1939 Africa

Africa

Democratic Republic of the Congo

(Zaire)

(Belgian Congo)

At the start of the World War II, the population of the Congo numbered approximately 12 million black people and 30,000 whites. The colonial government segregated the population along racial lines and there was very little mixing between the races. The white population was highly urbanized and, in Leopoldville, the capital, lived in a quarter of the city separated from the black majority. All blacks in the city had to adhere to a curfew. 

Education was overwhelmingly controlled by Protestant and Catholic missions, which were also responsible for providing limited medical and welfare support to the rural Congolese. Food remained unrationed during the war, with only the sales of tires and automobiles restricted by the government. One of the consequences of the Congo's economic mobilization during the war, particularly for the black population, was significant urbanization. Just nine percent (9%) of the indigenous population lived in cities in 1938; by 1950, the figure stood at close to twenty percent (20%). 

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*Laurent Kabila, the leader of a rebellion that overthrew President Mobutu Sese Seko and the subsequent President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was born in Jadotville, Belgian Congo (November 27).

Laurent Kabila, in full Laurent Desire Kabila (b. November 27, 1939, Jadotville, Belgian Congo [now Likasi, Democratic Republic of the Congo] —  d. January 18, 2001, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo) was born into the Luba tribe in the southern province of Katanga. He studied political philosophy at a French university and attended the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, where he met and formed a friendship with Yoweri Museveni, the future president of Uganda. In 1960, Kabila became a youth leader in a political party allied to Congo’s first post-independence prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. In 1961, Lumumba was deposed by Mobutu and later killed. Assisted for a time in 1964 by guerrilla leader Che Guevara, Kabila helped Lumumba supporters lead a revolt that was eventually suppressed in 1965 by the Congolese army led by Mobutu, who seized power later that year. In 1971, Mobutu renamed the country Zaire. In 1967, Kabila founded the People’s Revolutionary Party, which established a Marxist territory in the Kivu region of eastern Zaire and managed to sustain itself through gold mining and ivory trading. When the enterprise came to an end during the 1980s, he ran a business selling gold in Dar es Salaam.

In the mid-1990s Kabila returned to Zaire and became leader of the newly formed Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire. As opposition to the dictatorial leadership of Mobutu grew, he rallied forces consisting mostly of Tutsi from eastern Zaire and marched west toward the capital city of Kinshasa, forcing Mobutu to flee the country. On May 17, 1997, Kabila installed himself as head of state and reverted the country’s name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

As president, Kabila initially banned political activity but in May 1998 promulgated a decree that established a national constituent and legislative assembly. The subsequent arrest of oppositionists, however, undermined the apparent move toward democracy, and allegations of human-rights abuses against Kabila’s forces continued. In August 1998 the Banyamulenge, people of Tutsi origin who had helped bring Kabila to power, launched an open rebellion in the eastern part of the country. Resentful of Kabila’s seeming favoritism to members of his own ethnic group and fearful of reprisals from rival factions, they were supported by the governments of Uganda and Rwanda, which had been angered by Kabila’s failure to prevent raiders from threatening their borders. Though a cease-fire was reached in July 1999, sporadic fighting continued.

On January 16, 2001, Kabila was shot by a bodyguard at his presidential palace in Kinshasa. Initial accounts stated that he was killed during the attack, but Congolese officials denied the reports. On the 18th, however, it was announced that Kabila had died while on an airplane en route to Harare, Zimbabwe. On January 26, 2001, his son, Joseph Kabila, was inaugurated as Congo’s president.

Ethiopia

In 1939, the Polizia Coloniale became the "Polizia dell'Africa Italiana" (Police of Italian Africa), or PAI, and received armored cars, light tanks (tankettes), motorcycles, motor-tricycles and cars, in total they were about 1,000 vehicles and as many motorcycles.

At the outbreak of World War II the PAI had 7,672 men, of which 6,345 were in AOI (Eritrea, Ethiopia and Italian Somalia) and 1,327 were in ASI (Italian Libya). The bulk of the force consisted of indigenous personnel who were trained and equipped to the same standard as Italian personnel. There were 5,142 indigenous personnel, 4,414 from AOI and 732 from ASI.

The PAI fought bravely during World War II in the Italian colonies and in Italy.

During World War II, the PAI fought as a combat unit alongside the Italian Army. For the garrison of the Libyan littoral way, at the outbreak of the conflict, two companies on motorcycles and an armored car were assigned to the Exploring Unit of the CAM (Corpo armato di manovra) Battalion "Romolo Gessi".  They had little good fortune, however, since, after a sudden enemy attack, numerous soldiers were hit by friendly fire from German aircraft. The battalion retired to Tripolitania and was converted into a mixed company. Several units participated in war actions, at Tripoli, Benghazi, Barce, but the details regarding effective employment are insufficient.

Guinea-Bissau
(Portuguese Guinea)

*Joao Vieira, the President of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1984, was born in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea.

João Bernardo Vieira (“Nino”), (b. April 27, 1939, Bissau, Portuguese Guinea [now Guinea-Bissau]—died March 2, 2009, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau) a Guinean politician who was president (1980–99 and 2005–09) of his country, but ethnic tensions, rivalries within the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), and ongoing conflict between Vieira and the military led to his temporary exile in 1999–2005 and to his eventual assassination. Vieira, a member of the minority Papel ethnic community, trained as an electrician before joining (in 1960) PAIGC and fighting in the liberation war against the colonial power, Portugal. After independence in 1974, he served as Guinea-Bissau’s minister of defense (1974–78) and prime minister (1978–80), and in 1980 he took control in a bloodless coup against President Luís Cabral. Having achieved a modicum of economic and political stability, Vieira won the country’s first multi-party presidential vote in 1994 and was re-elected four years later. He was overthrown in 1999, but another coup in 2003 expedited his return from exile in Portugal. Running as an independent, Vieira was unexpectedly returned to power in the 2005 presidential poll. He survived an assassination attempt in November 2008, but on March 2, 2009, one day after the army chief of staff died in a bomb attack, Vieira was shot dead by government soldiers.

Mozambique

(Portuguese East Africa)

*Joaquim Chissano, a Mozambican politician who became the second President of Mozambique, was born in Malehice, Portuguese East Africa (October 22).

Joaquim Alberto Chissano (b. October 22, 1939, Malehice, Portuguese East Africa [Mozambique]) was the second President of Mozambique, serving from 1986 to 2005. He is credited with transforming the war-torn country of Mozambique into one of the most successful African democracies. After his presidency, Chissano became an elder statesman, envoy and diplomat for both his home country and the United Nations. Chissano also served as Chairperson of the African Union from 2003 to 2004.

Joaquim Chissano was born in the remote village of Malehice, Chibuto district, Gaza Province of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique (then called Portuguese East Africa). Chissano was the first black student to attend the only high school in the colony, Liceu Salazar in Lourenço Marques (present-day Maputo). After leaving secondary school, he went to Portugal to study medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. However, his political leanings caused him problems and he moved to Tanzania.

Chissano became "one of the founding members" of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), which demanded autonomy from Portugal.  Later, Chissano played a fundamental role in the negotiation of the Lusaka Accord of 1974, which paved the way for the country's independence in 1975. The new President of Mozambique, Samora Machel, appointed him  to be Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Chissano succeeded to the presidency and became Frelimo party leader in 1986 when Samora Machel's presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain in South Africa. Chissano ended the Mozambican Civil War in 1992 by negotiating a peace treaty with the rebel forces that "promised no prosecutions or punishments" and gave them fifty percent (50%) of the positions in the Mozambican army. The Renamo rebels later established their own political party.

In 1992, Chissano learned the Transcendental Meditation technique and introduced it to other government officials and their families. Two years later, Chissano and his generals ordered all police and military to "meditate twice a day for 20 minutes." In addition, 16,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilians were taught Transcendental Meditation and its advanced technique of Yogic Flying. According to Transcendental Meditation literature, Chissano said the result was "political peace and balance in nature in my country." According to Tobias Dai, the 2001 defence minister, "the effect was overwhelming" and included reduced crime, drought aversion and three times the expected level of economic growth. In 1993 Chissano received an honorary degree from Maharishi Vedic University in MERU, Holland and in 1994 negotiated an agreement with Maharishi Heaven on Earth Development for the agricultural development of 20 million hectares (49,000,000 acres) of "unused land" beginning with 2.5 million acres of timber, cotton and fruit. The 50-year contract promised twenty percent (20%) to forty percent (40%) of the profits for the Mozambique government but other government officials refused the deal. Chissanno was re-elected to the presidency in 1994 and again in 1999, when he defeated the former rebel leader, Afonso Dhlakama. After winning re-election Chissano's priority became poverty eradication but his efforts were complicated by a severe flood in 2001. However, Chissano had a fundamental role in convincing the G8 to write off £22 billion of Mozambique debt in 2005. Chissano chose not to run for a third term in the elections of 2004, although the constitution would have allowed him to do so. During Chissano's presidency, almost 3 million people, about fifteen percent (15%) of the country's citizens were removed from "extreme poverty" and the country achieved an economic growth rate of eight percent. In addition, child mortality rates for children under age five decreased by thirty-five percent (35%) and there was a sixty-five percent (65%) increase in primary school attendance.

After leaving the presidency, Chissano has assumed the role of elder statesman and has campaigned for peace through his work as an envoy and peace negotiator for the United Nations. Chissano served as Chairperson of the African Union from July 2003 to July 2004. On December 4, 2006, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Chissano the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan, to resolve the conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). On Chissano's 68th birthday in 2007, he was awarded the inaugural  $5 million Prize for Achievement in African Leadership awarded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.  Chissano was absent from the award ceremony because he was still working on his United Nations mission in southern Sudan. According to the award's judges "Mr. Chissano's decision not to seek a third presidential term reinforced Mozambique's democratic maturity and demonstrated that institutions and the democratic process were more important than the person".

In 2010, Chissano wrote an article for The Huffington Post about water scarcity in Africa.  Chissano is a member of the Fondation Chirac's honor committee. He also became an independent non-executive director at Harmony Gold Mining, a South African underground and surface gold mining company, as well as an Eminent Member of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation.

In 2014, Chissano spoke out in favor of LGBT rights in Africa.

Nigeria 

*Governor Bourdillon divided Southern Nigeria into the Eastern and Western provinces, each of which later became a region.

Bourdillon divided the south of Nigeria into Eastern and Western provinces in 1939. In the early days in Nigeria the British had governed the north of Nigeria indirectly, through the traditional rulers of the Muslim emirates, and had kept the region somewhat isolated from the outside world. There was perhaps a subconscious view that the feudal society was not ready for the full impact of modern civilization. Bernard Bourdillon decided that this was not a viable policy. In February 1942 he visited the leading Emirs and gave his opinion that they should not say "We will not have the southerners interfering in our affairs" but instead should say "we ought to have at least an equal say with the southerners in advising the Governor as the affairs of the whole country". The emirs accepted this advice.

Bourdillon recognized that the northerners were handicapped in comparison to the southerners by their lack of education and lack of English. Rather than simply expand the Legislative Council to include more northerners, he explored the idea of Regional Councils with a Central Council in Lagos that would review their findings. However, he saw these councils as strictly advisory in nature, saying "a benevolent autocracy is the form of government best suited to a people who are educationally backward and whose religion inculcates a blind obedience to authority". This view of the non-political nature of the regional councils helped alleviate concerns that the proposed federal system would cause antagonism between state and federal authorities. Bourdillon raised the question of whether Nigeria should be further subdivided into more than three regions. Some officials thought that the Tiv and Idoma divisions and most of Kabba province should be detached from the north. Some were in favor of more regions, each more homogenous ethnically, in a similar arrangement to that followed in East Africa. However, no further changes were made before Bourdillon retired in 1943.

South Africa

*The Ossewabrandwag (Ox-Wagon Sentinel) was launched (February 4).

The Ossewabrandwag (OB) (English: Ox-wagon Sentinel) was an anti-British and pro-German organization in South Africa during World War II, which opposed South African participation in the war. It was formed in Bloemfontein on February 4, 1939 by pro-German Afrikaners.

During the 19th century, most of the Boers of the northeastern Cape frontier migrated to the interior, and established the Orange Free State and South African Republic, which were independent of Great Britain. In the Second Boer War (1899–1902), Britain conquered the Boer Republics.  The Netherlands and Germany supported the Boer cause.

After the war, there was a general reconciliation between Afrikaners and Great Britain, culminating in the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, under the leadership of former Boer fighters such as Louis Botha and Jan Smuts (who was of Cape Dutch origin fighting on the side of the Boers). South African troops, including thousands of Afrikaners, served in the British forces during World War I. 

Nonetheless, many Boers remembered the extremely brutal tactics used by Britain in the Boer War and remained resentful of British rule, even loose association with Great Britain as a Dominion.

The chief vehicle of Afrikaner nationalism at this time was the "Purified National Party" of D. F. Malan, which broke away from the National Party when the latter merged with Smuts' South African Party in 1934. Another important element was the Afrikaner Broederbond, a quasi-secret society founded in 1918, and dedicated to the proposition that "the Afrikanervolk has been planted in this country by the Hand of God..."

1938 was the centennial anniversary of the Great Trek (the migration of Boers to the interior). The Ossewabrandwag was established in commemoration of the Trek. Most of the migrants traveled in ox-drawn wagons, hence the group's name. The group's leader was Johannes Van Rensburg, a lawyer who had served as Secretary of Justice under Smuts (as Minister), and was an admirer of Nazi Germany. 

The Boer militants of the Ossebrandwag (OB) were hostile to Britain and sympathetic to Germany. Thus, the OB opposed South African participation in the war, even after the Union declared war in support of Britain in September 1939.

The OB was based on the Fuhrer-principle, fighting against the Empire, the capitalists, the communists, Jews, the party and the system of parliamentarism on the base of national-socialism.

Members of the OB refused to enlist in the South African forces, and sometimes harassed servicemen in uniform. This erupted into open rioting in Johannesburg on February 1, 1941, wherein 140 soldiers were seriously hurt.

More dangerous than this was the formation of the Stormjaers (English: Assault troops), a paramilitary wing of the OB. The nature of the Stormjaers was evidenced by the oath sworn by new recruits: "If I retreat, kill me. If I die, avenge me. If I advance, follow me" (Afrikaans: As ek omdraai, skiet my. As ek val, wreek my. As ek storm, volg my).

The Stormjaers engaged in sabotage against the Union government. They dynamited electrical power lines and railroads, and cut telegraph and telephone lines. These types of acts were going too far for most Afrikaners, and Malan ordered the National Party to break with the OB in 1942.

The Union government cracked down on the OB and the Stormjaers, placing thousands of them in internment camps for the duration of the war. Among the internees was future prime minister B. J. Vorster. 

At the end of the war, the OB was absorbed into the National Party and ceased to exist as a separate body.

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*Hugh Masekela, a South African trumpeter best known for his number one hit Grazing in the Grass, was born in Witbank, South Africa (April 4).

Hugh Masekela (b. April 4, 1939, Witbank, South Africa) South African trumpeter who was one of his country’s most popular instrumentalists. An outspoken opponent of apartheid, he lived in the United States, Europe, and Africa while bringing his own country’s unique rhythms and harmonies to international stages.

Masekela was the son of the chief health inspector of Sharpeville township, who was also a sculptor in wood and owned an extensive jazz record collection. Records by the American trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown inspired Masekela to play bebop with the Jazz Epistles in 1959, a group that included the noted pianist Dollar Brand (later known as Abdullah Ibrahim) and which was the first black band in the country to record an album. When the grip of apartheid tightened the following year, Masekela immigrated to the United States, where he attended the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and began forming his own bands. In the 1960s he arranged for and accompanied his then wife, the singer Miriam Makeba.  He also wrote and played songs in the kwela style, the pop-folk music of the South African townships.

In 1964, Makeba and Masekela were married, divorcing two years later.

He had hits in the United States with the pop jazz tunes "Up, Up and Away" (1967) and the number-one smash "Grazing in the Grass" (1968), which sold four million copies. He also appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival  in 1967, and was subsequently featured in the film Monterey Pop by D. A. Pennebaker.  In 1974, Masekela and friend Stewart Levine organized the Zaire 74 music festival in Kinshasa set around the Rumble in the Jungle boxing match. He also participated as guest artist playing on the song "So you wanna be a rock'n roll star" on the Byrds "Younger than Yesterday" album.

Masekela traveled throughout Africa in the 1970s, becoming involved in the continent’s varieties of music, teaching for a year in Guinea, playing in the band of popular Nigerian performer Fela Ransome-Kuti, recording five albums, and touring with the highlife band Hedzoleh Soundz. In the 1980s, after starring in outdoor concerts in Lesotho and Botswana that drew throngs of both black and white South Africans, he settled in Botswana and set up a mobile recording studio near the South African border in order to record that country’s musicians. He also played on Paul Simon's “Graceland” world tour.  In 1990 he received a telephone call from his sister Barbara, in Johannesburg, reporting that the South African government had declared amnesty for political exiles.  Barbara, herself an exile, had returned home to become Nelson Mandela's chief of staff.

At home in South Africa, Masekela released Hope (1994), his South African band’s revival of his biggest hits over the decades. He followed that with Johannesburg (1995), a departure from his previous work because it featured American-sounding rap, hip-hop, and contemporary urban pop selections. Masekela’s own contribution was limited to jazzy trumpet introductions and backgrounds, when he played at all. His later albums included The Lasting Impressions of Ooga Booga (1996), Revival (2005), and Phola (2009).

In 2004 Masekela published his autobiography, Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela, which was co-written with D. Michael Cheers.

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*Barry Hertzog resigned as Prime Minister (September 5).

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*Jan Smuts replaced J. B. M. Hertzog as Prime Minister of South Africa after Parliament rejected Hertzog's legislation advocating neutrality in the European conflict (September 5).

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*The new Prime Minister, Jan Smuts, led South Africa into the Second World War (September 6).

In the early hours of Friday, September 1, 1939, German troops stormed across the Polish border.  Great Britain and France, bound to the defense of Poland, immediately demanded a German withdrawal from Polish territory.  By Saturday, it was clear that no such withdrawal would occur and that another world war was imminent.

By a fateful coincidence, the South African Parliament, normally in recess, had been summoned for a special session to prolong the life of the Senate that was due to expire on September 5.  The government was aware that at this session it would have to decide finally on South Africa's position in the war, an issue of critical importance to national unity.

With this is mind, Prime Minister Barry Hertzog summoned the twelve members of his cabinet to a meeting at his Groote Schuur residence on the Saturday afternoon of September 2 to discuss the crisis.  At stake were the Fusion Government (a government by the melded South African and National Parties) and five years of work by Jan Smuts and Barry Hertzog to bring about unity between English- and Afrikaans speakers.

Smuts, supported by six ministers, was adamant that while South Africa could refuse to fight, it would be in the country's interest to enter the war as Britain's ally.  Hertzog, backed by the remaining five ministers, was equally determined that the country should remain neutral.  The meeting ended with Hertzog quietly confident that he would command a majority in the house the following Monday. 

A grim atmosphere of crisis hung over the house of Assembly as it opened its proceedings on the morning of September 4, 1939.  Hertzog moved that the house accept that "existing relations between the Union of South Africa and the various belligerent countries [would], in so far as the Union is concerned, persist unchanged and continue as if no war is being waged".  Smuts moved an amendment to the statement in terms of which the Union would declare war on Germany.

As the debate swung back and forth, there seemed reason for Hertzog to feel confident -- but then, unintentionally, he overplayed his hand by moving from a defense of neutrality to an apparent defense of Adolf Hitler.  His opponents were outraged.  Hertzog's gaffe was enought to persuade those who were wavering to throw their support behind Smuts.  The debate finally ended at 9 p.m. when a division (a vote) was called.  By the time the tally was complete, Smuts' amendment had been carried by 80 votes to 67.

The next day (September 5, 1939), Hertzog resigned the premiership and requested that the Governor-General, Patrick Duncan, dissolve Parliament and call a general election.  However, Duncan refused, noting that it was clear that Smuts could form a government from what remained of the Labour and Dominion parties.  Thus, on Wednesday, September 6, 1939, Duncan asked Smuts to form a new government... and South Africa went to war.

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*Breyten Breytenbach, a South African writer considered to be the national poet laureate by Afrikaans-speaking South Africans, was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, South Africa (September 16).

Breyten Breytenbach (b. September 16, 1939, Bonnievale, Western Cape, South Africa) was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape,  approximately 180 kilometers (111 miles) from Cape Town and 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas. His early education was at Hoërskool Hugenoot and he later studied fine arts at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. His committed opposition to apartheid policy compelled him to leave South Africa for Paris, France, in the early 1960s, where he married a French woman of Vietnamese ancestry, Yolande, due to which he was not allowed to return: The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages (1949) and The Immorality Act (1950) made it a criminal offence for a white person to have any sexual relations with a person of a different race. 

On an illegal clandestine trip to South Africa in 1975, Breytenbach was arrested and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for high treason. His work The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist describes aspects of his imprisonment. 

In June 1977 Breytenbach was brought to court again by the South African government on a new series of terrorism charges. It was alleged that he had planned a Russian submarine attack on the prison at Robben Island through the "Okhela Organization",  which he had allegedly founded as a resistance group fighting apartheid in exile. After a successful defense, the judge found a total lack of evidence for the very existence of Okhela – which had been the main charge at the first trial – and so Breytenbach was found not guilty on all serious charges. He was found guilty only on the technical counts of having smuggled out letters and poems, for which a nominal fine of some 50 dollars was imposed.

Released in 1982, he returned to Paris and obtained French citizenship.

He became a visiting professor at the University of Cape Town in the Graduate School of Humanities in January 2000 and also became involved with the Goree Institute in Dakar (Senegal) and with New York University,  where he teaches in the Graduate Creative Writing Program.

Breytenbach's work includes numerous volumes of novels, poetry and essays, many of which are in Afrikaans. Many have been translated from Afrikaans to English, and many were originally published in English. He is also known for his works of pictorial arts. Exhibitions of his paintings and prints have been shown in cities around the world, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris, Brussels, Edinburgh and New York City.

He is the brother of Jan Breytenbach, co-founder of the 1st Reconnaissance Commando of the South African Special Forces, and Cloete Breytenbach, a widely published war correspondent. He is the father of the French journalist Daphnee Breytenbach.

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*Hertzog returned to the Herenigde (Reunited) National Party.