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Voices of Liberation
Albert Lutuli
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Voices of Liberation
Albert Lutuli
Volume 1
Gerald J Pillay
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© The Author, 1993
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording
or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher.
ISBN 0-7969-1356-0
Published by:
HSRC Publishers
134 Pretorius Street
Pretoria
South Africa
Electronic data capture: Tina Dicker
Cover design: Glen Basson
Printed by:
HSRC Printers
134 Pretorius Street
Pretoria
South Africa
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Foreword
The racially based ideology that has structured South African society
for the last 40 years was maintained in many ways, one of which was
the controlling of the freedom of speech and the flow of information.
Even the nature and scope of ostensibly ‘scientific research’ did not
escape influence. Inevitably, over a period this South African society
has become divided against itself: “us” versus “them”; “maintainers
of law and order” versus “communists”, “believers”, “secularists” and
so on. These categories bedevilled the recording of South African
history as history syllabuses in schools amply illustrate.
Overcoming these divisions must surely begin with a re-inter-
pretation of history — the painting of a fuller picture in place of the
snapshots that have survived. This task of reinterpreting South
African history is a complex one for many contributions previously
ignored and many perspectives never before acknowledged now need
to be embraced. History can no longer simply be a tool in the hands
of ideologues of any persuasion, because no one group, community or
class has a “God’s-eye” view of history.
This series is a contribution to this process of reinterpretation. It
will make accessible the thoughts and writings of South Africans who
have influenced the dismantling of one of the most daring attempts at
social engineering in modem times. The passing away of apartheid
will continue long after it is legally dead. The violence and double-
speak that accompanied this passing away, will hopefully, prove to be
the last convulsive movements of the corpse.
The struggle to free South African society from the shackles of
race discrimination, political oppression, tyranny, inequality before
the law, greed and fear was long and painful, and was conducted on
many levels by a wide variety of thinkers and activists. Any
reassessment that ignores this polyphonic voice of the liberation
struggle will only succeed in producing a distorted historical one-
dimensionality. Indeed, the struggle made strange bed-fellows:
Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews, communists, pacifists, African
nationalists, feminists, trade-unionists, Pan-Africanists, English
liberals and human rights activists among others.
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This series, therefore, is called “The Voices of Liberation” and
includes amongst its titles names such as Albert Lutuli, Robert
Sobukwe, Mahatma Gandhi, Ruth First, Z.K. Matthews, Alan Paton,
Desmond Tutu, Beyers Naude and Nelson Mandela. These
personalities representing different intellectual and political traditions,
have either dramatically or more sedately kept open the possibilities
for liberation.
Each volume, like this one on Lutuli, provides an analysis of the
key ideas of each figure who contributed to liberation thinking in
South Africa. A selection of their main writings will be accompanied
by commentary, together with a comprehensive bibliography of
primary sources to further scholarly research.
A work of this kind depends on the assistance of many. I am
especially indebted to Hans Ponofsky, the former curator of the
African Studies library at Northwestern University, Illinois; Professor
John Hunwick, the head of the Department of the History and
Literature of Religions at the same university, to which department I
was attached during my research there; Professor Richard Elphick one
of the consulting editors for the series; and to Claudia Davidson and
her publishing team at the Human Sciences Research Council.
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His thinking and writings
history will say, and because history cannot be banned I can
tell you what history will say, that a noble voice was silenced
when it would have been better for us all if it had been heard.
Alan Paton (from his speech at Albert Lutuli’s funeral)
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Early life
ohn Albert Mavumbi Lutuli was born in 1898 in what was
formerly Rhodesia.
1
His father had gone there from Natal to be
an evangelist for the Seventh Day Adventist Mission. When Albert
was barely six, his father died and his mother brought the children
back to their traditional home in the Umvoti Reserve in Natal
2
.
At the time of their relocation in 1908, Albert’s uncle, Martin
Lutuli, was the chief of the Abasemakholweni tribe and it was
within the extended family of the chief that Albert was raised.
Martin Lutuli had been involved in the founding of the Natal
Native Congress in 1901 and the South African Native National
Congress in 1912. It had been a policy of the Natal government to
settle Africans in reserves or ‘Native locations’ as they were often
called. By the turn of the century about 175 000 acres had been set
out as ‘mission reserves’. On these reserves lived a number of
communities of Christian Africans (about 100 000 Kolwe by 1900)
under traditional chiefs, not all of whom were Christians
themselves.
3
The Umvoti Reserve of the Abasemakholweni was a
predominantly Christian community of about 5 000 under a
Christian chief who was a leading member of the Congregational
Church of the American Board Mission (ABM). By 1906 the
ABM had become well established at the Reserve and the area was
called Groutville, after its pioneering missionary, Adam Grout.
These settlements of Africans were part of the general policy
of the Natal government by which the social mobility of Africans
could be controlled. Traditional leaderships were bolstered,
provided these supported government policy. From the govern-
1
This birth date was Lutuli’s estimate. Also, he preferred this spelling of ‘Lutuli’
though ‘Luthuli’ also appears in the newspaper reports and other archival sources.
2
Mary Benson’s biography Chief Albert Lutuli of South Africa Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1963, covers many details of his life and work. So does his
autobiography Let my People Go Glasgow: Collins, 1982.
3
Marks, S. Reluctant Rebellion – The 1906-1908 disturbances in Natal Oxford,
Clarendon Press 1970, described the leadership structure in the reserves and the
ambiguities of the Kolwe in 1906, the year of the Babata rebellion in Natal.
J
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Voices of Liberation 4
ment’s point of view it was a ‘happy’ arrangement. The chiefs
were left to manage the local matters of the tribe while the
government had the benefit of a ‘natural’ influx control.
Traditionally the majority of these tribes passed the chieftainships
down by lineage. By the turn of the century, many of these chiefs
were appointed by the government. It was, therefore, in the chiefs’
interest to be loyal to the government.
The Abasemakholweni were among only a very few who
elected their chief democratically. Lutuli was later to complain that
the chiefs were being made ‘minor dictators’, contrary to the
traditions of the Zulu which were ‘democratic’: “Our development
is being sidetracked into new autocratic institutions that are now
being imposed not only on the Africans but also on white people”.
4
Albert had a remarkable mother. Through hard work and
sacrifice she, a young widow, raised her children and provided for
their early schooling in economically difficult times. For instance,
she took in washing from white families in Stanger, the nearby
town on the Natal North Coast. A devout Christian, she raised her
children in a deeply religious household with her relatives
prominently placed in the American Board Mission. Albert’s early
schooling was at the ABM school in Groutville.
5
From Groutville to Adams College
After Groutville Primary, Albert studied in Edenvale in Natal
where he obtained preliminary training to be a teacher.
6
He
obtained a bursary to Adams College at Amanzimtoti, just south of
Durban, where he was awarded the Higher Teacher’s Certificate.
He was then appointed to the staff of the Teachers’ Training
Department of Adams College. He turned down the offer of a
4
In Chief Speaks: Statements and addresses published by the Solidarity Committee of
the German Democratic Republic 1982.
5
Benson, M. Chief Albert Lutuli of South Africa, p. 4 f.
6
It was possible to become a teacher with a Standard 8 qualification. At Adams
College he upgraded his qualifications obtaining the equivalent of a matriculation
which would have gained him admission to Fort Hare College for a degree course.
[...]... 1850-1915 PhD Thesis University of California, Los Angeles 1975 Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za 6 Voices of Liberation were more than willing to abandon traditional customs By the turn of the century, a change had occurred Several of the African clergy, almost as a reaction to the erosion of traditional culture, reaffirmed their African traditions alongside their pursuit of higher educational qualifications... Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za 14 Voices of Liberation In spite of his caution at the 1951 conference, back in Natal Lutuli set about gaining support for the campaign Yengwa, his close friend and supporter, recalls how in the office of the ANC in Durban, Lutuli called together a small group of his closest allies, explained to them the consequences of the step they were taking and then solemnly... community remained the only means of stability for a society in flux.9 Henriette Colenso, daughter of Bishop Colenso and a great friend and helper of Zulus in Natal, had adopted a similar view in connection with the significance of cultural identity at the turn of the century She rejected both the ‘liberal’ option of integration at all costs and the more widely supported option of ‘divide and rule’.10 The... from www.hsrcpress.ac.za 18 Voices of Liberation general Walter Sisulu, Moses Kotane, J.B Marks and David Bopape were shortly to be either banned or imprisoned Oliver Tambo became secretary after Sisulu was banned The remaining years of the 1950s were to see a further decline in the civil liberties of black people, the Treason Trial and the introduction of the Suppression of Communist Act which gave... gave the police inordinate power over critics of the government On the other hand, these years were also the ‘golden years’ of the ANC The Congress of the People at Kliptown in 1955 led to both unprecedented national solidarity among the numerous groups of the liberation movement and the formulation of the Freedom Charter that remained the political creed of the majority in the movement for the next... order until July 1956 Thus at the time of the Congress of the People at Kliptown in 1955 he was still under the ban and 41 42 ‘Interview with Lutuli’ Drum, May 1953 Oliver Tambo’s comments on draft biographical sketch of Lutuli in the Karis-Carter Collection File 2:XL25:96/4 Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za 20 Voices of Liberation could not attend A recording of his message to the congress, made... thousands of delegates to the congress.43 Lutuli was one of three to be given the title ‘Isitwalandwe’ (the wearer of the feather of the rare legendary bird Indwe, traditionally conferred on only the greatest of warriors) The other two who received this honour were Trevor Huddleston, an Anglican priest, and Dr Dadoo, an Indian medical doctor and communist The most important achievement of the Congress of. .. gathering The nobility of his demeanour in face of the shocking assault by the white hooligans deeply affected many people of all races” New York Times, ‘Critics curbed in South Africa’, 28 May 1959 Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za 22 Voices of Liberation were also imprisoned On his release, Lutuli reported that he had been assaulted while in prison On the expiration of this ban in May 1964,... past the impression was created of the moderate black man whose co-operation could have been obtained so easily if only the Government would treat him differently.58 This intolerance of criticism of any kind, and the rejection as anarchical of Lutuli’s demand for universal suffrage was echoed in the views of Eric Louw, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Speaking at a meeting of the Pretoria Rapportryers... The Death of Africa 1960 New York MacMillan - extract in which he mentions the role of Lutuli in this period in Karis-Carter Collection 2:XL25:92/3 New York Times, 31 March 1960 Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za 28 Voices of Liberation potentially inflammatory situation”.66 The government refused him permission to go to Glasgow to be installed Two years later, the Society of the Family of Man in . www.hsrc
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Albert Lutuli
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ambiguities of the Kolwe in 1906, the year of the Babata rebellion in Natal.
J
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Voices of Liberation 4
ment’s point of
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