Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Voices of Liberation Albert Lutuli Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Voices of Liberation Albert Lutuli Volume 1 Gerald J Pillay Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za © 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 Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za 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. Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za 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. Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za 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) Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za 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 Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za 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 p ress.ac.za Voices of Liberation Albert Lutuli Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Voices of Liberation. ambiguities of the Kolwe in 1906, the year of the Babata rebellion in Natal. J Free download from www.hsrc p ress.ac.za Voices of Liberation 4 ment’s point of