialism. The year 1652 ignited these wars of resistance led by Africa's warrior Kings and Chiefs like Shaka, Dingane, Moshoeshoe, Mabhoko, Cetshwayo, Hintsa, Sarhili, Sekhukhune to mention but a few.

The Africans heeded the call by Seme's on January 8, 1912, came from all four provinces of South Africa and Botswana. They met in Mangaung, Bloemfontein, where it was Seme again who gave the keynote address. He said:

"Chiefs of royal blood and gentlemen of our race, we have gathered here to consider and discuss a theme which my colleagues and I have decided to place before you. We have discovered that in the land of their birth, Africans are treated as hewers of wood and drawers of water. The white people of this country have formed what is known as the Union of South Africa - a union in which we have no voice in the making of the laws and no part in their administration. We have called you therefore to this Conference so that we can together devise ways and means of forming our national union for the purpose of creating national unity and defending our rights and privileges."

A word on the inclusion of the Kings and Chiefs, they were honoured in accordance with African tradition by being involved in this new organisation as Honorary Presidents in the Upper House. They were Dalindyebo of AbaThembu, Montsioa of the Barolong, Lewanika of Barotselang (part of Zambia), Letsie II of Lesotho, Khama of Botswana, Marclane of AmamPondo, Moepi of the Bakgatla and Dinuzulu of AmaZulu.

These Kings and Chiefs represented the rural masses that were the majority of the people at the time and the section most affected by the land robbery. There was a need for an alliance between the peasants and the young intellectuals - the working class was still in the process of formation. They were the recognised spokesmen of their people - they had fought against colonialism, and were victimised, deposed and banished.

Out of this conference the National Executive Committee to lead the ANC was elected as follows: President General Dr. JL Dube; Secretary General Solomon T Plaatjie; Treasurer General Pixley ka Isaka Seme; Speaker Thomas Mapikela; Recording Secretary Montsioa of the Barolong; Chaplain in Chief Reverend Mqoboli, assisted by Reverend HR Ngcayiya and Vice Presidents were Reverends W Rubusana, M Pelem, S Makgatho and A Mangena.

Who is John Langalibalele "Mafukuzela" Dube? He was the first President General of the ANC. Amongst his achievements we can mention that, in 1901 he was able to achieve his ambition on 200 acres of land in the Inanda district where he established the Zulu Christian Industrial School at Ohlange. Ohlange is within a stone's throw of Phoenix settlement where Gandhi started the newspaper, Indian Opinion, and not far from the dense religious settlement of AmaNazarethi, the Nazareth people, founded by the prophet Shembe.

One of Dube's achievements at this time was the establishment of a Zulu/English newspaper Ilanga lase Natal (Sun of Natal). He began to establish his political reputation. He was amongst the advisors of King Dinuzulu.

B.W. Vilakazi, a poet and author, wrote in 1946 that Dube was "a great, if not the greatest, black man of the missionary epoch in South Africa" and earlier A.S. Vil-Nkomo had written in the same vein: Dube was "one who comes once in many centuries - No one else in his education generation has accomplished so much with such meagre economic means. He was scholar, gentleman, leader, farmer, teacher, politician, patriot and philanthropist".

The work on the formation of the ANC did not start on January 8th 1912, initially it was aimed to be launched sometime in October 1911, however, due to certain challenges it was postponed for January 1912.

The formation of the ANC was taking place within both national and international contexts, of a world that was fast changing characterized by the following;

With the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia the rest of Africa was governed either directly from colonial office in Europe or by white settlers from European powers.
The people of African descent lived either under colonial domination or under regimes of as second-class citizenship in countries like Brazil. United States or Canada.

Women struggles

Women made history in 1913 by organizing a passive resistance movement against passes and went to jail in large numbers rather than take out residential permits.

The extension of passes to women was another frontal attack by Union government on a section of black people. Deputations of women from Bloemfontein consisting of Mrs. Gabashane, Kotsi and Louw went to Cape Town to air their grievance about passes to the Minister of Native Affairs. Having made this effort, there was again no positive response from the government of the day.

In Bloemfontein, on 6 June 1913, a group of 600 women marched to the Municipal offices in town and asked to see the Mayor. He was not in, so they called for the Town Clerk. The Deputy Mayor came out, and they deposited before him a bag containing their passes of the previous month and politely signified their intention not to buy any more passes. At Jaggersfontein a similar demonstration was led by a Mozambican woman. They were arrested. The women refused to pay the fines. In Winburg there was a similar demonstration, where 800 women marched to the Town Hall singing hymns and addressed the authorities. Women resolutely refused to pay their fines.Brutal methods were used to deal with the women protestors.

Sol Plaatjie visited the prison in Kroonstad in August 1913 accompanied by the wife of Rev. A.P. Pitso of Kroonstad and Mrs. Petrus. He was shocked to see the conditions of the women, and said:

"Tears rolled down our cheeks as we saw the cracks on their bare feet, the swellings and chilblains which made them look like sheep suffering from foot and mouth disease... To our surprise, however, they vowed never to buy passes, even if they had to come back."

Sol Plaatje as Secretary-General of the ANC telegraphed General Botha and pointed out to him that over two hundred Coloured women were at that time languishing in jail for resenting a crime committed upon them.

The importance of this action by women lies in the fact that, they introduced the practice of mass mobilization, an important pillar of struggle in the movement, a trademark that is still with us today.

Indian people resistance

Right from the beginning, the ANC recognized that Unity in Action among all the oppressed groups is fundamental to the advance of our liberation struggle. It was in 1892 that a young lawyer by the name of M.K. Gandhi arrived in South Africa to fight a legal case for an Indian businessman. On his arrival he was shocked to see the conditions of Indians and the treatment they were receiving from white authorities. Gandhi helped to create and build the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in 1894 and the Transvaal British Indian Association (TBIA) and the weekly journal, Indian Opinion, in 1903.

Gandhi left South Africa in 1914 - but not before he had organised and led two resistance campaigns, in 1906 and 1913. The first resistance campaign was in the Transvaal against the compulsory registration of Indians; the second was directed against the annual poll tax imposed on all those indentured after 1895. Sixty thousand Indian workers and farm labourers throughout Natal came out on strike, the first mass strike of the Indian workers. Racist authorities opened fire, killing a number of strikers.

Coloured people resistance

This community descended in the main from the survivors of the Khoi and Nama people who inhabited the Cape, from slaves imported by the Dutch as well as white settlers who made free with their female chattels. Over generations the 'Coloured' people evolved from a subject people who were forced to accept the language, customs and religion of their white masters.

The Coloured community suffered from varying forms of humiliation, discrimination and oppression. The independent Coloured political activity goes back to a period as early as the 1870s. At that time the Coloured people enjoyed 'full political rights' in the Cape, but Britain was already considering forcing 'confederation' on the various South African communities. The Coloureds were alert to the possibility that Britain would be happy to sell their rights as the price of 'unity' and as the newspaper, APO, said in 1909 on the occasion of the approval by Britain in 1909 of the Colour Bar of the Union, APO editorialised:

"The struggle has not ended. It has just begun. We, the Coloured and Native peoples of South Africa, have a tremendous fight before us. We have the war of wars to wage... No longer must we look to our flabby friends of Great Britain. 'Our political destiny is in our hands, and we must be prepared to face the fight with grim determination to succeed... How are we to set about? In our opinion there is but one way and that is the economic method. Undoubtedly the Coloured and Native races of South Africa hold the strongest weapon ever placed in the hands of any class. The very stability, the prosperity, even the continuance, for but a few days of the economic existence of South Africa depends on the labour market, and we are the labour market..."

It may ere long come about that the necessity will be imposed on us, not in any isolated sphere and throughout the whole sub-continent to refuse to bolster up the economic fabric of the people who refuse us political freedom. That would bring the selfish white politicians to their knees.

The early union struggle involvement

In 1919, the first working class organization to organize African workers was formed under the leadership of Mr. Clements Kadalie. The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) was born. It recruited workers across industries. On the 17 of December 1919, the ICU brought African and Coloured dock Workers out on strike. Up until its demise, the ICU mobilized workers and positively affected the ANC. The membership of the movement grew during this period.

The true significance of the ICU despite its many internal problems was that it was the first mass based movement to emerge following the consolidation of white colonialism.

The Communist Party of South Africa

In 1921, the political organization of the working class was formed, the Communist Party of South Africa. It was formed by foreign born British radicals and Eastern European Jews. The party supported insurrection in during the Rand revolt strikes of 1922 by White mine workers. The Communist Party at that time was mainly white and very little black membership.

In 1928, the Communist International supported the Communist Party of South Africa on the Resolution of the Independent Native Republic as the first stage towards socialism. The effect of this was that large numbers of white members left the organization and it attracted more and more black members.

Conclusion

From its conception, the ANC stood opposed to the exclusion of one section of South African population by another on the running the affairs of the country. In Seme's own words, the formation of the ANC was to be the recreation of the African Parliament in response to the Whites only Union of South Africa.

This was further clarified by the ANC former President General ZR Mahabane in 1921, speaking at the ANC's Cape Provincial meeting, he said "∑I want to declare in conclusion that South Africa will never attain her ideal peacefulness, prosperity, greatness and national unity of which the Prime Minister and all lovers of Africa have been rightly dreaming, without the free and full cooperation of all the black and white races, of the land and of all classes and conditions of men".