1930
Pan-African Chronology
Pan-African Chronology
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*Victor Banjo, a star crossed Lieutenant Colonel in the Nigerian Army who was executed for staging a coup against Biafran President Odumegwu Ojukwu, was born in Nigeria.
Lieutenant Colonel Victor Adebukunola Banjo was the first Nigerian Director of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps of the Nigerian Army. He joined the Army in 1953 as Warrant Officer 52 and he was the sixteenth Nigerian to be commissioned as an officer. A product of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, he also obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. His travails began after the January 15, 1966 coup, which brought Major-General Thomas Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to power.
Three days after Aguiyi-Ironsi came to power, Banjo was summoned to the office of the Supreme Military Commander and was arrested while he was still waiting to see the Head of State. He was accused of planning to kill the Head of State and was detained. It is suspected by the government that Banjo had a hand in the 1966 coup. The coup had inflamed tribal passions and divided the military.
Banjo was detained in various prisons between January 1966 and May 1967. Northern Army leaders successfully carried out a counter-coup against Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo. Along with Ironsi many Yorubas were killed. Banjo, a Yoruba, attempted to defend a Yoruba officer but was arrested and imprisoned by Olusegun Obasanjo. Banjo proclaimed his innocence but he was refused a trial.
When Biafra was proclaimed on May 30, 1967, Banjo was released from an Eastern Nigerian prison by President Odumegwu Ojukwu and made Colonel. When the Nigerian Army invaded Biafra on July 6, 1967, Ojukwu sent Banjo and Major Albert Okonkwo to invade Nigeria. Banjo was able to capture Benin City in less than a day and was able to get within 300 kilometers of then-capital Lagos. After Banjo was repulsed at the Battle of Ore, he and other officers (Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Phillip Alale, and Sam Agbam) were accused of plotting a coup against Ojukwu. After a hurried trial, the accused officers were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. They were executed by firing squad on September 22, 1967.
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The Nigerian Civil War (also known as the Biafran War and the Nigerian-Biafran War) was a civil war in Nigeria fought between the government of Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra from July 6, 1967 to 15 January 15, 1970. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government. The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded Britain's formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included ethno-religious riots in Northern Nigeria, a military coup, a counter-coup and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Control over the lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta played a vital strategic role.
Within a year, the Federal Government troops surrounded Biafra, capturing coastal oil facilities and the city of Port Harcourt. The blockade imposed during the ensuing stalemate led to mass starvation. During the two and half years of the war, there were about 100,000 overall military casualties, while between 500,000 and 2 million Biafran civilians died of starvation.
In mid-1968, images of malnourished and starving Biafran children saturated the mass media of Western countries. The plight of the starving Biafrans became a cause celebre in foreign countries, enabling a significant rise in the funding and prominence of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the main supporters of the Nigerian government, while France, Israel, and some other countries supported Biafra.
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The Battle of Ore was the key battle in the Midwest Invasion of 1967. The Midwest Invasion of 1967 (August 9 – September 20, 1967) codenamed Operation Torch. was a military operation between Nigerian and Biafran military forces during the Nigerian Civil War. The invasion began on August 9 when 3,000 Biafran soldiers led by Colonel Victor Banjo crossed the River Niger Bridge into Asaba. Upon reaching Agbor, the Biafrans split up. With the 12th Battalion moving west capturing the cities of Benin and Ore. The 18th Battalion swung south, taking Warri, Sapele and Ughelli. While the 13th Battalion headed north for Auchi, Agenebode and Okene. Simultaneously, a plot to capture Mid-Western Governor David Ejoor Mid-Western Governor at his home in Benin failed. Nevertheless, the Biafrans, meeting virtually no resistance, had seized the entire Mid-Western Region in less than 12 hours.
Plans were drawn for the 12th Battalion to continue its advance towards Lagos and Ibadan. However, it was devastatingly delayed due to arguments between Nigerian President Odumegwu Ojukwu and Victor Banjo on whom to appoint as governor of the Mid-West. Giving enough time for Nigeria's Head of State Yakubu Gowon to assemble a defensive line in the west. Also, during the occupation there was widespread hostility between native Urhobo-Isoko, Ijoid and Itsekiri people against the occupying Igbo soldiers. Igbo and native militia groups launched hit and run and reprisal raids against each other. In a last ditch attempt to ease this inter-tribal tension, Ojukwu proclaimed the Republic of Benin under governor Albert Okonkwo on September 19, 1967, only for Nigerian troops to enter Benin the next day on the 20th, ending the new republic's 24 hour span.
The Biafran situation rapidly deteriorated following a Nigerian attack by Murtala Muhammad's 2nd Division at Ore, forcing the Biafrans to immediately retreat. In a large pincer movement, another Nigerian force headed south from Auchi towards Benin, as Benjamin Adekunle's 3rd Marine Commando division landed at Warri and promptly took Ughelli and Sapele. Benin was liberated in a three pronged attack from North, West and South which met little resistance. Biafran troops that were able to retreat fled across the Niger River Bridge into Biafra, destroying it afterwards. Those that were cut off abandoned their weaponry and uniforms and blended into the civilian population until it was safe to return east.
The Biafran retreat from Ore is considered the turning point of the Nigerian Civil War. However, it did not end the hostilities. For two more years, the war lingered on with a blockade of Biafra resulting in the deaths of millions due to starvation.
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*Zewditu, the Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930, died in Addis Ababa in the Ethiopian Empire.
Zewditu had two further marriages, both brief, before marrying Ras Gugsa Welle. Ras Gugsa Welle was the nephew of Empress Taytu, Zewditu's stepmother. Zewditu had already been on good terms with Taytu, but the establishment of a direct tie between the two helped cement the relationship. Unlike her prior marriages, Zewditu's marriage to Gugsa Welle is thought to have been happy.
Upon the death of Emperor Yohannes IV at the Battle of Metemma against the Mahdists of the Sudan, Negus Menelik of Shewa assumed power and became Emperor of Ethiopia in 1889. This restored the direct male line succession of the dynasty, as Emperor Yohannes' claim to the throne was through a female link to the line. As the daughter of Menelik II, Zewditu would be the last monarch in direct agnatic (male line) descent from the Solomonic dynasty. Her successor Haile Selassie was also linked but from the female line.
In 1913, Menelik died, and Lij Iyasu, the son of Zewditu's half-sister Shewa Regga, who had been publicly declared heir apparent in 1909, took the throne. Iyasu considered Zewditu a potential threat to his rule, and exiled her and her husband to the countryside.
Due to fears of instability that might be caused, the cabinet of ministers decided not to publicly proclaim the death of Menelik II. As a result, Iyasu was never officially proclaimed as Emperor Iyasu V. However, both Menelik's death and Iyasu's de facto accession were widely known and accepted. The Church authorities, the Lord Regent Ras Tessema, and the ministers agreed that Iyasu's coronation should be postponed until he was a bit older and had taken Holy Communion with his wife making his marriage insoluble in the eyes of the Orthodox Church. However Iyasu quickly encountered problems with his rule and he was never crowned. He was widely disliked by the nobility for his unstable behavior, and the church held him in suspicion for his alleged Muslim sympathies. After a troubled few years, Iyasu was removed from power. Zewditu was summoned to the capital, and on September 27, 1916, the Council of State and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church officially announced the death of Emperor Menelik II and deposed Iyasu in favor of Zewditu. Zewditu's official title was "Queen of Kings" (Negiste Negest), a modification of the traditional title "King of Kings" (Negusa Nagast).
While the conservative Ethiopian aristocracy was generally supportive of Zewditu, it was less enthusiastic about many of her relatives. Zewditu's stepmother and the aunt of her husband, Dowager Empress Taytu Betul, had withdrawn from the capital after Menelik's death, but was still distrusted somewhat due to the evident favoritism she had practiced during the reign of her late husband. In an attempt to limit her influence, the aristocracy arranged for her nephew (Zewditu's husband Ras Gugsa Welle) to be appointed to a remote governorship, removing him from court. This move, while intended as a strike against Taytu rather than against Zewditu, is believed to have upset Zewditu considerably. Zewditu also suffered guilt for taking the throne from Lij Iyasu, who her father had wanted to succeed him – while she believed that Iyasu's overthrow was necessary, she had admired her father greatly, and was unhappy at having to disobey his wishes. Her separation from her husband and her guilt about Iyasu's overthrow combined to make Zewditu not particularly happy as Empress. Increasingly, the Empress retreated from state responsibility into a world of fasting and prayer, as the progressive elements that surrounded the heir, Tafari Makonnen gained in strength and influence at court.
The early period of Zewditu's reign was marked by a war against Lij Iyasu, who had escaped captivity. Backed by his father, Negus Mikael of Wollo, a powerful northern leader, Iyasu attempted to regain the throne. The two failed to effectively coordinate their efforts however, and after some initial victories Iyasu's father was defeated and captured at the Battle of Segale. The Negus was paraded through the streets of Addis Ababa in chains, carrying a rock of repentance on his shoulders, before entering the throne room and kissing the Empress's shoes to beg for her mercy. The heir to the throne, Ras Tafari Makonnen was not present at this spectacle out of consideration for the feelings of his wife, who was the granddaughter of Negus Mikael.
Upon hearing of his father's defeat and humiliation, Iyasu himself fled to Afar. After years on the run, Iyasu was later captured by Dejazmach Gugsa Araya Selassie, the son who Zewditu's first husband had fathered by another woman. Gugsa Araya was rewarded with the title of Ras from his former stepmother, and Princess Yeshashework Yilma, the niece of Tafari Makonnen, as his bride. When Iyasu was captured, a tearful Empress Zewditu pleaded that he be kept in a special house on the grounds of the palace where she would see to his care and he could receive religious counsel. She found Ras Tafari and Fitawrari Hapte Giorgis to be unbendingly opposed, and so gave up. She did however make sure that special favorite foods and a constant supply of clothing and small luxuries reached Iyasu at his place of arrest in Sellale.
As Empress Zewditu's reign progressed, the difference in outlook gradually widened between her and her appointed heir, Ras Tafari Makonnen. Tafari was a modernizer, believing that Ethiopia needed to open itself to the world in order to survive. In this, he had the backing of many younger nobles. Zewditu, however, was a conservative, believing in the preservation of Ethiopian tradition. She had the strong backing of the church in this belief. Slowly, however, Zewditu began to withdraw from active politics, leaving more and more power to Tafari. Under Tafari's direction, Ethiopia entered the League of Nations, and abolished slavery. Zewditu busied herself with religious activities, such as the construction of a number of significant churches.
In 1928, there was a small conservative uprising against Tafari's reforms, but it was unsuccessful. Empress Zewditu was compelled to grant Tafari, who now controlled most of the Ethiopian government, the title of King (Negus). While Negus Tafari remained under the nominal rule of Zewditu (who was still Negeste Negest, Queen of Kings or Empress), Tafari was now effectively the ruler of Ethiopia. A number of attempts were made to displace him, but they were all unsuccessful. In 1930, Zewditu's husband Ras Gugsa Welle led a rebellion against Negus Tafari in Begemder, hoping to end the regency in spite of his wife's repeated pleas and orders to desist, but was defeated and killed in battle by the modernized Ethiopian army at the Battle of Anchem on March 31, 1930.
On April 2, 1930, two days after Ras Gugsa Welle was killed in battle, Empress Zewditu died. It is known today that Zewditu suffered from diabetes, and was seriously ill with typhoid, but it is not universally agreed that this was the cause of her death. According to some popular histories, Zewditu died of shock and grief at hearing of her husband's death, but other accounts contradict this, claiming that Zewditu was not informed of the battle's outcome before her sudden death. Some diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa reported at the time that the fever stricken Empress was immersed in a large container of frigidly cold holy water to cure her of her illness, but that her body went into shock and she died shortly thereafter. The timing of her death immediately after news of the outcome of the battle reached Addis Ababa has caused considerable speculation as to her cause of death. Some, particularly conservative critics of her successor, Emperor Haile Selassie, allege that once the rebellion had been decisively defeated, he or his supporters felt safe in poisoning Zewditu. Accordingly, speculation as to the cause of Zewditu's death continues today.
Empress Zewditu was succeeded on the throne by Negus Tafari, who took the name of Emperor Haile Selassie.
April 7
*Pythias Russ, a Negro League Baseball star, died in Cynthiana, Kentucky.
April 13
*Neval Thomas, a civil rights activist and the president of the Washington, D. C. branch of the NAACP from 1925 to 1930, died in Washington, D. C.
April 30
In January 1912, Pixley Seme, Alfred Mangena, Richard Msimang and George Montsio called for a convention of Africans to form the South African Native National Congress (SANNC). This organization was renamed the African National Congress (ANC) in 1923, in Bloemfontein. One hundred delegates attended its inaugural meeting, where Seme was the keynote speaker, and Josiah Gumede one of the founding members. At Seme's suggestion, the new organization was patterned after the United States Congress. Reverend John Langalibalele Dube was elected as its first president (in absentia), and Seme became the Treasurer-General. Years later, in July 1927, Josiah Gumede was elected as president-general of the ANC during its annual congress, despite ANC criticism of the pro-communist tendencies that often surfaced in Gumede's public rhetoric at that stage. Gumede's three-year term as president-general of the ANC was characterized by dispute and dissension. However, it did introduce new strains of radical thought into the ANC, and a more militant stance.
Nevertheless, Gumede's tenure as ANC president general was an unhappy chapter in the history of the organization, and activities virtually came to a halt. Moreover, antipathy towards Gumede's fraternity with communism, and his neglect in circulating information increased sharply. This came to a head when the anti-communist faction of the national executive committee of the ANC took a majority decision to resign en bloc, and Thomas Mtobi Mapikela took over as acting president-general. At the annual ANC conference on April 30, 1930, Pixley Seme succeeded Gumede as president general, by a vote of 39 to 14. This ended Gumede's role as a prominent figure in South African politics. However, in recognition of his earlier services to the ANC, in 1946, Gumede was appointed as lifelong honorary president of the organization.
As for Pixley ka Seme, his attempts to transform the ANC into an organization of economic self-help proved fruitless, as did his attempt to revive the defunct House of Chiefs in the ANC. Both his enemies and supporters accused him of 'culpable inertia' in 1932, and criticized his autocratic and cautious leadership style. Reverend Zaccheus Richard Mahabane replaced him as President-General in 1937.
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Josiah Tshangana Gumede, also J.T. Gumede, (b. October 9, 1867, Healdtown Village, Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape - d. November 6, 1946) was a South African politician and the father of Archibald "Archie" Gumede, another noted anti-apartheid activist.
Josiah Tshangana Gumede was born on October 9, 1867 in Healdtown Village, Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape. His father, John Gumede, and his mother were Christians and, according to their grandson Archie Gumede, were only the third Ngwane couple to be married into the Christian (Wesleyan) faith. There is very little known information about Josiah’s mother and his early childhood. Josiah had a younger brother, William, and three or more sisters, two of them named Mina and Joyce. It seems they were all given Christian first names, while Josiah was given his father’s middle-name, Tshangana, in honor of their Zulu ancestry. Josiah Gumede’s ancestry can be traced back to Chief Khondlo.
Khondlo’s son Phakathwayo succeeded him, followed by Vezi, Makhunga and John Tshangana, Josiah’s father. Since not much is known of Josiah’s childhood years, he probably started his elementary schooling at the Healdtown Wesleyan Mission station at Fort Beaufort, where he was exposed to the British education system. The Wesleyan missionaries were leading the way in fighting for gender equality, with policies in place to educate and liberate African females. One of Josiah’s fellow-pupils was Charlotte Makanya, who later became the President of the African National Congress (ANC) Womens Congress. Both Josiah and Charlotte came from Fort Beaufort and rose to greater heights as leaders in the ANC and in the politics that shaped South Africa. Josiah became the fourth president of the ANC in 1927.
On completion of his schooling, Gumede went on to attend what was called the ‘Kaffir Institute’ in Grahamstown, in either 1882 or 1883. During this time, Josiah’s parents and sisters had moved to Queenstown. Run by the Anglican Church, the institute was a sister school to the white Saint Andrew’s College. Josiah wanted to qualify as a teacher, and gaining admission to the institution was not easy, Candidates had to be baptized, literate (in English as well as their native language), and older than 13 years of age. The institution attracted intellectually-inclined Black youth, many of whom later became prominent ANC members, among them Thomas Mapikela and Samuel Masabalala. The curriculum at the institution was dominated by religious education, although industrial training – such as carpentry, wagon-making, blacksmithing, tailoring, shoemaking and printing – also featured prominently. Gumede’s intellectual development grew at the institute, as did his political consciousness.
Gumede began teaching at Somerset East in the Eastern Cape, where African interest in formal education was growing. He soon took up a new teaching post in Natal while his parents remained at Queenstown, and his interests turned to politics in Zululand. Together with another Wesleyan convert, Martin Luthuli, whom Gumede befriended, the pair acted as indunas (advisors) for the young Zulu King, Dinizulu.
At this time, Zululand was undergoing a period of historical transition. Following the death of Cetshwayo in 1883, the British High Commissioner in South Africa, Garnet Wolseley, divided Zululand into 13 independent chieftainships, each ruled by chiefs he appointed. Wolseley’s chiefs were perceived by many to have little legitimacy, causing tremendous turmoil. A period of civil wars proved disastrous for the political status of the Zulu royal family and the idea of Zulu national unity. Supporters of the Zulu royal house, the Usuthu, were dealt their heaviest blow by the appointment of two disaffected chiefs of royal lineage, Hamu and Zibhebhu, to rule as chiefs over Zululand’s northern regions. Hamu defected with his followers to the British side during the Anglo-Zulu war. His district included the personal homestead of the Buthelezi leader Mnyamana, who had been Cetshwayo’s principal adviser.To the east of Hamu, Zibhebhu was awarded a district that included the core of the Usuthu, including Cetshwayo’s son Dinizulu. In May 1884 Dinizulu, with the help of the Transvaal Boers, drove Zibhebhu out of his district.
Having assisted Dinizulu in defeating Zibhebhu in June 1884, the Boers claimed nearly 3 million acres of land in the upper belt of Zululand, stretching to the natural harbor of Saint Lucia Bay. This was an exorbitant demand on Dinizulu’s land resources. More than 800 Boers were demanding compensation where only about 100 had assisted in the actual fight. Gumede with other Usuthu leaders protested the Boers’ demarcation of their so-called ‘New Republic’. The Usuthu leaders appealed to the British for support but this fell on deaf ears. Dinizulu tried desperately not to lose his head kraal of Ondini (today Ulundi) to the Boers and appointed Gumede to take charge of the tough negotiations with the Boers.
Eventually the British intervened and annexed the territory when they realized that the Boers would have access to Saint Lucia and a harbor. This resulted in Gumede’s services as Dinizulu’s induna coming to a close. However, Dinizulu and Gumede’s friendship would last until the former’s death in 1913. Gumede’s involvement in Zululand politics undoubtedly refined his political philosophy. His entry into Zululand politics at times endangered Gumede’s life as he gained firsthand experience of the reality of the Whites’ coercion and dispossession of the Zulu’s land. He experienced the frustrations and difficulties which confronted the Zulu royal house after the Boer occupation of nearly five-sixths of the Zulu territory. The experience instilled a sense of bitterness towards the Boers, but he also realized how little the British cared about the disintegration of the Zulu polity. Indeed, Britain’s unwillingness to intervene on behalf of the Zulus confirmed their determination to bring an end to the Zulu monarchy. Consequently, Gumede never approved of the British annexation of Zululand, claiming that it had opened up the territory to further White settlement. History has shown that Gumede’s fears were well-founded. The 1890s saw a marked increase in the pressure to open Zululand to White settlement, despite the continued protests and resistance of Zulu spokespersons such as Harriette Colenso and Josiah Gumede.
On his return to the Bergville/Klip River Division, Josiah Gumede was warmly received by his chief Ncwadi of the Ngwane. Towards the end of the 1880s, Gumede accepted a temporary teaching post at the Amanzimtoti Institute (Adams College). At the time of Gumede’s appointment, the college had built up a good reputation with three teachers of high calibre: John Dube, Albert Luthuli and Mayuma Nembula. An event of significance for Gumede was the visit to Natal of the Black American singing group the Virginia Jubilee Singers in 1890. The group also visited Adams College. Inspired by Orpheus M. McAdoo’s Virginia Jubilee Singers, Josiah Gumede, together with Saul Msane and a group of 12 singers, formed the ‘Zulu Choir’. His involvement in the choir ended Gumede’s teaching career at Adams College. The Zulu Choir became very successful locally, and they embarked on a tour of England. But this did not last as the choir split up after some disappointments. Gumede then returned to South Africa, settling in Rookdale with little, if any, finances.
On June 30, 1894, Gumede married Margareth Rachel Sithole, a teacher by profession and a devoted Wesleyan who also came from the Bergville district. In 1895, Gumede was employed by his chief Ncwadi as an induna -- an advisor. During this period the chief’s authority over his community was constantly being challenged by David Giles, a European magistrate. Gumede, convinced that Giles’s acts constituted a violation of the Shepstonian principles of African Administration, supported his chief. This led to a bitter struggle between Gumede and Giles. Ncwadi chose Gumede as his official spokesperson because of his formal schooling and teaching credentials and his involvement in Zulu politics. This battle revealed his leadership skills and provided Gumede with a lesson in political and legal strategy which he would use again in the future. Some reports indicate that Gumede also spent a short period working for the gold mines on the Rand, and the Gumede family’s financial prospects appeared to improve. In 1898 and 1899, the first two of Josiah and Margareth’s five daughters, Edith Beatrice and Tabita Sarah, were born.
In 1900, Gumede joined the British military to fight in the war against the Boers. Gumede was one of the first Blacks to be recruited and trained by the Natal Intelligence Department even before the war started in October 1899. He was appointed Headmen over a group of Basotho scouts. Gumede’s hopes that the British victory in the Anglo-Boer war would result in the removal of the oppressive features of White rule in Natal, in particular the Pass Laws, was short-lived as the British failed to deliver on promises they made. At this point, Gumede, like many other missionary-educated Africans, began looking for outlets to voice objections against the oppressive new laws. This search for outlets against white oppression resulted in the establishment of many European-style organizations.
In 1888, Gumede had aligned himself to the Funamalungelo (demand civil rights) Society headed by John Khumalo, but the organization failed to develop into a strong political movement. Gumede, Martin Luthuli and other Black leaders in Natal then realized that there was an urgent need for a more effective organisation. With the assistance of Harriette Colenso, the Natal Native Congress (NNC) was officially inaugurated on June 8, 1900. With John Dube and others, Gumede was a founder member of the NNC, and for some time he served as its secretary and vice-president. The main aims of the Congress were to cultivate political awareness amongst Blacks by educating them about their rights under the prevailing system of government and laws, and most importantly, to act as a forum for airing grievances.
In 1905, Gumede took up a position as a land agent with the firm of Thackeray Allison and Albert Hime solicitors, a position he held for the next 14 years. During this time, Gumede assisted in the investigation of the land claims of two Sotho tribes, namely the Bakhulukwe and Batlokoa in the new Orange River Colony. Gumede played a significant role in their legal struggle and the drawing up of their petitions to the British government in London to regain land taken away from them before the war. Gumede supported Chiefs Lesisa, Moloi, and Lequila, and accompanied them on their deputation to England to petition the British government to support their land claim. Unfortunately, this deputation was not successful. To add to the insult, Gumede was arrested on his return home in May 1907, charged with wrongfully and unlawfully leaving the Colony of Natal without the pass or permit prescribed by one of the laws of the Colony of Natal. Gumede was found guilty and fined 10 pounds for this ‘crime’.
It was particularly apparent that Gumede saw the need to maintain Zulu culture and traditions by supporting the chiefs while at the same time understanding the political and social needs of the emerging kholwa -- the emerging beliefs. Many chiefs regarded Gumede as their spokesman and had a high regard for his intellectual abilities. Gumede moved with ease between these two very different worlds. In 1907, Gumede involved himself in Iliso Lesizwe Esimnyama, an organization formed by Wesleyan Methodist converts and chiefs from the Dundee and Newcastle areas in Natal. He served as secretary for the organization during 1908. The aim of Iliso Lesizwe Esimnyama was to unite the Black people of Natal-Zululand and to advance their prosperity. The 1909 publication of the draft constitution for what would become the Union of South Africa signaled to Gumede that Africans' interests were being ignored. Although the revised draft of the South Africa Act received the overwhelming approval of Whites, nearly all politically conscious Africans denounced it. Despite all the odds, Gumede was still determined to continue to press the issue that Africans' aspirations be addressed.
Throughout 1909 and 1910, the plight of the two Sotho tribes took up most of Gumede’s time. Unfortunately, following the failure of the African deputation to England in 1909, Iliso had ceased to meet on a regular basis and the organization soon faded out of existence. In 1910, Gumede rejoined the Pietermartizburg branch of the NNC. Disappointingly, there was no working relationship between the Pietermaritzburg and Durban branches due to personal differences between Gumede and Dube, who was part of the Durban NNC branch. The two only unified when the South African Native National Congress -- the SANNC --, the precursor of the African National Congress -- the ANC -- was formed in 1912. Dube sought closer co-operation between the branches, realizing the need for unity. In 1912, Gumede became a founding member of the SANNC (renamed the ANC in 1923) and contributed to the drafting of its 1919 constitution. He was also a member of the 1919 SANNC deputation to the Versailles Peace Conference – which was held after World War I (1914-1918) – and to the British government. The deputation, however, failed to ensure a better dispensation for South African blacks.
Gumede was appointed to the newly-elected executive council of the SANNC and joined a deputation elected to present their grievances to the Inspector of African Schools in Pietermaritzburg. The delegation met with the Inspector on April 15, 1913. The delegates were against regulations placed on Black school students and teachers in Natal which came into effect on April 1, 1913. These regulations placed new restrictions on the age limits of African pupils in the lower classes as well as on the employment of African teachers in the higher classes. Yet again the deputation was unable to persuade the inspector to amend the revised regulations.
Another pressing issue concerned land rights under the Natives Land Act of 1913. The Natives Land Act, 1913 (subsequently renamed Bantu Land Act, 1913 and Black Land Act, 1913; Act No. 27 of 1913) was an Act of the Parliament of South Africa that was aimed at regulating the acquisition of land. The Natives Land Act of 1913 was the first major piece of segregation legislation passed by the Union Parliament. It was replaced in 1991.
The Natives Land Act decreed that whites were not allowed to buy land from natives and vice versa. The Act was intended to stop white farmers from buying more native land. Exceptions had to be approved by the Governor-General. The native areas left initially totaled less than ten percent (10%) of the entire land mass of the Union, which was later expanded to thirteen percent (13%). The Act further prohibited the practice of serfdom or sharecropping. It also protected existing agreements or arrangement of land hired or leased by both parties. This land was in "native reserve" areas, which meant it was under "communal" tenure vested in African chiefs: it could not be bought, sold or used as surety. Outside such areas, perhaps of even greater significance for black farming was that the Act forbade black tenant farming on white-owned land. Since so many black farmers were sharecroppers or labor tenants that had a devastating effect, but its full implementation was not immediate. The Act strengthened the chiefs, who were part of the state administration, but it forced many blacks in the "white" areas into wage labor.
Even though the Native Land Act of 1913 signaled the end of any equality for Blacks in the union, Gumede remained optimistic that all was not lost. He believed the Act would strengthen the cause of the two Sotho chiefs to regain their land. Thus, when the call came for a deputation to be sent to England to protest the Bill and appeal for help against it, Gumede strongly opposed the move, believing that it would antagonize the new Parliament and alienate support from the missionaries and more liberal whites. Not surprisingly, the deputation was a failure. Gumede also failed in his attempts to secure the land of the Sotho tribes, deepening his antagonism towards the unsympathetic Union government on the issue of Black land claims.
The Native Administrative Bill of 1917 further deepened black antagonism towards the Union government. Taking a strong stand against it, Gumede understood that the Bill would enhance the powers of the Native Affairs Department. The victory of the allied forces during World War I brought about renewed hopes in the SANNC that an appeal to the British government would bring about the removal of the color bar franchise. Gumede supported a proposed deputation to England to petition the Governor General to take their grievances directly to the king. Gumede’s change of heart regarding this deputation – compared to the 1914 deputation – came because he was convinced there was no way of securing any sympathy from the Union government for the plight of Black people. Before his departure, Gumede was summoned to testify in the trial of David Jones and H Greene, Bolsheviks charged with inciting the public by distributing a pamphlet in favor of Bolshevism. During his testimony, it was clear that Gumede held strong anti-communist sentiments.
Gumede’s visit to England together with Sol Plaatje was full of disappointments. The Colonial office in London received Gumede and Plaatje with much antagonism. Gumede addressed several audiences in England, including many of London’s Black organizations, in order to solicit support for the cause. Gumede and Plaatje presented their grievances to members of the House of Commons in July 1919 in the hope that they would be addressed at their next meeting
The pair also addressed various other organizations sympathetic to their cause. One such organization was the League of Universal Brotherhood led by Charles Garnett. Much of this lobbying turned out to be in vain as the colonial office was sticking to its policy of non-interference in colonial affairs. Gumede went further by addressing a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury for a meeting to address their grievances. This meeting also turned out to be disappointing as no concrete support was forthcoming. During this visit, Gumede was extremely disappointed to be present at a meeting of The International Brotherhood Congress, held from September 13 to September 17, 1919, where Lloyd George praised the "noble character" of the recently deceased Louis Botha, the first Prime Minister (1910-1919) of the Union of South Africa. These views were in direct contrast to those held by the SANNC delegates. Throughout his stay in England, Gumede tried to influence public opinion by means of meetings and newspaper coverage. Gumede also kept his constituency in Natal informed of all the deliberations abroad.
Towards the end of November 1919, Gumede and Plaatje were finally able to secure a meeting with Prime Minister Lloyd George. An extensive account of African disabilities in South Africa was presented to him but the Prime Minister only promised to communicate with General Smuts to ascertain what could be done to address the grievances of the Black population of South Africa. George was still very reluctant to interfere in the affairs of the colony. Gumede made another appeal to the Prime Minister by way of a manifesto asking for the franchise for the Black people and for the reinstatement of land to the tribes and chiefs who had lost land to the Boers. But still nothing came of his appeals. Ironically, Gumede and Plaatje managed to secure the allegiance of two socialist organizations, the Independent Labour Party and the Union of Democratic Control. The pair traveled throughout Scotland trying to rally support and even though most of their meetings were held under the auspices of the two socialist organizations, Gumede remained loyal to the ideas of liberalism.
The year 1920 went by with Gumede still in England, addressing meetings and seeking support for the cause of the SANNC. Gumede felt that returning home would be to accept the failure of his mission. In January 1921, Gumede had the opportunity to meet with Herbert Bankole Bright (of Sierra Leone) and other delegates from the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA). The aim of this delegation was to secure a greater share in constitutional government and administration for the African people in the British West African Colonies. Gumede realized that this delegation had a lot in common with the South African cause.
Later in 1921, Gumede and Plaatje returned to South Africa disillusioned over the lack of official British intervention in South Africa. Throughout the 1920s members of the Natal Natives' Congress -- the NNC -- found themselves in conflict with each other. Dube and Gumede disagreed over the former’s attempts to keep the congress as independent as possible from the national ANC. Instead Gumede founded the Natal African Congress, which officially affiliated with the ANC. In 1921, Gumede was appointed as full-time general organizer of the SANNC, with the task of touring the country in search of financial support.
Gumede continued to oppose John Dube and his two sympathizers in the NNC, W Ndlovu and William Bhulose. The trio were not re-elected to the executive board at the annual meeting in April 1924. Instead, Gumede was elected as the new president of the NCC. Nevertheless, he was excluded from the annual Native Conference in Pretoria on October 27, 1924. Instead, Dube was invited to Pretoria by the government. Following the failure of the deputation to the British government in 1919, Africans were forced to concede to the Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923, which further curtailed possession of land by Blacks. From 1924 onward, Gumede openly lamented the increase in segregation measures, and he became more militant as he questioned the Pact government about its racial and class legislation, and its limiting of education and employment opportunities for Blacks.
Gumede, accompanied by James la Guma of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), was chosen to represent the ANC at the first international conference of the League Against Imperialism in Brussels, Belgium. The pair departed from Johannesburg on January 12, 1927. From Brussels, Gumede traveled to the Soviet Union (USSR). Gumede wanted to use this opportunity to address not only the plight of the Africans, but also to gain first-hand knowledge of Communism in Russia. At the Brussels Conference, Gumede met Communists, left-wing Socialists and radical nationalists, enlarging his political perspective.
After the Brussels Conference, Gumede was invited to Berlin, Germany, by the German Communist Party. Upon arrival there on February 17, 1927, Gumede was warmly greeted by some 10,000 German Communists. He attended the World Congress of the “Friends of the Soviet Union” from November 10 to November 12, 1927, in Moscow. The visit coincided with the 10-year celebrations of the Bolshevik revolution. Gumede was becoming more attracted to communism and began to developed a more radical critique of British imperialism. He realized that communism could play a vital role in liberating Africa, and his new ideas helped give birth to the alliance between the ANC and the CPSA. The highlight of his visit was his meeting with Joseph Stalin.
On his return to South Africa on February 17, 1928, Gumede was given a hero’s welcome in Cape Town at a combined ANC-CPSA mass meeting held in Waterkant Street. He affirmed their alliance, as both parties had at the top of their agenda "African liberation".
Referring to the position of the Church in Russia, Gumede repudiated claims common in South Africa to the effect that the Russian people were opposed to all forms of religion. Gumede praised the USSR as a country where racism was negligible, if at all existent. Contrary to his previous anti-Bolshevist stance, he now pronounced that the white communists in South Africa were the only group who fully supported Blacks in their struggle for equal rights.
Gumede began to support an alliance with communists. Gumede’s initial hostility toward communism may have stemmed from his perception that communism threatened Zulu traditions and the status of African property owners, of which he was one. However, his disappointment with Britain eventually disposed him to reach out to other potential allies, including communists. Finally, having once supported legal means of protest, Gumede began to push for mass action. He was ahead of his time in many ways, both because he realized the futility of constitutional protest and because he recognized the need to build a united front in the struggle against South Africa's system of racial segregation.
Around the same time, the CPSA increasingly turned its attention to Gumede – and to the ANC – after the communists were expelled from the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU). Besides his pro-communist inclination, Gumede’s support for African American leader Marcus Garvey – who argued for racial separation and the emigration of African Americans to Africa – was apparent in his speeches. (It was probably under Gumede’s influence that a resolution to request the United States of America release Marcus Garvey – who was imprisoned on charges of fraud – was passed during the July 1927 conference of the ANC.)
The ANC national executive and the Convention of Bantu Chiefs, held under the auspices of the ANC in April 1927, received these pro-communist pronouncements with little enthusiasm. Gumede, however, succeeded in having a proposal which condemned the ties between the CPSA and the ANC withdrawn. Despite ANC criticism of the pro-communist tendencies that often surfaced in Gumede’s public rhetoric at that stage, he was elected as president-general of the ANC during its annual congress in July 1927, succeeding Zaccheus Richard Mahabane.
In 1929, Gumede was elected as chairperson of the South African branch of the League Against Imperialism when it was founded by the CPSA. At the end of that year, when the CPSA launched the League of African Rights, he also became its president. Although it did introduce new strains of radical thought into the ANC, Gumede’s three-year term as president-general of the ANC was characterized by disputes and dissension. It was indisputably an unhappy chapter in the history of the organization. Gumede was accused of being more concerned with communism than the affairs of the Congress and of not improving the already weak financial position of the organization, rendering him an ineffective administrator. Moreover, antipathy towards Gumede’s association with communism and his alleged neglect in circulating information increased sharply. Objections were also made against the ANC’s affiliation to the Communist-backed League Against Imperialism. This shattered Gumede’s dream of creating a closer union between the two parties.
Matters came to a head when the anti-communist faction of the national executive committee of the ANC took a majority decision to resign en bloc and Thomas Mapikela took over as acting president-general. At the annual ANC conference in April 1930, Gumede lost his position as president general and was succeeded by Pixley ka Seme.
The loss of the president general position essentially ended Gumede's role as a prominent figure in South African politics. However, it did not end Gumede’s passion for politics – he continued as editor of the ANC mouthpiece Abantu Batho, through which he circulated Garvey’s political ideas. Gumede also continued to participate in the activities of the Black trade unions, and in May 1930 he was elected as a delegate to the International Conference of Negro Workers, which was to take place in July 1930 in London – but he was refused a passport to travel to England. He continued to advocate defiance of the Pass Laws and addressed several meetings held by the ICU.
In March 1931, Gumede was called to give evidence before the Native Economic Commission on the condition of Africans in the country. His evidence spurred him on to become more involved with African politics in Natal. Gumede returned to Pietermaritzburg in 1932 and attempted to introduce a more militant approach in the NNC. In June 1932, it was decided that all future NNC meetings would be held under the auspices of the Natal African Congress (NAC), thereby aligning itself closer to the ANC. Gumede was appointed chairman and Dube was appointed President. At the next meeting, Gumede was elected president of the NAC. For a short period in 1933, Gumede became involved with the ICU but the relationship soon faded.
Gumede continued his political agitation when Barry Hertzog introduced his notorious African Bills in 1935.
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The Bills proposed by General Barry Hertzog in the 1920s finally got the two-thirds majority required to be passed into law in 1936, when the Development Trust and Land Act (also referred to as the Native Trust and Land Act and Bantu Trust and Land Act) and the Representation of Natives Act were enacted.
The other Hertzog bill, the Representation of Natives Act, essentially stripped African people in the Cape of their voting rights and offered instead a limited form of parliamentary representation, through special White representatives. Under this Act, a Natives Representative Council (NRC), which was a purely advisory body, was also created. The NRC could make recommendations to Parliament or the Provincial Councils “on any legislation regarded as being in the interest of natives”.
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In his letters to Black newspapers, Gumede called upon Black people to reject the Hertzog bills. He attended the All African Convention (AAC) in December 1935, where the call was made to reject the Bills. However, the AAC failed to halt the Bills and during its second congress, members decided to support the Native Representative Council (NRC) in the hope of improving the situation from within. Nevertheless, opposition to the Bills breathed new life into the ANC, and the communist sympathizing Gumede, although nominated for a seat on the NRC, failed to secure a seat.
The failure to secure a seat on the NRC by no means signaled the end of the road for Gumede as he continued to assist chiefs in putting their land claims before the Native Affairs Commission. During 1942, Gumede again tried to secure a nomination to the NRC, but failed. Accepting defeat gracefully, Gumede continued to assist Black workers who were unfairly dismissed from their jobs.
A career highlight for Gumede came in December 1943 when he was honored as Life President of the ANC at the annual meeting of the ANC in Bloemfontein. At this very same meeting, the historic resolution was passed for the formation of the ANC Youth League. Resolutions passed in the October 1946 Congress calling for more militant methods of protest signaled the end to the peaceful and constitutional methods previously embarked upon by the ANC. For Gumede this signaled the long-awaited militant path that he hoped the Congress would follow. Fortunately, he lived to see these resolutions passed just before his death on November 6, 1946.
Throughout his political career, Gumede spoke out against the intolerable policies against Black people. Described as a man who was seldom angered or was harsh in judgment, Gumede accepted criticism as the expression of opinion that people were entitled to express. He also believed in the power of the pen. His passion to serve his people surpassed his need to gain material wealth. Ultimately, the legacy of Josiah Tshangana Gumede's willingness to serve his people will remain an important part of South African history.
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The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was established on April 2, 1944, by Anton Lambede (who became the League’s first President), Nelson Mandela, Ashby Mda, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo. They were joined by, Duma Nokwe, B Masekela, Ida Mtwa, Lillian Ngoyi, James Njongweni, William Nkomo and Dan Tloome.
The aim of the Youth League was to galvanize the youth to step up the fight against segregation within the country. At the time the ANCYL was established, political circumstances in South Africa were tenuous as the ruling United Party was divided about South Africa’s participation in World War II. Four years after the establishment of the Youth League, the United Party’s rule came to an end and the country was subsequently governed by the National Party.
The Youth League’s manifesto was launched at the Bantu Social Centre in Johannesburg in March 1944 ahead of its inaugural meeting. It stated, amongst others, that Africanism should be promoted (i.e., Africans should struggle for development, progress and national liberation so as to occupy their rightful and honorable place among nations of the world); and that the African youth should be united, consolidated, trained and disciplined, because from their ranks, future leaders would be recruited. Their motto was: “Africa’s cause must triumph”.
To strengthen its fight for liberation, the Youth League developed a Programme of Action which involved different methods like boycotts, strikes and other defiance tactics. In 1949, the ANC adopted this program, which represented a radical departure from the ineffective strategies of the past, and a transformation of the organization into a revolutionary mass movement. In the next decade, this change of policy would lead to the Defiance Campaign and the Congress of the People.
During the 1950s, the National Party (NP), which came into power in 1948 introduced harsh and oppressive laws towards blacks. In 1952, adoption of the Youth League’s Programme of Action became apparent in both the organization and execution of the Defiance Campaign. The ANC, the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) embarked on the campaign in an attempt to make the country ungovernable and force the apartheid regime to abandon its oppressive policies. Similar campaigns targeting specific apartheid laws such as the Bantu Education Act and the Group Areas Act were undertaken. Furthermore, in many of these campaigns, the influence of the ANCYL was significant. Although the program initially led to the hardening of Government attitude, in the end the apartheid government had to concede that its policy of racial segregation was unsustainable.
At the Congress of the People held in Kliptown on June 26, 1955, the Freedom Charter, spelling out the people’s vision of the kind of South Africa they desired, was adopted. This document would eventually become the basis of a democratic constitution hailed as one of the most progressive in the world.
Members of the ANCYL continued to be conspicuous and prominent in national campaigns during the 1950s. However, the adoption of the Freedom Charter sowed divisions within the ranks of the ANCYL. A group of “youth leaguers”, led by Robert Sobukwe and Ashley Peter Mda condemned the Freedom Charter as promoting the ideals of the Congress Alliance and ignoring the stated objectives of the Programme of Action. Other members of the ANCYL who had embraced the Freedom Charter continued to dominate the resistance campaign.
In 1947, the ANCYL lost its most inspirational leader. Anton Mziwakhe Lembede passed away at the a very early age of 33, leaving a leadership gap that the organization found difficult to fill. Moreover, after a brief but fervent period of political campaigns such as the Defiance Campaign, the Bantu Education Campaign and the Anti Removal campaign, in respect of the Western Areas of Johannesburg, the ANCYL went into decline. Many of its leaders were implicated in the Treason Trial that lasted from 1956 to 1959/60. In addition, in the interim, the adoption of the Freedom Charter served as the catalyst leading to a formal split in the organization.
The “Africanist” faction in the ANCYL broke away in 1959 to form the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in 1959. Others, like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, remained in the mainstream ANC, assuming important leadership positions in the movement. On March 21, 1960, the PAC called for a nationwide protest march against the Pass Laws. Protest marches were held in various urban centers across South Africa. Protest marches were reported in Orlando, Langa outside Cape Town and Sharpeville near Vereeniging.
Marches in Sharpeville and Langa appear to have been better organized and supported. The march in Sharpeville ended in a massacre, leaving 69 demonstrators dead after being shot, mainly from the back, by security police. Scores were left injured and others arrested. In Cape Town’s Langa township, police baton charged and fired tear gas at protesters, killing three and injuring several others.
Many Youth League leaders like Henry Makgothi, who was the President, were absorbed into the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) or other leadership positions within the organization. Without its leaders, the Youth League lost its momentum. Subsequently, the Youth League became moribund. Several other youth organizations, such as the South African Student Organisation, led by Steve Biko, emerged towards the end of the 1960s, taking the lead in continued resistance to apartheid.
Once in exile, the ANC elders in London asked Thabo Mbeki to launch an organization of South African students and youth in Britain to continue resistance against apartheid. In 1964 Mbeki, Essop Pahad and others convened a meeting in London to establish the South African Students Association (SASA). SASA in London was to take a different path from the African Students Association (ASA) in South Africa as it was going to be a non-racial and non-sectarian movement. At the meeting Mbeki was elected as secretary, a PAC man was elected chairman and a White student was elected vice-chairman. Shortly after they were elected, Mbeki clashed with his superior in Dar-es-Salam, James Hadebe over SASA’s non-racialism. Hadebe instructed Mbeki to disband SASA and set up a new organization. Mbeki declined, suggesting that youth organizations such as SASA can be used by underground ANC structures. In 1965, Mbeki drafted a political document outlining the imperatives of mobilizing already-existing youth and student organizations to fight against apartheid.
The ANC leadership accepted Mbeki’s argument and in 1966 the ANC Youth and Student Section (ANC YSS) was formed with Mbeki as leader in Britain. The ANC YSS had two main objectives: looking after the welfare of the ANC youth and mobilizing youth against apartheid internationally. ANC YSS leaders would later play critical roles in the country’s transition to a democracy. They included Billy Modise, Joe Nhlanhla who would become Mbeki’s first minister of intelligence and who was the chair of the ASA in Moscow, Jackie Selebi and many others.
In Moscow, Sipho Makana was elected as the leader of the ANC YSS by the ANC headquarters in Tanzania. Manto Mali (later Tshabalala-Msimang), who would later become a health minister under Mbeki’s administration, Vera Gule, Petrus Sibande, Sindiso Mfenyane, Thabo Ragape and Max Sisulu, the son to Walter and Albetina Sisulu, were among ANC students who were in Moscow. There was a general feeling that ASA students were different from uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) recruits as they were always isolated, while MK recruits were normally in large groups in camps.
In the 1980s, the mobilization of the youth was led by the Congress of South African Students (COSAS). In 1983, after the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) that became home to hundreds of organizations united against the repressive apartheid regime, COSAS and Azanian Students Organisation (AZASO) formed a progressive youth alliance. Throughout the Eighties, students and youths would actively defy apartheid in the face of imprisonment, torture and murder, earning them the name “Young Lions of the Struggle”, a term coined by Oliver Tambo.
The ANC set up a national committee to unite all youth congresses in a National Youth Organisation. On March 28, 1987, with the country restrained by a national state of emergency imposed by the apartheid government, the South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) was secretly established in Cape Town. Peter Mokaba, a former political prisoner on Robben Island, was appointed as president of SAYCO and Rapu Molekane as general secretary. The organization worked hard to achieve the unbanning of the ANC, and that goal became a reality in February 1990. Subsequently, the unbanning of the ANC prompted the re-establishment of the ANCYL by a Provisional National Youth Committee set up for this purpose. In 1991, the Youth League was re-launched with a view to supporting negotiations during the transition to democracy, with Peter Mokaba as president. Mokaba was in turn succeeded by Lulu Johnson, Malusi Gigaba, Fikile Mbalula and Julius Malema.
After 1994, the League’s aims were redefined as mobilizing the youth behind the ANC vision of the country’s future, and looking after their socio-economic interests. The League has come to be viewed as an influential component within the broader ANC, and providing a training ground for future ANC leaders. This role was recognized by Jacob Zuma who came to power as South Africa's president on the wings of vociferous ANCYL support.
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Zewditu, also spelled Zawditu or Zauditu, (b. April 29, 1876, Werreyimenu, Wollo – d. April 2, 1930, Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Empire) was Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930. The first female head of an internationally recognized state in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the first Empress regnant of the Ethiopian Empire perhaps since the legendary Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, Zewditu's reign was noted for the reforms of her Regent and designated heir Ras Tafari Makonnen (who succeeded her as Emperor Haile Selassie I), about which she was at best ambivalent and often stridently opposed, due to her staunch conservatism and strong religious devotion.
Baptised as Askala Maryam ("Askal of Mary," a type of flower), but using the given name Zewditu, the future Empress was the eldest daughter of the then Negus (or King) Menelik of Shewa, the future emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia. Zewditu is an Amharic word meaning "the Crown", though it sometimes appears erroneously Anglicized as "Judith", with which it is not cognate. Her mother, Weyziro (Lady) Abechi, was a noblewoman of Wollo and a brief companion of Menelek. Her mother had separated from Menelik when Zewditu was very young, and the future empress was raised by her father and his consort Baffana. Negus Menelik later married Taytu Betul, but had no children by this wife. Menelik had three acknowledged children: Zewditu herself, a son Asfaw Wossen who died in infancy, and another daughter Shewa Regga, the mother of Lij Iyasu, Menelik's eventual heir. However, the Emperor remained closest to Zewditu, who also had good relations with her stepmother Empress Taytu, and was part of her father's household for most of her life.
In 1886, the ten-year-old Zewditu was married to Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes, the son and heir of Emperor Yohannes IV. The marriage was political, having been arranged when Menelik agreed to submit to Yohannes' rule. Yohannes and Menelik eventually fell into conflict again, however, with Menelik launching a rebellion against Yohannes' rule. Zewditu's marriage was childless, being very young during her marriage, although her husband had fathered a son by another woman. When Araya Selassie died in 1888, Zewditu left Mekele and returned to her father's court in Shewa. Despite the hostility between Menelik and Yohannes, Zewditu managed throughout the conflict to maintain good relations with both. In a sign of his high regard and affection for his daughter-in-law, Emperor Yohannes IV sent Zewditu back to Shewa with a large gift of valuable cattle, even though, at that point, the relations between him and her father were at a particularly low point.
Zewditu had two further marriages, both brief, before marrying Ras Gugsa Welle. Ras Gugsa Welle was the nephew of Empress Taytu, Zewditu's stepmother. Zewditu had already been on good terms with Taytu, but the establishment of a direct tie between the two helped cement the relationship. Unlike her prior marriages, Zewditu's marriage to Gugsa Welle is thought to have been happy.
Upon the death of Emperor Yohannes IV at the Battle of Metemma against the Mahdists of the Sudan, Negus Menelik of Shewa assumed power and became Emperor of Ethiopia in 1889. This restored the direct male line succession of the dynasty, as Emperor Yohannes' claim to the throne was through a female link to the line. As the daughter of Menelik II, Zewditu would be the last monarch in direct agnatic (male line) descent from the Solomonic dynasty. Her successor Haile Selassie was also linked but from the female line.
In 1913, Menelik died, and Lij Iyasu, the son of Zewditu's half-sister Shewa Regga, who had been publicly declared heir apparent in 1909, took the throne. Iyasu considered Zewditu a potential threat to his rule, and exiled her and her husband to the countryside.
Due to fears of instability that might be caused, the cabinet of ministers decided not to publicly proclaim the death of Menelik II. As a result, Iyasu was never officially proclaimed as Emperor Iyasu V. However, both Menelik's death and Iyasu's de facto accession were widely known and accepted. The Church authorities, the Lord Regent Ras Tessema, and the ministers agreed that Iyasu's coronation should be postponed until he was a bit older and had taken Holy Communion with his wife making his marriage insoluble in the eyes of the Orthodox Church. However Iyasu quickly encountered problems with his rule and he was never crowned. He was widely disliked by the nobility for his unstable behavior, and the church held him in suspicion for his alleged Muslim sympathies. After a troubled few years, Iyasu was removed from power. Zewditu was summoned to the capital, and on September 27, 1916, the Council of State and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church officially announced the death of Emperor Menelik II and deposed Iyasu in favor of Zewditu. Zewditu's official title was "Queen of Kings" (Negiste Negest), a modification of the traditional title "King of Kings" (Negusa Nagast).
Initially, Zewditu was not permitted to exercise power herself. Instead, her cousin Ras Tafari Makonnen was appointed regent, and her father's old loyal general, Fitawrari Hapte Giorgis Dinagde was made commander in chief of the army. Ras Tafari was also made heir apparent to Zewditu – none of Zewditu's children had survived to adulthood. In 1928, after an attempt to remove Ras Tafari Makonnen from power failed, the Empress was compelled to crown her cousin Negus.
While the conservative Ethiopian aristocracy was generally supportive of Zewditu, it was less enthusiastic about many of her relatives. Zewditu's stepmother and the aunt of her husband, Dowager Empress Taytu Betul, had withdrawn from the capital after Menelik's death, but was still distrusted somewhat due to the evident favoritism she had practiced during the reign of her late husband. In an attempt to limit her influence, the aristocracy arranged for her nephew (Zewditu's husband Ras Gugsa Welle) to be appointed to a remote governorship, removing him from court. This move, while intended as a strike against Taytu rather than against Zewditu, is believed to have upset Zewditu considerably. Zewditu also suffered guilt for taking the throne from Lij Iyasu, who her father had wanted to succeed him – while she believed that Iyasu's overthrow was necessary, she had admired her father greatly, and was unhappy at having to disobey his wishes. Her separation from her husband and her guilt about Iyasu's overthrow combined to make Zewditu not particularly happy as Empress. Increasingly, the Empress retreated from state responsibility into a world of fasting and prayer, as the progressive elements that surrounded the heir, Tafari Makonnen gained in strength and influence at court.
The early period of Zewditu's reign was marked by a war against Lij Iyasu, who had escaped captivity. Backed by his father, Negus Mikael of Wollo, a powerful northern leader, Iyasu attempted to regain the throne. The two failed to effectively coordinate their efforts however, and after some initial victories Iyasu's father was defeated and captured at the Battle of Segale. The Negus was paraded through the streets of Addis Ababa in chains, carrying a rock of repentance on his shoulders, before entering the throne room and kissing the Empress's shoes to beg for her mercy. The heir to the throne, Ras Tafari Makonnen was not present at this spectacle out of consideration for the feelings of his wife, who was the granddaughter of Negus Mikael.
Upon hearing of his father's defeat and humiliation, Iyasu himself fled to Afar. After years on the run, Iyasu was later captured by Dejazmach Gugsa Araya Selassie, the son who Zewditu's first husband had fathered by another woman. Gugsa Araya was rewarded with the title of Ras from his former stepmother, and Princess Yeshashework Yilma, the niece of Tafari Makonnen, as his bride. When Iyasu was captured, a tearful Empress Zewditu pleaded that he be kept in a special house on the grounds of the palace where she would see to his care and he could receive religious counsel. She found Ras Tafari and Fitawrari Hapte Giorgis to be unbendingly opposed, and so gave up. She did however make sure that special favorite foods and a constant supply of clothing and small luxuries reached Iyasu at his place of arrest in Sellale.
As Empress Zewditu's reign progressed, the difference in outlook gradually widened between her and her appointed heir, Ras Tafari Makonnen. Tafari was a modernizer, believing that Ethiopia needed to open itself to the world in order to survive. In this, he had the backing of many younger nobles. Zewditu, however, was a conservative, believing in the preservation of Ethiopian tradition. She had the strong backing of the church in this belief. Slowly, however, Zewditu began to withdraw from active politics, leaving more and more power to Tafari. Under Tafari's direction, Ethiopia entered the League of Nations, and abolished slavery. Zewditu busied herself with religious activities, such as the construction of a number of significant churches.
In 1928, there was a small conservative uprising against Tafari's reforms, but it was unsuccessful. Empress Zewditu was compelled to grant Tafari, who now controlled most of the Ethiopian government, the title of King (Negus). While Negus Tafari remained under the nominal rule of Zewditu (who was still Negeste Negest, Queen of Kings or Empress), Tafari was now effectively the ruler of Ethiopia. A number of attempts were made to displace him, but they were all unsuccessful. In 1930, Zewditu's husband Ras Gugsa Welle led a rebellion against Negus Tafari in Begemder, hoping to end the regency in spite of his wife's repeated pleas and orders to desist, but was defeated and killed in battle by the modernized Ethiopian army at the Battle of Anchem on March 31, 1930.
On April 2, 1930, two days after Ras Gugsa Welle was killed in battle, Empress Zewditu died. It is known today that Zewditu suffered from diabetes, and was seriously ill with typhoid, but it is not universally agreed that this was the cause of her death. According to some popular histories, Zewditu died of shock and grief at hearing of her husband's death, but other accounts contradict this, claiming that Zewditu was not informed of the battle's outcome before her sudden death. Some diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa reported at the time that the fever stricken Empress was immersed in a large container of frigidly cold holy water to cure her of her illness, but that her body went into shock and she died shortly thereafter. The timing of her death immediately after news of the outcome of the battle reached Addis Ababa has caused considerable speculation as to her cause of death. Some, particularly conservative critics of her successor, Emperor Haile Selassie, allege that once the rebellion had been decisively defeated, he or his supporters felt safe in poisoning Zewditu. Accordingly, speculation as to the cause of Zewditu's death continues today.
Empress Zewditu was succeeded on the throne by Negus Tafari, who took the name of Emperor Haile Selassie.
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The death of Empress Zewditu and the ascension of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1930 also marked a turning point in the fate of Lij Iyasu.
Lij Iyasu left the capital after little more than a month, and during this time engaged in a raid upon the Afar, who had reportedly massacred 300 of the Karayu Oromo at the village of Sadimalka on the Awash River. Unable to find the responsible parties, he made a punitive raid upon the general population which provoked a general uprising of the Afar. On April 8, after repeated messages from his father to return to the capital, Iyasu finally did arrive at the city and managed to accomplish nothing. On May 8, Iyasu left to meet his father in Dessie.
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(See also Appendix 4: Ethiopian Imperial and Royal Titles.)
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The death of Empress Zewditu and the ascension of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1930 also marked a turning point in the fate of Lij Iyasu.
Lij Iyasu (the Ethiopian version of Joshua) (b. February 4, 1895, Dessie, Wollo – d. November 25, 1935, Ethiopian Empire), was the designated but uncrowned Emperor of Ethiopia (1913–16). His baptismal name was Kifle Yaqob. Ethiopian emperors traditionally chose their regnal name on the day they were crowned, but since he was never crowned, he is usually referred to as Lij Iyasu, "Lij" meaning child, especially one born of royal blood.
Lij Iyasu was born in Wollo during the reign of Menelik II of Ethiopia. His mother, Woizero (Dame) Shoaregga, was the eldest daughter of Menelek. Iyasu's father was Ras Mikael, Governor of Wollo and longstanding friend of Menelik. Mikael had been born Mohammed Ali and was a Muslim until 1875, when he was forced to convert to Christianity.
Late in his life, Emperor Menelik was confronted with the problem of his succession. If he did not explicitly name an heir before he died, the nation he had built would likely dissolve into civil war and be devoured by European colonial powers. He had four possible heirs. According to the traditional rules of succession, the next direct patrilineal descendant was the grandson of Menelik's uncle, Dejazmach (Commander of the Gate) Taye Gulilat. His other three heirs were all in the female line. The first of these was his oldest grandson, Dejazmach Wosan Seged, son of his daughter Shoaregga Menelik by her first marriage to Wedadjo Gobena. The second heir of the female line was his younger grandson Lij Iyasu. Finally, the third heir of the female line was Menelik's elder daughter Woizero Zewditu, who was married to Ras Gugsa Welle, nephew of the Empress Taitu.
Menelik refused to consider Taye Gulilat whom he deeply disliked. Wosan Seged was eliminated from consideration due to dwarfism. In March 1908, at any rate, Wosan Seged was in poor health and dying of tuberculosis. It was clear that the aristocracy would not respect a woman as their leader, so Zewditu was also not seriously considered at this time. On June 11, 1908, after experiencing a stroke while on pilgrimage to Debre Libanos, Menelik informed his ministers that Iyasu would succeed him. However, due to Iyasu's youth, Menelik agreed to the suggestion that he appoint a Regent -- an Enderase -- during the minority of his heir apparent. Until Iyasu came of age, the elder statesman Ras Tessema Nadew ' would be Regent Plenipotentiary -- Balemulu 'Enderase.
In May 1909, shortly before the Emperor made this decision, Lij Iyasu was married to Woizero Romanework Mengesha, the daughter of Ras Mengesha Yohannes, granddaughter of Emperor Yohannes IV, and the niece of Empress. However, that marriage was annulled without having been consummated. Subsequently, in April 1910, Iyasu married Sabla Wangel Hailu, the daughter of Ras Hailu Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam.
Not long after his decision that Lij Iyasu would succeed him, Emperor Menelik succumbed to further strokes. These eventually left him a mere shell of his once-powerful self, and he remained incapacitated until his death in 1913. During his last years, in a bid to retain power, Empress Taitu intrigued against his choice, intending to substitute either her step-daughter Leult Zewditu or her daughter's husband Ras Gugsa Welle (who happened to be Taitu's nephew) for Iyasu. In response to Taitu's intriguing, a number of nobles organized in an ever-closer alliance against her. On October 28, 1909, after a massive stroke, Menelik's choice of Iyasu as his heir was made public with Ras Bitwoedded Tessema Nadew as regent.
The new regent found his authority undermined not only by the still living but paralyzed Emperor Menelik, but also by the Empress. For example, she insisted that questions from the foreign legations in Addis Ababa be directed to her, not to Tessema. Furthermore, Tessema himself suffered from an illness, which left him appearing helpless and apathetic and would take his life within a year. It took a coup d'etat engineered by a group of aristocrats and the head of the Imperial Bodyguard to convince Ras Tesemma and Habte Givorgis to decisively limit the influence of the Empress. Despite these developments, the imperial government continued to falter: administrators were unwilling to make decisions because Tessema himself might be overthrown, and foreign affairs likewise suffered.
With Tessema, Iyasu continued Menelik's program of modernization, including the establishment of the first police force in Addis Ababa. On April 10, 1911, Tessema Nadew died and, when the council met to appoint a successor as Enderase -- as Regent --, Lij Iyasu demanded a role in the process. When asked whom he desired in the position, he is reported to have replied, "Myself!" On May 11, the seal of Iyasu replaced that of his grandfather, although not with the style of Emperor.
In his first year, Lij Iyasu was faced with several serious challenges to his rule. On May 31, 1911, Ras Abate attempted a coup d’état by seizing the arsenal and its modern weapons in the palace, but was eventually convinced to make a public submission in return for being allowed to depart for his estates in the southern provinces. On July 14, an attempt was made to poison Iyasu. That same year Menelik's soldiers sent a delegation demanding back pay and regular supplies, which made clear that the government was on the brink of financial insolvency. Intelligence reached Iyasu's father, Ras Mikael, of another plot, and he arrived on November 14 in Addis Ababa with an army of 8,000 men. This was only the first of many efforts Ras Mikael made to keep his son on the Imperial throne. Mikael became a powerful force behind the scenes.
At this point, Lij Iyasu decided to leave the capital, ostensibly on a military expedition against the Afar, but he simply traveled through eastern Shewa and into Wollo, meeting with the common people. He had promised to return to Addis Ababa in May 1912, but instead visited Debre Libanos, then Addis Alem. before joining Dejazmach Kabbada's expedition into southwest Ethiopia. Here Lij Iyasu took part in a series of slave raids, in which 40,000 people of both sexes were captured, half of whom died en route of smallpox, dysentery, hunger and fatigue. This constant journeying beyond the capital may have been motivated by Lij Iyasu's desire to prove that the government could not function without him and to force the ministers to authorize his immediate coronation.
Once he finally returned to the capital, he came into conflict with the commander of the Imperial Bodyguard, which was eventually settled by the mediation of Abuna Mattewos. The conflict began when Iyasu expressed his wish to the ministers that the incapacitated Emperor be removed from the Imperial Palace so that Iyasu himself could take up residence there. Trying to please the heir, the ministers asked for an audience with Empress Taitu and suggested that she take the Emperor to Ankober as a change of scene that might be beneficial for his health. Taitu had, however, been informed that Iyasu was intent on moving into the Imperial Palace, and defiantly refused to move either herself or her husband from the Palace. Informed of this exchange, the commander of the Imperial Bodyguard swore that he would protect the Emperor in his palace with his life. Angrily, Iyasu ordered the palace complex surrounded by his soldiers and only allowed in enough food for the Emperor himself. With Iyasu's soldiers in a tense standoff with the Imperial guard, the situation deteriorated to the point that gunfire was exchanged, and the bedridden Emperor had to be moved to the cellars as his bedroom windows were shattered in the battle.
Hearing the guns, the Archbishop rushed to the scene and arranged for a ceasefire. Empress Taitu then emerged from the palace to publicly berate Iyasu as an ungrateful child who wanted to kill his grandfather. She angrily declared that neither she nor the Emperor would be going anywhere and returned to her rooms. Iyasu was thwarted, but demanded vengeance against the commander of the Imperial Bodyguard. Although he had wanted him severely punished, he was convinced to accept a sentence of banishment from the capital. Iyasu indulged in a lavish celebration, which led the European diplomats to conclude that Iyasu was purposely neglecting urgent business and impeding the ministers from carrying out their duties.
Hearing the guns, the Archbishop rushed to the scene and arranged for a ceasefire. Empress Taitu then emerged from the palace to publicly berate Iyasu as an ungrateful child who wanted to kill his grandfather. She angrily declared that neither she nor the Emperor would be going anywhere and returned to her rooms. Iyasu was thwarted, but demanded vengeance against the commander of the Imperial Bodyguard. Although he had wanted him severely punished, he was convinced to accept a sentence of banishment from the capital. Iyasu indulged in a lavish celebration, which led the European diplomats to conclude that Iyasu was purposely neglecting urgent business and impeding the ministers from carrying out their duties.
Lij Iyasu left the capital after little more than a month, and during this time engaged in a raid upon the Afar, who had reportedly massacred 300 of the Karayu Oromo at the village of Sadimalka on the Awash River. Unable to find the responsible parties, he made a punitive raid upon the general population which provoked a general uprising of the Afar. On April 8, after repeated messages from his father to return to the capital, Iyasu finally did arrive at the city and managed to accomplish nothing. On May 8, Iyasu left to meet his father in Dessie.
On the night of December 12-13, 1913, the Emperor Menelik II finally died. Iyasu was informed of his grandfather's death, but insisted on continuing a mock battle game known as gugs and did not allow any form of public mourning. The Emperor's body was secretly locked away in a small room adjoining the Se'el Bet Kidane Meheret (Our Lady Covenant of Mercy) Church on the grounds of the Imperial Palace. No public announcement of the Emperor's death was made, and no requiem or any type of mourning ritual was allowed. Empress Taitu was immediately expelled from the Imperial Palace and sent to the old palace on Mount Entoto.
Lij Iyasu's aunt, Zewditu Menelik, was also removed from the palace and banished into internal exile at her estates at Falle. By mid-January, the news had slipped through the official wall of silence. On January 10, 1914, the leading nobles of Ethiopia gathered to discuss their response to his loss and the future of Ethiopia. The arrival of the nobles in Addis Ababa indicated their fidelity to Menelik's heir, Iyasu. Nevertheless, the nobles opposed Iyasu's immediate coronation, but they did approve of his proposal to crown his father "Negus of the North."
Lij Iyasu's aunt, Zewditu Menelik, was also removed from the palace and banished into internal exile at her estates at Falle. By mid-January, the news had slipped through the official wall of silence. On January 10, 1914, the leading nobles of Ethiopia gathered to discuss their response to his loss and the future of Ethiopia. The arrival of the nobles in Addis Ababa indicated their fidelity to Menelik's heir, Iyasu. Nevertheless, the nobles opposed Iyasu's immediate coronation, but they did approve of his proposal to crown his father "Negus of the North."
Lij Iyasu showed a pronounced lack of interest in the day-to-day running of the government, leaving most of the work for the ministers to handle. However, the cabinet of ministers remained largely unchanged from the days of his grandfather, and by now the ministers wielded substantial power and influence. Despite their power, the ministers were constantly subject to insults and disparagement by Lij Iyasu who referred to them as my grandfather's fattened sheep. He constantly spoke of his intention of dismissing "these Shewans", as he called them, and appointing new officials and creating a new aristocracy of his own choosing. His essentially reformist orientation clashed with the conservatism of his grandfather's old ministers.
Iyasu's many capricious acts served only to further alienate the aristocracy. One was his betrothal of his royal-blooded cousin Woizero Sakamyelesh Seyfu to his former driver, Tilahun. Another was the appointment of his Syrian friend and crony Ydlibi to the position of Nagadras (Customs-Master) at the railway depot at Dire Dawa, thus controlling the vast tariff and customs that were collected there. All this, combined with his frequent absences from the capital, created the ideal environment for the ministers, led by Fitawrari Habte Givorgis, the Minister of War, to plot Iyasu's downfall.
In 1914, Iyasu assigned Abdullahi Sadiq to be governor of Ogaden. This decision was vehemently opposed by the British. In February 1915, Iyasu traveled to Harar with Abdullahi Sadiq, who had become his constant companion, and went to the largest mosque of the city for a three-hour service. Throughout his stay in Harar, Iyasu was friendly towards the Muslims, an act which worried the priests of Ethiopia. When Iyasu remained in this Muslim community over Easter, the Ethiopian priests were scandalized.
After the beginning of World War I, the foreign delegations in Addis Ababa had been lobbying for him to join their sides. Many of the Ethiopian nobility and commoners were impressed by the early successes of the Central Powers, and both listened eagerly to German and Turkish propaganda concerning events. Both sides sought Ethiopian support: the Central Powers wanted the Ethiopians to drive the Italians out of Eritrea. Rumors circulated that, in return for Iyasu invading the Sudan with 50,000 soldiers, he would be rewarded with the strategic port of Djibouti. At a minimum, the Allies sought to keep Ethiopia neutral. However, some of the rumors indicated that Iyasu not only supported the Central Powers, but also that he had converted to Islam.
In August 1915, Iyasu went to French Somaliland in disguise, without informing either French diplomats in Addis Ababa or even the colonial government. There he spent two days in mysterious meetings. The Djibouti trip appears to actually have been something of a vacation for Lij Iyasu. He spent much of his time consorting with Muslim notables in the city and consuming large amounts of qat -- a flower plant based stimulant -- as well as completely depleting the funds of the Ethiopian mission in the French colony.
Around the same time, the British reported that documents preaching jihad -- holy war -- against the Europeans had been posted in the Harar marketplace. That August, the British reported that supplies were being sent to Jijiga to support the activities of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and Sheikh Hassan Barsane, a devout Muslim pair who were at war with the British and Italians in Somalia. Then that September, the Italians revealed that one of their Somali agents had witnessed Iyasu declaring to an assemblage of Muslim leaders that he was a Muslim, and swore to his apostasy on a Qu'ran. European colonial powers in the region began supporting a coup d'état against Iyasu because of signs he was about join World War 1 on the opposing side.
On September 27, 1916, while at the city of Harar, Lij Iyasu was deposed in favor of his aunt, Zewditu. The nobility under the leadership of Fitawrari Habte Givorgis Dinagde had assembled in the capital and charged Lij Iyasu with apostasy, alleging that he had converted to Islam and had thus forfeited the Imperial crown. The Coptic Archbishop, after some hesitation, was persuaded to release the nobility from its oath of loyalty to Iyasu. Iyasu was declared deposed from the throne and excommunicated from the Church. The assembly of nobles then named Zewditu Menelik as Empress of Ethiopia, and Dejazmach Tafari Makonnen was elevated to the title of Ras, and made heir to the throne.
Iyasu sent an army to attack Addis Ababa, which was met at Mieso and turned back. His father initially hesitated, then marched south from Dessie with 80,000 troops. On October 27, 1916, Negus Mikael was defeated at the Battle of Segale. Iyasu had reached Ankober the morning of the battle with a few thousand loyal followers, and after witnessing his father's defeat, fled towards the Eritrean border. On November 8, 1916, Iyasu appeared in Dessie where he vainly sought the support from the nobility of Tigray and then the Italians. On December 10, Iyasu fled and took refuge with his followers on the abandoned amba of Maqdala. At Maqdala, he was surrounded and subjected to an uninspired siege.
On July 18, 1917, Iyasu slipped through the siege lines and rallied the peasantry of Wollo to revolt. On August 27, 1917, in Wello, troops under Habte Giyorgis defeated the rebels and captured many of Iyasu's generals, including Ras Imer. After this defeat, with a few hundred picked men, Iyasu fled to the desert of the Afar Depression, where he roamed for five years. On January 11, 1921, Iyasu was captured and taken into custody byGugsa Araya Selassie. He was handed over to the custody of his cousin Ras Kassa Haile Darge. Ras Kassa kept Iyasu under comfortable house arrest at his country home at Fiche.
Iyasu sent an army to attack Addis Ababa, which was met at Mieso and turned back. His father initially hesitated, then marched south from Dessie with 80,000 troops. On October 27, 1916, Negus Mikael was defeated at the Battle of Segale. Iyasu had reached Ankober the morning of the battle with a few thousand loyal followers, and after witnessing his father's defeat, fled towards the Eritrean border. On November 8, 1916, Iyasu appeared in Dessie where he vainly sought the support from the nobility of Tigray and then the Italians. On December 10, Iyasu fled and took refuge with his followers on the abandoned amba of Maqdala. At Maqdala, he was surrounded and subjected to an uninspired siege.
On July 18, 1917, Iyasu slipped through the siege lines and rallied the peasantry of Wollo to revolt. On August 27, 1917, in Wello, troops under Habte Giyorgis defeated the rebels and captured many of Iyasu's generals, including Ras Imer. After this defeat, with a few hundred picked men, Iyasu fled to the desert of the Afar Depression, where he roamed for five years. On January 11, 1921, Iyasu was captured and taken into custody byGugsa Araya Selassie. He was handed over to the custody of his cousin Ras Kassa Haile Darge. Ras Kassa kept Iyasu under comfortable house arrest at his country home at Fiche.
Empress Zewditu I, who in spite of having been treated harshly by her nephew seems to have had considerable sympathy for Iyasu's fate, is said to have tried to have him handed over to her personal custody in order that he "be brought back to Christ and salvation" under her guidance. In her view, the most serious part of his fate was his excommunication, and she deeply wanted to save her nephew from what she regarded as assured damnation. While her plea to have her nephew moved to the Imperial Palace in Addis Ababa was vehemently vetoed by both Fitawrari Habte Giorgis and by the Crown Prince, Ras Tafari Makonnen, the Empress took care that Iyasu lived in luxury and was supplied with whatever he desired. Ras Kassa also adhered to this policy for as long as Iyasu was in his custody, so the terms of Iyasu's imprisonment were not particularly harsh.
Empress Zewditu died in 1930, and was succeeded by Ras Tafari Makonnen, who became Emperor Haile Selassie and who, as Emperor, was considerably less sympathetic to Iyasu. In 1931, Iyasu escaped from imprisonment at Fiche. He apparently achieved his freedom with the aid of his former father-in-law, Ras Hailu Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, although Haile Selassie claimed that the Italians had a hand in his escape — or at least planned to assist in Iyasu's attempt to regain the throne.
Iyasu was recaptured shortly after his escape. Having deeply alienated Ras Kassa with his escape, and having angered the Emperor, Iyasu was taken to a fortress on the slopes of Mount Gara Muleta in Girawa, where he was guarded closely by locals loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie. When the forces of Italy invaded Ethiopia in October 1935, aircraft of the Royal Italian Air Force scattered fliers asking the population to rebel against Haile Selassie and support the "true Emperor Iyasu V." It was feared that the Italians would make use of Iyasu to fragment Ethiopian resistance to their conquest.
A month later, in November 1935, Iyasu's death was announced. The circumstances surrounding his death and his burial place remain shrouded in mystery. One rumor that persists to this day is that Emperor Haile Selassie ordered his guards to kill him. Others dispute this and allege that Iyasu died of natural causes.
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(See also Appendix 4: Ethiopian Imperial and Royal Titles.)
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*Pythias Russ, a Negro League Baseball star, died in Cynthiana, Kentucky.
Pythias Russ (b. April 7, 1904, Cynthiana, Kentucky – d. August 9, 1930, Cynthiana, Kentucky) was an American catcher, shortstop, and right-handed batter in the Negro Leagues whose career and life were cut short by illness.
Russ was a star college athlete in baseball, basketball, and track and field. He was named an All-American football player in 1924. Candy Jim Taylor signed him to play for the Memphis Red Sox for the 1925 season, where he split catching duties with Larry Brown and hit .327. He moved to the Chicago American Giants in 1926 and hit .268 that season. In 1927, Russ batted .350 and was 8 for 35 in the 1927 Colored World Series.
Russ switched to shortstop in 1928 and hit .405 to win the NNL batting title, and hit .407 in the postseason to help Chicago to the league championship. In 1929, he hit .386 to finish second in that category, and hit 11 triples. He fell ill with tuberculosis early in 1930 and died in August of that year. His lifetime batting average in the Negro Leagues was .350.
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April 13
*Neval Thomas, a civil rights activist and the president of the Washington, D. C. branch of the NAACP from 1925 to 1930, died in Washington, D. C.
Neval Hollen Thomas (b. January 6, 1874, Springfield, Ohio – d. April 13, 1930, Washington, D. C.) was a civil rights activist, high school teacher, and president of the Washington, D.C. local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branch from 1925 to 1930.
Neval Hollen Thomas was born in 1874 in Springfield, Ohio. He attended public school in Ohio, then pursued a bachelor's degree at Howard University. Receiving his B.A. in 1901, he then enrolled in Howard University Law School. Despite obtaining his law degree in 1904 with hopes to pursue a legal career, Thomas pursued teaching as a career instead.
Thomas taught American history for 19 years at M Street High School in Washington, D.C. At the time, M Street High School (later named Dunbar High School) was one of the most prestigious and exceptional African American educational institutions to have ever existed in the United States. Students were offered a comprehensive academic education. Thomas was interested in the subjects of race and democracy and often tied his teachings at M Street High School to these subjects. In order to expand his education, he traveled abroad and visited churches and literary social clubs. He worked well with the school boards and accomplished several projects to get a stadium and a greenhouse built for the student body and the faculty. Later, he became Dunbar's vice principal.
The summer of 1919, also known as the Red Summer, brought great attention to Thomas. There was rioting on the streets of Washington between blacks and whites, and blacks armed themselves with guns to fight back. Thomas met with city officials, such as chief executive, Louis Brownlow, to discuss the events leading to the riots and encouraged something be done immediately. As the fighting raged on in D. C., Thomas helped obtain lawyers for imprisoned blacks, distributed pamphlets, and roamed the streets to help aid the rioters. Denouncing the city commissioner and chief of police, he claimed, “If you can’t protect us, we will arm and defend ourselves.” Using his position working for the Washington Afro-American newspaper, Thomas reached out to the press. Even though Thomas pushed to end the riots, the congregation of blacks defending their rights on the streets impressed him.
Due to Thomas's leadership during the 1919 riots, as well as his ability to reason with an open ear, he earned a position on the board of directors of the NAACP branch in Washington in 1919. Thomas channeled his activism within the NAACP toward the racial inequalities present in public schools within Washington.
Thomas published an article in 1923 titled "District of Columbia-A Paradise of Paradoxes," where he addressed the racial issues he saw present in the public schools. In his article, he focused on the inequalities of teachers salaries. During his time in the NAACP, Thomas pushed for equal pay for black school employees as well as equal salaries for officers in white and black schools.
His lifelong commitment to the injustices of racial inequality within Washington D.C landed him a higher position on the NAACP Washington branch as president of the branch in 1925. Thomas was known as one of the most aggressive branch presidents. He continued to take action against racial inequalities as president. Starting in 1926, Thomas received mixed feedback from NAACP members, especially after he cancelled a speech for the women’s campaign. He wrote numerous hate-filled letters to board members, which were used as evidence for his increasingly radical ideals. Thomas protested in 1927 after several Negro examiners in the Interior Department were assigned together in a new work station and forced the Secretary of the Interior Department to "rescind the segregation."
He used his rhetorical capabilities to convince his audiences. One author deemed him an “egocentric spirit” who “developed a clique that was loyal to him personally, and he disparaged work done by others.”
Thomas wrote an essay for The Messenger: a magazine produced by African-Americans that challenged racial segregation. He mentioned the lack of black policeman and firefighters in the city as well as unequal school funding between white and black schools. In 1928, he wrote an article for the Afro-American and said, “the real Republican Party was the greatest political agency in the history of our government, but, IT IS DEAD.” In the article, he denigrated the new era of the Republican Party by claiming it promoted class differences between races as well as Ku Klux Klan ideals.
Neval Thomas died on April 13, 1930, at the age of 56 due to ongoing health issues. Emma Merritt replaced him as head of the NAACP as the first woman president. After his death, the NAACP adopted less radical ideas. The organization became more content with the economic, social, and political disparities African Americans faced than it used to be, and lacked Thomas' radical push for action. Ultimately, Thomas was known for his active engagement in Washington, D.C.; for the push for racial equality in public schools and in the workplace; and for his willing to jeopardize his own bread and butter for a high principle. However, by voicing his opinions and maintaining his outspoken, candid manner, he often developed hostility among his adversaries.
In honor to his services to the community, Washington, D.C. established the Neval Thomas Elementary School on Anacostia Avenue, Washington, D.C.
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*In South Africa, Pixley Seme replaced Josiah Gumede as President of the African National Congress.
The African National Congress (ANC) is South Africa's governing party and has been in power since the transition to democracy in April 1994. The organization was initially founded as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) on January 8, 1912 in Bloemfontein, with the aim of fighting for the rights of black South Africans. The organization was renamed the ANC in 1923. While the organization’s early period was characterized by political inertia due to power struggles and lack of resources, increasing repression and the entrenchment of white minority rule galvanized the party. As a result of the establishment of apartheid, its aversion to dissent by Black people and brutal crackdown of political activists, the ANC together with the South African Communist Party (SACP) formed a military wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation/ MK) in 1961.
Through MK, the ANC waged the armed struggle and obtained support from some African countries and the Soviet bloc for its activities. With the increasing internal dissent, international pressure and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the apartheid government was forced to enter into negotiations with the ANC. This saw the collapse of apartheid and the ushering in of democratic rule in 1994.
In the national elections from 1994 to 2004, the ANC had consistently risen in electoral popularity. With the 2009 elections, the party suffered a drop in popularity that was repeated in 2014. This time period also coincided with the presidency of Jacob Zuma.
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In January 1912, Pixley Seme, Alfred Mangena, Richard Msimang and George Montsio called for a convention of Africans to form the South African Native National Congress (SANNC). This organization was renamed the African National Congress (ANC) in 1923, in Bloemfontein. One hundred delegates attended its inaugural meeting, where Seme was the keynote speaker, and Josiah Gumede one of the founding members. At Seme's suggestion, the new organization was patterned after the United States Congress. Reverend John Langalibalele Dube was elected as its first president (in absentia), and Seme became the Treasurer-General. Years later, in July 1927, Josiah Gumede was elected as president-general of the ANC during its annual congress, despite ANC criticism of the pro-communist tendencies that often surfaced in Gumede's public rhetoric at that stage. Gumede's three-year term as president-general of the ANC was characterized by dispute and dissension. However, it did introduce new strains of radical thought into the ANC, and a more militant stance.
Nevertheless, Gumede's tenure as ANC president general was an unhappy chapter in the history of the organization, and activities virtually came to a halt. Moreover, antipathy towards Gumede's fraternity with communism, and his neglect in circulating information increased sharply. This came to a head when the anti-communist faction of the national executive committee of the ANC took a majority decision to resign en bloc, and Thomas Mtobi Mapikela took over as acting president-general. At the annual ANC conference on April 30, 1930, Pixley Seme succeeded Gumede as president general, by a vote of 39 to 14. This ended Gumede's role as a prominent figure in South African politics. However, in recognition of his earlier services to the ANC, in 1946, Gumede was appointed as lifelong honorary president of the organization.
As for Pixley ka Seme, his attempts to transform the ANC into an organization of economic self-help proved fruitless, as did his attempt to revive the defunct House of Chiefs in the ANC. Both his enemies and supporters accused him of 'culpable inertia' in 1932, and criticized his autocratic and cautious leadership style. Reverend Zaccheus Richard Mahabane replaced him as President-General in 1937.
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Pixley ka Isaka Seme (b. October 1, 1881, Daggakraal, Colony of Natal [Eastern Transvaal] – d. June 7, 1951, Johannesburg, South Africa) was one of the first black lawyers in South Africa (Alfred Mangena was the first black attorney, Duma Nokwe the first black advocate), and was a founder and President of the African National Congress -- the ANC.
Pixley Seme was born on October 1, 1881 in Natal, the son of Isaka Sarah (nee Mseleku) Seme.
Seme's mother, Isaka Sarah, was a sister of John Langalibalele Dube, and descended from a local chief. Seme was born the fourth son of Sinono Kuwana Seme in the area that would come to be known as Daggakraal, in what was then called the Colony of Natal, at the Inanda mission station of the American Zulu Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He attended Adams College which was part of the mission. At Adams College, he met the American Congregationalist missionary, Reverend S. C. Pixley, who took an interest in him and arranged for Seme to go the Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts in the United States.
At 17 years of age, Seme left to study in the United States, first at the Mount Hermon School and then Columbia University. Seme graduated from Mount Hermon School (now the Northfield Mount Hermon School) in 1902. In 1906, his senior year at Columbia, he was awarded the Curtis Medal, Columbia's highest oratorical honor. He subsequently decided to become an attorney.
In October 1906, Seme was admitted to Oxford University (in Oxford, England) to read for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law. While at Oxford, Seme was a member of Jesus College. He was admitted to the Middle Temple on February 12, 1907, and was Called to the Bar on June 8, 1910.
Seme returned to South Africa on the eve of the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, and began to practice as a lawyer in Johannesburg.
Seme's memorable speech at Columbia University in 1906 on "The Regeneration of Africa" won him the University’s highest oratorical honor, the George William Curtis medal. The speech was circulated widely in South Africa and revealed Seme’s remarkable way with words. While in London in 1909, Seme followed deliberations about the Union of South Africa Bill (1909) that proposed a framework for the establishment of the Union of South Africa. His reaction to this development is articulated in another authoritative view on the future of South Africa.
Seme's "The Native Union" is a document that mapped out a strategy for African people in reaction to developments designed to exclude them from participating in mainstream political institutions and which sought to regulate their access to land and certain categories of employment, particularly in the mines. The document also reflects Seme’s insight into forms of resistance to the impending political dispensation. Though not stated explicitly in the document, Seme seems to have been of the opinion that the Bambatha Rebellion type of response to the emerging Union was atavistic -- too primitive and tribal a response given the times. This implied a need for the creation of a Union-wide political movement that would counter the emerging segregationist system of government.
More than any of the leading personalities of the time, Seme is considered the founder of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), the precursor of the ANC. Not only did he conceptualize the form and structure of the movement but he also facilitated the founding of the SANNC in Bloemfontein in 1912. At the founding Congress, Seme delivered the keynote address, an appeal for symbolic and material support for the new formation. And when voting began for the position of president, Seme proposed that his uncle, John Langalibalele Dube, be elected.
The SANNC needed funding if it was to fulfill its function. In the context of the time, chiefs were the main source of potential funding. This critical factor is rarely appreciated in considerations of the fortunes and misfortunes of the SANNC in the first decade of its existence. Existing accounts of what is widely considered a dismal performance by the SANNC in its first decade often fail to reflect on the impact of the lack of funds on the organization. Seme himself, considered the most persuasive to garner the support of the chiefs, was a logical choice for the position of Treasurer-General, a fact that must be taken into account in any examination of the SANNC’s effectiveness and funding environment.
The matter assumes greater significance when viewed in the context of Seme’s financial woes during the decade. It appears that although he became Congress’s first Treasurer-General, he himself was always in financial difficulties. Various personal ventures on which he embarked failed, including buying farms in what was then the Transvaal.
The SANNC was financially handicapped in the 1910s. This was decades before its successor, the ANC, created a massive capacity for attracting funding. The financial struggles of the SANNC had serious implications for organizational core values.
The Founder’s misfortunes in the 1910s were mirrored by those of the SANNC. For much of the 1910s, as the Union of South Africa leapt from one crisis to the next, the SANNC was unable to mount a serious challenge to the segregationist regime. The Land Act of 1913, intended to deny African farmers the only form of access to land they had since the conclusion of wars of conquest in the 1860s and 1870s, went unchallenged. The only memorable response to it was Sol Plaatje’s book Native Life in South Africa, which condemns the inhumanity of the legislation, and a SANNC delegation to London that returned unfulfilled. Significantly, this delegation did not include Seme.
During this time Seme set up a newspaper, Abantu-Batho. Ambitious though this project proved to be, it was an ingenious way of drawing African people, its target audience, to the political discourse that impacted on their lives. However, Seme’s response to the Land Act has not been recorded.
The outbreak of World War I is yet another turning point that throws the spotlight on the SANNC under Dube’s presidency. Among Afrikaners, the war provoked the emergence of two groups committed to the politics of secession: the South African National Party (SANP) under J. B. M. Hertzog, and the Anti-War rebellion led by Koos de la Rey and others. The two Afrikaner formations were opposed to the war, expressing resentment at having to fight what they saw as a British Imperial War against Germany, a power they had had an alliance with during the South African War of 1899 to 1902.
On the other hand, in what appeared to have been a strategic positioning, the SANNC supported the war effort in the hope that when it ended, the British would show appreciation by intervening on their behalf. Uncharacteristically, during this momentous period in South African history, Seme did not articulate a view that would captivate as well as he did in 1906 and 1909/10. There is nothing of the calibre of his thoughts on African regeneration or the Native Union reported at the time of the war. Seme instead continued practicing law, and following the failure of the 1914 delegation, the SANNC seemed to descend into inertia.
It was only after 1917 that the SANNC once again made its presence felt. Its provincial structure, the Transvaal SANNC, became deeply involved with two strike actions that paralyzed the city of Johannesburg. First it was the mineworkers’ strike of 1918 over low wages, then, in 1919, sanitary workers went on strike in what became known as the “bucket strike”. The Transvaal SANNC, under Sefako Makgatho, who was also President General of the SANNC, became involved with both strikes. Historians agree that this marked the first attempt at making the SANNC a mass-based organization. It is not clear whether Seme supported Makgatho on the direction in which he seemed to be taking the SANNC, but it is significant that later on, in the 1930s, it was Makgatho’s friendship with Seme that secured for him the presidency of the Transvaal ANC. However, by1920, Seme’s star was on the wane.
Early in the 1920s Seme had an opportunity to revive his career. He served as legal counsel for the Swazi Regent in a dispute with the British government. His knowledge of British law, having studied at Oxford, made him the logical choice for the task. However, the outcome of the case was disastrous for Seme – he lost the case on appeal at the Privy Council and returned to South Africa. The case seemed to have left him devastated, and “he began drinking to excess, and before the decade was over had been involved in an automobile accident when drunk”. He was subsequently struck off the roll of attorneys. It is possible that these developments left Seme despondent and without any appetite for political involvement.
In 1923, under Makgatho’s presidency, the SANNC changed its name to the African National Congress -- the ANC. A year later at an elective Congress, Makgatho was voted out of office and replaced by Z. R. Mahabane. The Mahabane presidency was marked by intense ideological debates within the ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) about the primacy of the National Question over the class struggle, which aimed to bring an end to capitalist exploitation.
Yet again, Seme’s contribution to these debates is sorely missed, remaining unrecorded. The outcome of this contest at the level of ideas seems to have been settled in favor of the socialist faction within the ANC. In 1927 the ANC held an elective Congress and a candidate wedded to the socialist/Marxist doctrine was elected the new President General. J. T. Gumede was a committed socialist when he became leader of the ANC and sought to steer the movement in that direction, but he was opposed by some of the ANC’s stalwarts, including former presidents Mahabane and Makgatho.
It was during this strife that Seme is seen making a return to politics. He joined with the Nationalists, who were opposed to the socialist position promoted by Gumede. Relations between Nationalists and Socialists broke down irretrievably during 1929, leading to Gumede being unseated as President General. Seme seems to have recovered significantly from his woes of the previous decade, and in the elective Congress of 1930 he was elected to the position of President General.
Seme’s presidency is often associated with the demise of the ANC in the first half of the 1930s. It is argued that his failure to lead was largely the reason for the ANC’s sagging fortunes. Indeed, during the early 1930s, the ANC’s following in urban and rural areas was at its lowest, compared with earlier decades. In the rural areas, particularly in areas dominated by white commercial agriculture, the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union -- the ICU -- had upstaged the ANC throughout the 1920s, mobilizing African sharecroppers and labor tenants against white landowners keen to exploit their labor. In the urban areas, particularly on the Witwatersrand, the CPSA had upstaged the ANC and enjoyed a sizeable following.
The CPSA was particularly vibrant in local communities in townships across the country. CPSA branches became formidable opponents in Advisory Councils where they contested regular elections with civic structures, enjoying grassroots support. This was particularly true in Johannesburg’s municipal townships. In Orlando and the Western Native Township, the CPSA contested elections and established itself as a significant role player in local politics.
Seme became President General in the midst of the Great Depression, a period that threw up challenges that would have overwhelmed even the most capable of leaders. It is thus unfair to argue that Seme stood by as conditions in the ANC deteriorated. On the contrary, he tried to restructure the ANC in a bid to make it more responsive to the prevailing political circumstances.
Seme proposed organizational restructuring of the ANC at regional level, dissolving provincial congresses and subdividing the national body into 11 regional congresses in place of the four provincial congresses. These proposals incensed the relatively powerful Transvaal ANC, which had always been very influential in determining and shaping policy directions. A faction of the Executive Committee of the Transvaal ANC, led by Kgatla chiefs, accused Seme of attempting to undermine them to establish an Nguni hegemony within the organization. Curiously, Seme was supported in his reorganization by the President of the Transvaal ANC, Makgatho. In the process, Makgatho alienated himself from some members of the anti-Seme faction in the Transvaal ANC Executive Committee.
The feud between Makgatho and the opposing faction in the Transvaal ANC ended in mid-1933 when Makgatho was voted out of office. This led to a split in the Transvaal ANC, with one side recognizing Makgatho as president and the other a new candidate.
Seme was becoming increasingly unpopular, with calls for his removal reaching a crescendo after the removal of Makgatho as President of the Transvaal ANC in 1934. In 1937, Seme was replaced by Mahabane, who was ready for a second stint.
This marked the end of Seme’s contribution to politics, and he returned to his law practice as his licence had been restored. For much of the 1940s he worked as an attorney with offices in downtown Johannesburg, and during this time he became Anton Lembede's mentor. However, the new generation of ANC leaders, mainly those in the Youth League, considered Seme as rather conservative and out of touch with the masses.
Pixley Seme died on June 7, 1951, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Pixley Seme died on June 7, 1951, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Josiah Tshangana Gumede, also J.T. Gumede, (b. October 9, 1867, Healdtown Village, Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape - d. November 6, 1946) was a South African politician and the father of Archibald "Archie" Gumede, another noted anti-apartheid activist.
Josiah Tshangana Gumede was born on October 9, 1867 in Healdtown Village, Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape. His father, John Gumede, and his mother were Christians and, according to their grandson Archie Gumede, were only the third Ngwane couple to be married into the Christian (Wesleyan) faith. There is very little known information about Josiah’s mother and his early childhood. Josiah had a younger brother, William, and three or more sisters, two of them named Mina and Joyce. It seems they were all given Christian first names, while Josiah was given his father’s middle-name, Tshangana, in honor of their Zulu ancestry. Josiah Gumede’s ancestry can be traced back to Chief Khondlo.
Khondlo’s son Phakathwayo succeeded him, followed by Vezi, Makhunga and John Tshangana, Josiah’s father. Since not much is known of Josiah’s childhood years, he probably started his elementary schooling at the Healdtown Wesleyan Mission station at Fort Beaufort, where he was exposed to the British education system. The Wesleyan missionaries were leading the way in fighting for gender equality, with policies in place to educate and liberate African females. One of Josiah’s fellow-pupils was Charlotte Makanya, who later became the President of the African National Congress (ANC) Womens Congress. Both Josiah and Charlotte came from Fort Beaufort and rose to greater heights as leaders in the ANC and in the politics that shaped South Africa. Josiah became the fourth president of the ANC in 1927.
On completion of his schooling, Gumede went on to attend what was called the ‘Kaffir Institute’ in Grahamstown, in either 1882 or 1883. During this time, Josiah’s parents and sisters had moved to Queenstown. Run by the Anglican Church, the institute was a sister school to the white Saint Andrew’s College. Josiah wanted to qualify as a teacher, and gaining admission to the institution was not easy, Candidates had to be baptized, literate (in English as well as their native language), and older than 13 years of age. The institution attracted intellectually-inclined Black youth, many of whom later became prominent ANC members, among them Thomas Mapikela and Samuel Masabalala. The curriculum at the institution was dominated by religious education, although industrial training – such as carpentry, wagon-making, blacksmithing, tailoring, shoemaking and printing – also featured prominently. Gumede’s intellectual development grew at the institute, as did his political consciousness.
Gumede began teaching at Somerset East in the Eastern Cape, where African interest in formal education was growing. He soon took up a new teaching post in Natal while his parents remained at Queenstown, and his interests turned to politics in Zululand. Together with another Wesleyan convert, Martin Luthuli, whom Gumede befriended, the pair acted as indunas (advisors) for the young Zulu King, Dinizulu.
At this time, Zululand was undergoing a period of historical transition. Following the death of Cetshwayo in 1883, the British High Commissioner in South Africa, Garnet Wolseley, divided Zululand into 13 independent chieftainships, each ruled by chiefs he appointed. Wolseley’s chiefs were perceived by many to have little legitimacy, causing tremendous turmoil. A period of civil wars proved disastrous for the political status of the Zulu royal family and the idea of Zulu national unity. Supporters of the Zulu royal house, the Usuthu, were dealt their heaviest blow by the appointment of two disaffected chiefs of royal lineage, Hamu and Zibhebhu, to rule as chiefs over Zululand’s northern regions. Hamu defected with his followers to the British side during the Anglo-Zulu war. His district included the personal homestead of the Buthelezi leader Mnyamana, who had been Cetshwayo’s principal adviser.To the east of Hamu, Zibhebhu was awarded a district that included the core of the Usuthu, including Cetshwayo’s son Dinizulu. In May 1884 Dinizulu, with the help of the Transvaal Boers, drove Zibhebhu out of his district.
Having assisted Dinizulu in defeating Zibhebhu in June 1884, the Boers claimed nearly 3 million acres of land in the upper belt of Zululand, stretching to the natural harbor of Saint Lucia Bay. This was an exorbitant demand on Dinizulu’s land resources. More than 800 Boers were demanding compensation where only about 100 had assisted in the actual fight. Gumede with other Usuthu leaders protested the Boers’ demarcation of their so-called ‘New Republic’. The Usuthu leaders appealed to the British for support but this fell on deaf ears. Dinizulu tried desperately not to lose his head kraal of Ondini (today Ulundi) to the Boers and appointed Gumede to take charge of the tough negotiations with the Boers.
Eventually the British intervened and annexed the territory when they realized that the Boers would have access to Saint Lucia and a harbor. This resulted in Gumede’s services as Dinizulu’s induna coming to a close. However, Dinizulu and Gumede’s friendship would last until the former’s death in 1913. Gumede’s involvement in Zululand politics undoubtedly refined his political philosophy. His entry into Zululand politics at times endangered Gumede’s life as he gained firsthand experience of the reality of the Whites’ coercion and dispossession of the Zulu’s land. He experienced the frustrations and difficulties which confronted the Zulu royal house after the Boer occupation of nearly five-sixths of the Zulu territory. The experience instilled a sense of bitterness towards the Boers, but he also realized how little the British cared about the disintegration of the Zulu polity. Indeed, Britain’s unwillingness to intervene on behalf of the Zulus confirmed their determination to bring an end to the Zulu monarchy. Consequently, Gumede never approved of the British annexation of Zululand, claiming that it had opened up the territory to further White settlement. History has shown that Gumede’s fears were well-founded. The 1890s saw a marked increase in the pressure to open Zululand to White settlement, despite the continued protests and resistance of Zulu spokespersons such as Harriette Colenso and Josiah Gumede.
On his return to the Bergville/Klip River Division, Josiah Gumede was warmly received by his chief Ncwadi of the Ngwane. Towards the end of the 1880s, Gumede accepted a temporary teaching post at the Amanzimtoti Institute (Adams College). At the time of Gumede’s appointment, the college had built up a good reputation with three teachers of high calibre: John Dube, Albert Luthuli and Mayuma Nembula. An event of significance for Gumede was the visit to Natal of the Black American singing group the Virginia Jubilee Singers in 1890. The group also visited Adams College. Inspired by Orpheus M. McAdoo’s Virginia Jubilee Singers, Josiah Gumede, together with Saul Msane and a group of 12 singers, formed the ‘Zulu Choir’. His involvement in the choir ended Gumede’s teaching career at Adams College. The Zulu Choir became very successful locally, and they embarked on a tour of England. But this did not last as the choir split up after some disappointments. Gumede then returned to South Africa, settling in Rookdale with little, if any, finances.
On June 30, 1894, Gumede married Margareth Rachel Sithole, a teacher by profession and a devoted Wesleyan who also came from the Bergville district. In 1895, Gumede was employed by his chief Ncwadi as an induna -- an advisor. During this period the chief’s authority over his community was constantly being challenged by David Giles, a European magistrate. Gumede, convinced that Giles’s acts constituted a violation of the Shepstonian principles of African Administration, supported his chief. This led to a bitter struggle between Gumede and Giles. Ncwadi chose Gumede as his official spokesperson because of his formal schooling and teaching credentials and his involvement in Zulu politics. This battle revealed his leadership skills and provided Gumede with a lesson in political and legal strategy which he would use again in the future. Some reports indicate that Gumede also spent a short period working for the gold mines on the Rand, and the Gumede family’s financial prospects appeared to improve. In 1898 and 1899, the first two of Josiah and Margareth’s five daughters, Edith Beatrice and Tabita Sarah, were born.
In 1900, Gumede joined the British military to fight in the war against the Boers. Gumede was one of the first Blacks to be recruited and trained by the Natal Intelligence Department even before the war started in October 1899. He was appointed Headmen over a group of Basotho scouts. Gumede’s hopes that the British victory in the Anglo-Boer war would result in the removal of the oppressive features of White rule in Natal, in particular the Pass Laws, was short-lived as the British failed to deliver on promises they made. At this point, Gumede, like many other missionary-educated Africans, began looking for outlets to voice objections against the oppressive new laws. This search for outlets against white oppression resulted in the establishment of many European-style organizations.
In 1888, Gumede had aligned himself to the Funamalungelo (demand civil rights) Society headed by John Khumalo, but the organization failed to develop into a strong political movement. Gumede, Martin Luthuli and other Black leaders in Natal then realized that there was an urgent need for a more effective organisation. With the assistance of Harriette Colenso, the Natal Native Congress (NNC) was officially inaugurated on June 8, 1900. With John Dube and others, Gumede was a founder member of the NNC, and for some time he served as its secretary and vice-president. The main aims of the Congress were to cultivate political awareness amongst Blacks by educating them about their rights under the prevailing system of government and laws, and most importantly, to act as a forum for airing grievances.
In 1905, Gumede took up a position as a land agent with the firm of Thackeray Allison and Albert Hime solicitors, a position he held for the next 14 years. During this time, Gumede assisted in the investigation of the land claims of two Sotho tribes, namely the Bakhulukwe and Batlokoa in the new Orange River Colony. Gumede played a significant role in their legal struggle and the drawing up of their petitions to the British government in London to regain land taken away from them before the war. Gumede supported Chiefs Lesisa, Moloi, and Lequila, and accompanied them on their deputation to England to petition the British government to support their land claim. Unfortunately, this deputation was not successful. To add to the insult, Gumede was arrested on his return home in May 1907, charged with wrongfully and unlawfully leaving the Colony of Natal without the pass or permit prescribed by one of the laws of the Colony of Natal. Gumede was found guilty and fined 10 pounds for this ‘crime’.
It was particularly apparent that Gumede saw the need to maintain Zulu culture and traditions by supporting the chiefs while at the same time understanding the political and social needs of the emerging kholwa -- the emerging beliefs. Many chiefs regarded Gumede as their spokesman and had a high regard for his intellectual abilities. Gumede moved with ease between these two very different worlds. In 1907, Gumede involved himself in Iliso Lesizwe Esimnyama, an organization formed by Wesleyan Methodist converts and chiefs from the Dundee and Newcastle areas in Natal. He served as secretary for the organization during 1908. The aim of Iliso Lesizwe Esimnyama was to unite the Black people of Natal-Zululand and to advance their prosperity. The 1909 publication of the draft constitution for what would become the Union of South Africa signaled to Gumede that Africans' interests were being ignored. Although the revised draft of the South Africa Act received the overwhelming approval of Whites, nearly all politically conscious Africans denounced it. Despite all the odds, Gumede was still determined to continue to press the issue that Africans' aspirations be addressed.
Throughout 1909 and 1910, the plight of the two Sotho tribes took up most of Gumede’s time. Unfortunately, following the failure of the African deputation to England in 1909, Iliso had ceased to meet on a regular basis and the organization soon faded out of existence. In 1910, Gumede rejoined the Pietermartizburg branch of the NNC. Disappointingly, there was no working relationship between the Pietermaritzburg and Durban branches due to personal differences between Gumede and Dube, who was part of the Durban NNC branch. The two only unified when the South African Native National Congress -- the SANNC --, the precursor of the African National Congress -- the ANC -- was formed in 1912. Dube sought closer co-operation between the branches, realizing the need for unity. In 1912, Gumede became a founding member of the SANNC (renamed the ANC in 1923) and contributed to the drafting of its 1919 constitution. He was also a member of the 1919 SANNC deputation to the Versailles Peace Conference – which was held after World War I (1914-1918) – and to the British government. The deputation, however, failed to ensure a better dispensation for South African blacks.
Gumede was appointed to the newly-elected executive council of the SANNC and joined a deputation elected to present their grievances to the Inspector of African Schools in Pietermaritzburg. The delegation met with the Inspector on April 15, 1913. The delegates were against regulations placed on Black school students and teachers in Natal which came into effect on April 1, 1913. These regulations placed new restrictions on the age limits of African pupils in the lower classes as well as on the employment of African teachers in the higher classes. Yet again the deputation was unable to persuade the inspector to amend the revised regulations.
Another pressing issue concerned land rights under the Natives Land Act of 1913. The Natives Land Act, 1913 (subsequently renamed Bantu Land Act, 1913 and Black Land Act, 1913; Act No. 27 of 1913) was an Act of the Parliament of South Africa that was aimed at regulating the acquisition of land. The Natives Land Act of 1913 was the first major piece of segregation legislation passed by the Union Parliament. It was replaced in 1991.
The Natives Land Act decreed that whites were not allowed to buy land from natives and vice versa. The Act was intended to stop white farmers from buying more native land. Exceptions had to be approved by the Governor-General. The native areas left initially totaled less than ten percent (10%) of the entire land mass of the Union, which was later expanded to thirteen percent (13%). The Act further prohibited the practice of serfdom or sharecropping. It also protected existing agreements or arrangement of land hired or leased by both parties. This land was in "native reserve" areas, which meant it was under "communal" tenure vested in African chiefs: it could not be bought, sold or used as surety. Outside such areas, perhaps of even greater significance for black farming was that the Act forbade black tenant farming on white-owned land. Since so many black farmers were sharecroppers or labor tenants that had a devastating effect, but its full implementation was not immediate. The Act strengthened the chiefs, who were part of the state administration, but it forced many blacks in the "white" areas into wage labor.
Even though the Native Land Act of 1913 signaled the end of any equality for Blacks in the union, Gumede remained optimistic that all was not lost. He believed the Act would strengthen the cause of the two Sotho chiefs to regain their land. Thus, when the call came for a deputation to be sent to England to protest the Bill and appeal for help against it, Gumede strongly opposed the move, believing that it would antagonize the new Parliament and alienate support from the missionaries and more liberal whites. Not surprisingly, the deputation was a failure. Gumede also failed in his attempts to secure the land of the Sotho tribes, deepening his antagonism towards the unsympathetic Union government on the issue of Black land claims.
The Native Administrative Bill of 1917 further deepened black antagonism towards the Union government. Taking a strong stand against it, Gumede understood that the Bill would enhance the powers of the Native Affairs Department. The victory of the allied forces during World War I brought about renewed hopes in the SANNC that an appeal to the British government would bring about the removal of the color bar franchise. Gumede supported a proposed deputation to England to petition the Governor General to take their grievances directly to the king. Gumede’s change of heart regarding this deputation – compared to the 1914 deputation – came because he was convinced there was no way of securing any sympathy from the Union government for the plight of Black people. Before his departure, Gumede was summoned to testify in the trial of David Jones and H Greene, Bolsheviks charged with inciting the public by distributing a pamphlet in favor of Bolshevism. During his testimony, it was clear that Gumede held strong anti-communist sentiments.
Gumede’s visit to England together with Sol Plaatje was full of disappointments. The Colonial office in London received Gumede and Plaatje with much antagonism. Gumede addressed several audiences in England, including many of London’s Black organizations, in order to solicit support for the cause. Gumede and Plaatje presented their grievances to members of the House of Commons in July 1919 in the hope that they would be addressed at their next meeting
The pair also addressed various other organizations sympathetic to their cause. One such organization was the League of Universal Brotherhood led by Charles Garnett. Much of this lobbying turned out to be in vain as the colonial office was sticking to its policy of non-interference in colonial affairs. Gumede went further by addressing a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury for a meeting to address their grievances. This meeting also turned out to be disappointing as no concrete support was forthcoming. During this visit, Gumede was extremely disappointed to be present at a meeting of The International Brotherhood Congress, held from September 13 to September 17, 1919, where Lloyd George praised the "noble character" of the recently deceased Louis Botha, the first Prime Minister (1910-1919) of the Union of South Africa. These views were in direct contrast to those held by the SANNC delegates. Throughout his stay in England, Gumede tried to influence public opinion by means of meetings and newspaper coverage. Gumede also kept his constituency in Natal informed of all the deliberations abroad.
Towards the end of November 1919, Gumede and Plaatje were finally able to secure a meeting with Prime Minister Lloyd George. An extensive account of African disabilities in South Africa was presented to him but the Prime Minister only promised to communicate with General Smuts to ascertain what could be done to address the grievances of the Black population of South Africa. George was still very reluctant to interfere in the affairs of the colony. Gumede made another appeal to the Prime Minister by way of a manifesto asking for the franchise for the Black people and for the reinstatement of land to the tribes and chiefs who had lost land to the Boers. But still nothing came of his appeals. Ironically, Gumede and Plaatje managed to secure the allegiance of two socialist organizations, the Independent Labour Party and the Union of Democratic Control. The pair traveled throughout Scotland trying to rally support and even though most of their meetings were held under the auspices of the two socialist organizations, Gumede remained loyal to the ideas of liberalism.
The year 1920 went by with Gumede still in England, addressing meetings and seeking support for the cause of the SANNC. Gumede felt that returning home would be to accept the failure of his mission. In January 1921, Gumede had the opportunity to meet with Herbert Bankole Bright (of Sierra Leone) and other delegates from the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA). The aim of this delegation was to secure a greater share in constitutional government and administration for the African people in the British West African Colonies. Gumede realized that this delegation had a lot in common with the South African cause.
Later in 1921, Gumede and Plaatje returned to South Africa disillusioned over the lack of official British intervention in South Africa. Throughout the 1920s members of the Natal Natives' Congress -- the NNC -- found themselves in conflict with each other. Dube and Gumede disagreed over the former’s attempts to keep the congress as independent as possible from the national ANC. Instead Gumede founded the Natal African Congress, which officially affiliated with the ANC. In 1921, Gumede was appointed as full-time general organizer of the SANNC, with the task of touring the country in search of financial support.
Gumede continued to oppose John Dube and his two sympathizers in the NNC, W Ndlovu and William Bhulose. The trio were not re-elected to the executive board at the annual meeting in April 1924. Instead, Gumede was elected as the new president of the NCC. Nevertheless, he was excluded from the annual Native Conference in Pretoria on October 27, 1924. Instead, Dube was invited to Pretoria by the government. Following the failure of the deputation to the British government in 1919, Africans were forced to concede to the Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923, which further curtailed possession of land by Blacks. From 1924 onward, Gumede openly lamented the increase in segregation measures, and he became more militant as he questioned the Pact government about its racial and class legislation, and its limiting of education and employment opportunities for Blacks.
Gumede, accompanied by James la Guma of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), was chosen to represent the ANC at the first international conference of the League Against Imperialism in Brussels, Belgium. The pair departed from Johannesburg on January 12, 1927. From Brussels, Gumede traveled to the Soviet Union (USSR). Gumede wanted to use this opportunity to address not only the plight of the Africans, but also to gain first-hand knowledge of Communism in Russia. At the Brussels Conference, Gumede met Communists, left-wing Socialists and radical nationalists, enlarging his political perspective.
After the Brussels Conference, Gumede was invited to Berlin, Germany, by the German Communist Party. Upon arrival there on February 17, 1927, Gumede was warmly greeted by some 10,000 German Communists. He attended the World Congress of the “Friends of the Soviet Union” from November 10 to November 12, 1927, in Moscow. The visit coincided with the 10-year celebrations of the Bolshevik revolution. Gumede was becoming more attracted to communism and began to developed a more radical critique of British imperialism. He realized that communism could play a vital role in liberating Africa, and his new ideas helped give birth to the alliance between the ANC and the CPSA. The highlight of his visit was his meeting with Joseph Stalin.
On his return to South Africa on February 17, 1928, Gumede was given a hero’s welcome in Cape Town at a combined ANC-CPSA mass meeting held in Waterkant Street. He affirmed their alliance, as both parties had at the top of their agenda "African liberation".
Referring to the position of the Church in Russia, Gumede repudiated claims common in South Africa to the effect that the Russian people were opposed to all forms of religion. Gumede praised the USSR as a country where racism was negligible, if at all existent. Contrary to his previous anti-Bolshevist stance, he now pronounced that the white communists in South Africa were the only group who fully supported Blacks in their struggle for equal rights.
Gumede began to support an alliance with communists. Gumede’s initial hostility toward communism may have stemmed from his perception that communism threatened Zulu traditions and the status of African property owners, of which he was one. However, his disappointment with Britain eventually disposed him to reach out to other potential allies, including communists. Finally, having once supported legal means of protest, Gumede began to push for mass action. He was ahead of his time in many ways, both because he realized the futility of constitutional protest and because he recognized the need to build a united front in the struggle against South Africa's system of racial segregation.
Around the same time, the CPSA increasingly turned its attention to Gumede – and to the ANC – after the communists were expelled from the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU). Besides his pro-communist inclination, Gumede’s support for African American leader Marcus Garvey – who argued for racial separation and the emigration of African Americans to Africa – was apparent in his speeches. (It was probably under Gumede’s influence that a resolution to request the United States of America release Marcus Garvey – who was imprisoned on charges of fraud – was passed during the July 1927 conference of the ANC.)
The ANC national executive and the Convention of Bantu Chiefs, held under the auspices of the ANC in April 1927, received these pro-communist pronouncements with little enthusiasm. Gumede, however, succeeded in having a proposal which condemned the ties between the CPSA and the ANC withdrawn. Despite ANC criticism of the pro-communist tendencies that often surfaced in Gumede’s public rhetoric at that stage, he was elected as president-general of the ANC during its annual congress in July 1927, succeeding Zaccheus Richard Mahabane.
In 1929, Gumede was elected as chairperson of the South African branch of the League Against Imperialism when it was founded by the CPSA. At the end of that year, when the CPSA launched the League of African Rights, he also became its president. Although it did introduce new strains of radical thought into the ANC, Gumede’s three-year term as president-general of the ANC was characterized by disputes and dissension. It was indisputably an unhappy chapter in the history of the organization. Gumede was accused of being more concerned with communism than the affairs of the Congress and of not improving the already weak financial position of the organization, rendering him an ineffective administrator. Moreover, antipathy towards Gumede’s association with communism and his alleged neglect in circulating information increased sharply. Objections were also made against the ANC’s affiliation to the Communist-backed League Against Imperialism. This shattered Gumede’s dream of creating a closer union between the two parties.
Matters came to a head when the anti-communist faction of the national executive committee of the ANC took a majority decision to resign en bloc and Thomas Mapikela took over as acting president-general. At the annual ANC conference in April 1930, Gumede lost his position as president general and was succeeded by Pixley ka Seme.
The loss of the president general position essentially ended Gumede's role as a prominent figure in South African politics. However, it did not end Gumede’s passion for politics – he continued as editor of the ANC mouthpiece Abantu Batho, through which he circulated Garvey’s political ideas. Gumede also continued to participate in the activities of the Black trade unions, and in May 1930 he was elected as a delegate to the International Conference of Negro Workers, which was to take place in July 1930 in London – but he was refused a passport to travel to England. He continued to advocate defiance of the Pass Laws and addressed several meetings held by the ICU.
In March 1931, Gumede was called to give evidence before the Native Economic Commission on the condition of Africans in the country. His evidence spurred him on to become more involved with African politics in Natal. Gumede returned to Pietermaritzburg in 1932 and attempted to introduce a more militant approach in the NNC. In June 1932, it was decided that all future NNC meetings would be held under the auspices of the Natal African Congress (NAC), thereby aligning itself closer to the ANC. Gumede was appointed chairman and Dube was appointed President. At the next meeting, Gumede was elected president of the NAC. For a short period in 1933, Gumede became involved with the ICU but the relationship soon faded.
Gumede continued his political agitation when Barry Hertzog introduced his notorious African Bills in 1935.
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The Bills proposed by General Barry Hertzog in the 1920s finally got the two-thirds majority required to be passed into law in 1936, when the Development Trust and Land Act (also referred to as the Native Trust and Land Act and Bantu Trust and Land Act) and the Representation of Natives Act were enacted.
The Native Trust and Land Act, 1936 (Act No. 18 of 1936; subsequently renamed the Bantu Trust and Land Act, 1936 and the Development Trust and Land Act, 1936) served as the reorganization of South Africa's agricultural structures. This followed the recommendations of the Beaumont Commission.
This legislation stipulated that the reserve land, lands which had been allocated to the black population under the Natives Land Act, 1913, in the amount of 7.13% (9,709,586 acres) of the total area of the then South Africa was to be enlarged to approximately 13.6% of the total area of the then South Africa. While this seemed generous, in reality the increase would not realized until the 1980s some 50 years later when apartheid was under pressure to change. Additionally, in view of the fact that the black population accounted for at this time about 61% in the general population, even this increased area ratio was too small. During the world economic depression damage occurring to agricultural land through erosion and overgrazing on the reserve lands played a relevant role in the preparation of the Act. As a trade off for the increase reserve land area, the rights of the black people as tenant farmers were restricted to white owners. From then on, blacks were only allowed to live on farms, which were owned by whites, and the black employees worked on them.
The Act also authorized the Department of Bantu Administration and Development to eliminate ‘Black spots’ (Black-owned land surrounded by White-owned land). The Act integrated land identified by the 1913 Act into African reserves, and thereby formalized the separation of White and Black rural areas; The Act established a South African Native Trust (SANT) which purchased all reserve land not yet owned by the state, and had responsibility for administering African reserve areas. The SANT imposed systems of control over livestock, introduced the division of arable and grazing land, and enforced residential planning and "villagisation" (called 'betterment') under the guise of modernizing African agricultural systems; An elaborate system for registering and controlling the distribution of labor tenants and squatters was introduced under the Act. With these provisions, any African unlawfully resident on White-owned land could be evicted; and Areas in White South Africa where Blacks owned land were declared "Black spots", and the state began to implement measures to remove the owners of this land to the reserves.
The Native Trust and Land Act provided the basis for formalizing African reserve areas, as well as for the eviction of tenants from farms for the next fifty years. The created enormous pressure on black farmers to sell their property. The selling pressure caused by the Act forced many blacks to leave the reserves and seek work in salaried employment outside of their family and tribes which were rooted in reserve land areas. Destinations of these migrations were the large farms of the whites and the cities, preferably industrial urban centers.
The Native Trust and Land Act provided the basis for formalizing African reserve areas, as well as for the eviction of tenants from farms for the next fifty years. The created enormous pressure on black farmers to sell their property. The selling pressure caused by the Act forced many blacks to leave the reserves and seek work in salaried employment outside of their family and tribes which were rooted in reserve land areas. Destinations of these migrations were the large farms of the whites and the cities, preferably industrial urban centers.
The other Hertzog bill, the Representation of Natives Act, essentially stripped African people in the Cape of their voting rights and offered instead a limited form of parliamentary representation, through special White representatives. Under this Act, a Natives Representative Council (NRC), which was a purely advisory body, was also created. The NRC could make recommendations to Parliament or the Provincial Councils “on any legislation regarded as being in the interest of natives”.
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In his letters to Black newspapers, Gumede called upon Black people to reject the Hertzog bills. He attended the All African Convention (AAC) in December 1935, where the call was made to reject the Bills. However, the AAC failed to halt the Bills and during its second congress, members decided to support the Native Representative Council (NRC) in the hope of improving the situation from within. Nevertheless, opposition to the Bills breathed new life into the ANC, and the communist sympathizing Gumede, although nominated for a seat on the NRC, failed to secure a seat.
The failure to secure a seat on the NRC by no means signaled the end of the road for Gumede as he continued to assist chiefs in putting their land claims before the Native Affairs Commission. During 1942, Gumede again tried to secure a nomination to the NRC, but failed. Accepting defeat gracefully, Gumede continued to assist Black workers who were unfairly dismissed from their jobs.
A career highlight for Gumede came in December 1943 when he was honored as Life President of the ANC at the annual meeting of the ANC in Bloemfontein. At this very same meeting, the historic resolution was passed for the formation of the ANC Youth League. Resolutions passed in the October 1946 Congress calling for more militant methods of protest signaled the end to the peaceful and constitutional methods previously embarked upon by the ANC. For Gumede this signaled the long-awaited militant path that he hoped the Congress would follow. Fortunately, he lived to see these resolutions passed just before his death on November 6, 1946.
Throughout his political career, Gumede spoke out against the intolerable policies against Black people. Described as a man who was seldom angered or was harsh in judgment, Gumede accepted criticism as the expression of opinion that people were entitled to express. He also believed in the power of the pen. His passion to serve his people surpassed his need to gain material wealth. Ultimately, the legacy of Josiah Tshangana Gumede's willingness to serve his people will remain an important part of South African history.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was established on April 2, 1944, by Anton Lambede (who became the League’s first President), Nelson Mandela, Ashby Mda, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo. They were joined by, Duma Nokwe, B Masekela, Ida Mtwa, Lillian Ngoyi, James Njongweni, William Nkomo and Dan Tloome.
The aim of the Youth League was to galvanize the youth to step up the fight against segregation within the country. At the time the ANCYL was established, political circumstances in South Africa were tenuous as the ruling United Party was divided about South Africa’s participation in World War II. Four years after the establishment of the Youth League, the United Party’s rule came to an end and the country was subsequently governed by the National Party.
The Youth League’s manifesto was launched at the Bantu Social Centre in Johannesburg in March 1944 ahead of its inaugural meeting. It stated, amongst others, that Africanism should be promoted (i.e., Africans should struggle for development, progress and national liberation so as to occupy their rightful and honorable place among nations of the world); and that the African youth should be united, consolidated, trained and disciplined, because from their ranks, future leaders would be recruited. Their motto was: “Africa’s cause must triumph”.
To strengthen its fight for liberation, the Youth League developed a Programme of Action which involved different methods like boycotts, strikes and other defiance tactics. In 1949, the ANC adopted this program, which represented a radical departure from the ineffective strategies of the past, and a transformation of the organization into a revolutionary mass movement. In the next decade, this change of policy would lead to the Defiance Campaign and the Congress of the People.
During the 1950s, the National Party (NP), which came into power in 1948 introduced harsh and oppressive laws towards blacks. In 1952, adoption of the Youth League’s Programme of Action became apparent in both the organization and execution of the Defiance Campaign. The ANC, the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) embarked on the campaign in an attempt to make the country ungovernable and force the apartheid regime to abandon its oppressive policies. Similar campaigns targeting specific apartheid laws such as the Bantu Education Act and the Group Areas Act were undertaken. Furthermore, in many of these campaigns, the influence of the ANCYL was significant. Although the program initially led to the hardening of Government attitude, in the end the apartheid government had to concede that its policy of racial segregation was unsustainable.
At the Congress of the People held in Kliptown on June 26, 1955, the Freedom Charter, spelling out the people’s vision of the kind of South Africa they desired, was adopted. This document would eventually become the basis of a democratic constitution hailed as one of the most progressive in the world.
Members of the ANCYL continued to be conspicuous and prominent in national campaigns during the 1950s. However, the adoption of the Freedom Charter sowed divisions within the ranks of the ANCYL. A group of “youth leaguers”, led by Robert Sobukwe and Ashley Peter Mda condemned the Freedom Charter as promoting the ideals of the Congress Alliance and ignoring the stated objectives of the Programme of Action. Other members of the ANCYL who had embraced the Freedom Charter continued to dominate the resistance campaign.
In 1947, the ANCYL lost its most inspirational leader. Anton Mziwakhe Lembede passed away at the a very early age of 33, leaving a leadership gap that the organization found difficult to fill. Moreover, after a brief but fervent period of political campaigns such as the Defiance Campaign, the Bantu Education Campaign and the Anti Removal campaign, in respect of the Western Areas of Johannesburg, the ANCYL went into decline. Many of its leaders were implicated in the Treason Trial that lasted from 1956 to 1959/60. In addition, in the interim, the adoption of the Freedom Charter served as the catalyst leading to a formal split in the organization.
The “Africanist” faction in the ANCYL broke away in 1959 to form the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in 1959. Others, like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, remained in the mainstream ANC, assuming important leadership positions in the movement. On March 21, 1960, the PAC called for a nationwide protest march against the Pass Laws. Protest marches were held in various urban centers across South Africa. Protest marches were reported in Orlando, Langa outside Cape Town and Sharpeville near Vereeniging.
Marches in Sharpeville and Langa appear to have been better organized and supported. The march in Sharpeville ended in a massacre, leaving 69 demonstrators dead after being shot, mainly from the back, by security police. Scores were left injured and others arrested. In Cape Town’s Langa township, police baton charged and fired tear gas at protesters, killing three and injuring several others.
Many Youth League leaders like Henry Makgothi, who was the President, were absorbed into the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) or other leadership positions within the organization. Without its leaders, the Youth League lost its momentum. Subsequently, the Youth League became moribund. Several other youth organizations, such as the South African Student Organisation, led by Steve Biko, emerged towards the end of the 1960s, taking the lead in continued resistance to apartheid.
Once in exile, the ANC elders in London asked Thabo Mbeki to launch an organization of South African students and youth in Britain to continue resistance against apartheid. In 1964 Mbeki, Essop Pahad and others convened a meeting in London to establish the South African Students Association (SASA). SASA in London was to take a different path from the African Students Association (ASA) in South Africa as it was going to be a non-racial and non-sectarian movement. At the meeting Mbeki was elected as secretary, a PAC man was elected chairman and a White student was elected vice-chairman. Shortly after they were elected, Mbeki clashed with his superior in Dar-es-Salam, James Hadebe over SASA’s non-racialism. Hadebe instructed Mbeki to disband SASA and set up a new organization. Mbeki declined, suggesting that youth organizations such as SASA can be used by underground ANC structures. In 1965, Mbeki drafted a political document outlining the imperatives of mobilizing already-existing youth and student organizations to fight against apartheid.
The ANC leadership accepted Mbeki’s argument and in 1966 the ANC Youth and Student Section (ANC YSS) was formed with Mbeki as leader in Britain. The ANC YSS had two main objectives: looking after the welfare of the ANC youth and mobilizing youth against apartheid internationally. ANC YSS leaders would later play critical roles in the country’s transition to a democracy. They included Billy Modise, Joe Nhlanhla who would become Mbeki’s first minister of intelligence and who was the chair of the ASA in Moscow, Jackie Selebi and many others.
In Moscow, Sipho Makana was elected as the leader of the ANC YSS by the ANC headquarters in Tanzania. Manto Mali (later Tshabalala-Msimang), who would later become a health minister under Mbeki’s administration, Vera Gule, Petrus Sibande, Sindiso Mfenyane, Thabo Ragape and Max Sisulu, the son to Walter and Albetina Sisulu, were among ANC students who were in Moscow. There was a general feeling that ASA students were different from uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) recruits as they were always isolated, while MK recruits were normally in large groups in camps.
In the 1980s, the mobilization of the youth was led by the Congress of South African Students (COSAS). In 1983, after the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) that became home to hundreds of organizations united against the repressive apartheid regime, COSAS and Azanian Students Organisation (AZASO) formed a progressive youth alliance. Throughout the Eighties, students and youths would actively defy apartheid in the face of imprisonment, torture and murder, earning them the name “Young Lions of the Struggle”, a term coined by Oliver Tambo.
The ANC set up a national committee to unite all youth congresses in a National Youth Organisation. On March 28, 1987, with the country restrained by a national state of emergency imposed by the apartheid government, the South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) was secretly established in Cape Town. Peter Mokaba, a former political prisoner on Robben Island, was appointed as president of SAYCO and Rapu Molekane as general secretary. The organization worked hard to achieve the unbanning of the ANC, and that goal became a reality in February 1990. Subsequently, the unbanning of the ANC prompted the re-establishment of the ANCYL by a Provisional National Youth Committee set up for this purpose. In 1991, the Youth League was re-launched with a view to supporting negotiations during the transition to democracy, with Peter Mokaba as president. Mokaba was in turn succeeded by Lulu Johnson, Malusi Gigaba, Fikile Mbalula and Julius Malema.
After 1994, the League’s aims were redefined as mobilizing the youth behind the ANC vision of the country’s future, and looking after their socio-economic interests. The League has come to be viewed as an influential component within the broader ANC, and providing a training ground for future ANC leaders. This role was recognized by Jacob Zuma who came to power as South Africa's president on the wings of vociferous ANCYL support.
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