ADDRESS BY ANC PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA ON THE OCCASION OF THE MEMORIAL LECTURE ON THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ANC FOURTH PRESIDENT JOSIAH TSHANGANA GUMEDE, DURBAN, April 19 2012

The Gumede family,
National Chairperson and Members of the National Executive Committee,
ANC provincial Chairperson Comrade Zweli Mkhize and the provincial leadership,
Representatives of all the Leagues of the ANC
Alliance leadership,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Comrades and friends,
Distinguished guests,
Good afternoon, sanibonani nonke.

We meet here today, during the most important month in the history of our country, the month of April which also happens to be our Freedom Month, when we celebrate the birth of democracy and freedom in South Africa and also honour heroes who made our freedom possible. 

During this month we also celebrate, salute and honour the memories of our heroes Oliver Reginald Tambo, Chris Hani and Solomon Mahlangu who all passed away during the month of April.

Without their contributions, sacrifices and courage we will not be enjoying the freedom that we have today.

We also honour all unsung heroes and heroines of our struggle and millions of ordinary people who through their struggles ensured that we gained our freedom.

The ANC took a decision last year to hold memorial lectures on each of its presidents as part of the centenary celebrations.

The decision was taken because ANC presidents and the collectives they led represent a particular era or epoch in the history of the movement and the country.

We also added, however, that we would also celebrate the ANC centenary through holding lectures on other ANC leaders who were not necessarily presidents or office bearers but who played a distinguished role in the struggle for liberation.

We are happy to join you today as we reflect on the life of Josiah Tshangana Gumede, the fourth President of the ANC.

President Gumede's life is a typical depiction of the adage that revolutionaries are not born, but are produced by the struggle.

His views, political philosophy and ideological development were shaped by his experiences in the quest for freedom, liberty and justice.

Josiah Tshangana Gumede is better known as the ANC President who consciously led the national movement closer to the working class organisations, the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) and the labour movement during his national presidency from 1927 to 1930.

He also decided to actively promote the formation of an alliance between the ANC and the Communist Party before his election into its presidency in 1927. He was a man who was far ahead of his time politically and organisationally.

His remarkable contributions to the liberation struggle lasted more than five decades.

During that period, he distinguished himself as an outspoken champion of the oppressed and exploited working people of South Africa.

CHILDHOOD AND EARLY POLITICAL CAREER

President Josiah Gumede was born on 9 October 1867in Healdtown in Fort Beaufort in the Cape Colony, now known as the Eastern Cape.

His father, John Tshangana Gumede was the descendant of Khondlo, the father of Phakathwayo,inkosi yama Qwabe, that was defeated by King Shakaduring the latter's early days as King of the Zulus.

His forebears had reached the Eastern Cape as a result of the so-called Mfecane wars, and had become converts into Christianity or amakholwa, as a result of which Gumede received education in Healdtown, a Wesleyan Mission.

He inherited an entrepreneurial spirit from his father, who had started a transport business in Grahamstown.

His outstanding academic achievements earned him scholarships. He studied at the prestigious Mullins Institute, an African wing of the St Andrews College inGrahamstown and at the famous Lovedale College inHealdtown for his teacher training.

He was an outstanding teacher and taught in Somerset East in the Eastern Cape and later in Adams College in Natal.

He was also a keen and talented musician who led a Zulu choir on a tour of Europe in 1892. The entourage regarded themselves as 'civilized subjects of the Crown'.

However, they were disappointed by their exposure to racial and colour prejudices in London, where contemptuous local newspapers referred to the choir as 'togt kaffirs.'

This was the beginning of disillusionment that led toGumede's determination to fight against colonial domination.

TRADITIONAL LEADERS AND LAND DISPOSSESSION

President Gumede's travel abroad effectively ended his teaching career.

He began to dedicate his time to fighting colonial repression as it affected the Zulu kingdom, as he was also seriously affected by the injustices meted by the settler communities against the Zulu royal family and local communities.

The Zulu royal family had been under siege for almost two decades since the invasion of the Zulu kingdom in 1879, and its subsequent destruction from the 1880s onwards. 

President Gumede began to act as a negotiator and advisor to King Dinizulu against illegal land encroachment by the Boers in their quest for creating a sea port for the Transvaal Boer Republic via St Lucia.

Instead of giving any support, the British moved to annex whatever remained of Zululand to bolster their own position. No progress was made.

Later, President Gumede went to settle in Bergville where he fought on behalf of the local traditional leaders and their people against an oppressive magistrate system designed by Sir Theophilus Shepstone to divide and rule the native population. Shepstone was calleduSomtsewu kaSonzica by the Zulus.

Like many Africans at the time, President Gumede believed himself to be a loyal subject of the British crown. In this regard, he joined the British soldiers during the Anglo-Boer war, as a commander of the non-combatant trackers consisting largely of scouts drafted from local Basotho and Zulu convert communities.

On retirement, Gumede and the fellow scouts or intelligence officers were disappointed by discrimination displayed against them. The rewards promised by the British Colonial office including the restoration of land for dispossessed communities were not honoured.

Family sources insist that it was Gumede, who, as chief of scouts disguised in imvunulo, slipped undetected behind the Boer soldier's lines on foot and was able to alert the British office in Durban of the siege in Ladysmith during the Anglo-Boer War.

This resulted in the arrival of reinforcements that relieved the British forces.

Despite this, all efforts to seek recognition from British Authorities for their role in that war, came to nought.

These are some of the experiences that shaped the life of the young Josiah Gumede, making him to realise never to take the colonialists at their word.

BIRTH OF NEW FORMS OF STRUGGLE

The deepening political oppression and economic exploitation of the working people in the immediate aftermath of the mineral revolution in southern Africa convinced President Gumede that he should quit teaching and devote his time to the struggle on a full-time basis.

He was a student of history, and he learnt that a different strategy was needed to pursue the fight against colonial oppression, land dispossession and racial prejudice.

The centrality of the authority of kings and traditional leadership structures in preserving the sovereignty and defending our people against colonial oppression had been irreversibly and permanently undermined.

In 1899 Josiah Gumede, Martin Luthuli, Saul Msane andHarriette Colenso met and discussed the need to form a modern African political organisation. Its primary objective was to be the defence of the Zulu royal family in general and to fight against the denial of human freedom and dignity to the African people in particular.

The meeting took place against the background of the trial and conviction of Prince Ndabuko and PrinceShingana kaMpande as well as King DinizulukaCetshwayo at Eshowe a decade earlier on 27 April 1889. They were sentenced to serve prison terms at St Helena from 1889 to 1898.

This marked the beginning of an attack on the dignity and the position of King Dinizulu, which culminated in his second imprisonment for the Bhambatha Rebellion of 1906, the stripping of his kingship and his banishment to Middleburg where he ultimately died in 1913.

The Natal Native National Congress was formed in 1901 to fight for human freedom and justice and the restoration of the dignity of the African people, who were continuously dehumanised in the face of rapidly expanding imperial domination, oppression and exploitation.

Josiah Gumede served both as the secretary and deputy-president of the NNNC while Martin Luthuli and Saul Msane, among others, served on its executive committee.

The early generation of African political leaders valued the role of print media.

They used the media as a means of communicating their ideas among themselves and of conveying their views to the colonial authorities, who were often not keen to directly engage them in any serious dialogue.

Josiah Gumede was a journalist and regular columnist who was persuasive in debate and outstanding orator.

As a result of this, President Gumede, like President John Dube, served as the editor of the Ilanga laseNataliand Abatho Batho newspapers.

THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS IS BORN

The highly active President Josiah Gumede also played a prominent role in the South African Native Convention which black political leaders formed in 1909, in response to the formation of the ‘whites only' South African Convention two years earlier in 1907.

The whites only convention laid the foundations upon which the South African black majority would be denied citizenship when the Afrikaner and English came together to form the racist Union of South Africa in 1910.   

And around that time, Pixley ka Isaka Seme made the historic call for all our people to unite and defeat the demon of tribalism.

This led to the meeting in Mangaung in 1912 where the South African Native National Congress was formed, with John Langalibalele Dube as the first President.

Josiah Gumede was elected into the national executive committee (NEC) of the organisation from its formation in 1912 and served in its structures until 1930.

He engaged in numerous campaigns such as the 1913 Native Land Act which had squeezed more than 80% of the black population into about 10 percent of the land.

Because of the disastrous failure of the deputation he led to London in 1906 to assist the Basotho kings, President Gumede opposed the decision for another delegation to be sent to Britain in 1914 led by Dr JohnDube, to protest against the 1913 Land Act, which was a failure as he predicted.

However, in 1919, together with Sol Plaatjie, Gumede was persuaded by Congress to be part of the ANC delegation to Britain.

The purpose was to petition the British king against the Land Act, Native administration Bill, the Native Urban Areas Bill, the disenfranchisement of the Africans and the Pass Laws.

During the visit, an extensive network of contacts was built with sympathetic and influential figures including members of the British Labour Party, African intellectuals and nationalist leaders from the West Africa in British and French colonies as well as the African Diaspora.

They also attended the International Brotherhood Congress convened to generate support for ideas embodied in the League of Nations.

During this trip the delegation managed to hold meetings with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister at the time.

They hoped to persuade the British to see reason and switch their support from the white minority regime to the broad black majority in South Africa.

Again the British failed to treat African grievances with the seriousness they deserved. This turned President Gumede into one of the most radical critics of British imperialism in particular and western imperialism in general by the end of the 1920s.

A report was tabled to the disappointed ANC, then led by President Sefako Makgatho.

WORKER STRUGGLES AND MILITANCY EMERGE

On his return from the London trip, President Gumede made contact with King Solomon kaDinizulu, and helped him with the formation of the Inkatha cultural movement in 1921. 

Inkatha was reintroduced in the 1970s, and later it became the Inkatha Freedom Party.

President Gumede became a vocal and regular critic of the policies of settler Jan Smuts' regime, debating in the media and ANC platforms, at times differing with some in the ANC leadership on the best strategy to pursue.

He was elected President of the ANC in Natal at a conference held in Escourt on 16 April 1924. He held the position until 1927.

The collective he led included leaders such as Alexander Maduna who was known for radical ideas and fiery speeches signalling a departure from a reconciliatory approach of the ANC at the time.

The new leadership took a conscious decision to market itself as the champions of the common people as opposed to their predecessors who were portrayed as having catered mainly for the interests of the African lower middle classes.

One way of expressing this solidarity with the working people was by insisting that all meetings should be conducted in the African languages, for example in isiZulu in Natal.

The Natal leadership of the ANC announced shortly after its election that it would work closely with the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) and with the Inkatha cultural movement of the time.

President Gumede invited Clemens Kadalie to open up the Industrial Commercial Union (ICU) in Natal and started working very closely with AWG Champion. He had been influenced by the Labour Party during his travel abroad.

This era saw increased labour activity in the Gold Reef and protest activities against Hertzog taxation policies and oppressive laws spreading to Natal colony.

President Gumede travelled all over the country reporting about his travels and criticizing the oppressive policies and agitated for action in ANC meetings.

He had realised as early as the 1920s that mass mobilisation and proper organisation rather than deputations and petitions were the most appropriate path to follow in the course of the struggle for freedom and justice.

He was also quick to grasp the importance of the African working class as part of the motive forces in the struggle for freedom, human dignity and justice.

It therefore comes as no surprise that he actively participated in encouraging the African mine workers' strike on the Rand in the early 1920s period.

EMERGENCE OF A REVOLUTIONARY ORGANISATION -THE ALLIANCE AND INTERNATIONALISM

In 1927, the ANC had lost all faith in the British Government when President ZR Mahabane stated in ANC meeting held in Bloemfontein in January 1927, that:

  'the significance of the Balfour Declaration is that we can no longer turn to British Parliament with our grievances against the Union Parliament.'

The era of delegations and deputations had ended.

In his capacity as the Deputy President of the ANC and its Natal President, President Gumede accompanied James A. La Guma, a Cape member of the ANC and member of the Communist Party of South Africa, and D.Colraine of the South African Trade Union Congress (SATUC) to the inaugural congress of the League against Imperialism held in Brussels in Belgium from 10 to 15 February 1927.

He was thoroughly impressed by the support that the communist delegates to this congress gave to the colonised peoples in various parts of the world. This convinced him that communists could become valuable allies in the liberation struggle in South Africa.

In an address he made in Brussels Gumede said:

'I am happy to say that there are communists in South Africa. I myself am not one, but it is my experience that it is the Communist Party that stands behind us and from which we can expect something. We know there are now two powers at work; imperialism and the workers' republic in Russia. We hear little about the latter, although we would like to know more about it. But we take interest and will soon find out who we have to ally ourselves with.'

President Gumede's experience in struggle had changed his view from his earlier critical statements about communists. Like other conservatives within the ANC he had been sceptical about communists.

From Brussels, the South African delegation went to Berlin in Germany where they again addressed many rallies organised by the German Communist Party.

They used this platform to generate support for the cause and were emboldened by the support of the international community.

On return, President Gumede started encouraging a closer working relationship with the Communist Party of South Africa and agitated for militancy in challenging the oppressive laws, though President Mahabane still advocated for restraint.

Before they returned to South Africa in April 1927, the ANC had received an invitation to attend the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917.

Josiah Gumede was elected unopposed as the fourth President General of the ANC at its conference in Bloemfontein (Mangaung) in June 1927.

His election to the Presidency of the ANC meant that he would lead the ANC delegation to the celebrations in October 1927.

However, by the time of his election as President of the ANC, President Gumede and his leadership collective had already unwittingly alienated a significant section of its conservative leaders, particularly the traditional leadership in the ANC.

Conservative members did not wish to associate with Communists, while the younger members especially workers called for more militant action to challenge the Union Government.

Shortly after his election, he appealed for unity within the ranks of the ANC.

He was fully aware of the existence of moderate and conservative wings which could distract the movement from its historic task of rallying and mobilising the masses of all the oppressed people of South Africa behind a clear programme of action to fight for freedom and justice for all.

In calling for tolerance of divergence views, President Gumede had fully grasped the political dynamics of a multi-class national liberation movement. He understood the need to submerge the individual interests in deference to greater cause of freedom and justice.

The political conditions had changed.

During the early twenties the rapid industrialization resulted in the rise of working class militancy.  President Gumede realised the need for both unity of the whole organisation and the need to infuse militancy in taking the struggle forward.

However, political developments of the time and especially the imminent trip to the Soviet Union in October 1927 rendered these appeals for unity of purpose and unity in action impractical for at least the next few years and a decade.

The most important turning point for both the ANC and the Communist Party occurred with the meeting of James La Guma with the Communist International (Comintern) including its President Bukharin.

Comintern insisted that the Communist Party had to work for the majority rule in South Africa in the firstinstance, and then aim at the second stage of the socialist revolution.

La Guma returned with a draft resolution defining the Union of South Africa as a British Dominion of a colonial type and went on to call for the creation of an independent native South African Republic with full equal rights for all races.

The seeds had been sown to begin exploring the idea of an alliance between the Communist Party and the ANC.

This was to transform the ANC into a revolutionary nationalist organization, laying the foundation of the National Democratic Revolution, under the leadership of the African National Congress.

Needless to say that the debate that followed resulted in divisions in both ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa at the time.

The Black Republic Thesis, a new political analysis, also emerged within the ranks of the CPSA in the 1920s, which began to define South Africa as a ‘colonialism of a special-type'.

In terms of this thesis, the Communist Party advanced an analysis which maintained that South Africa was a unique form of colonialism in that both the coloniser and the colonised were sharing the same geographical space. This then made it necessary for all progressive forces to engage simultaneously in both the national and class struggles.

This was necessary because the vast majority of the people who happened to be black were suffering national oppression as a race and economic or class exploitation as members of the emerging working class.

While this analysis made it possible for the Gumede Presidency to forge a close working relationship between the ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa, it further alienated the conservative sections of the ANC leadership, which began to rally its forces against President Gumede.

In October 1927, President Gumede attended the tenth anniversary celebrations of the Russian revolution in Moscow. He  met the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin and toured the Soviet Union.

He was impressed by the conditions in Georgia, Stalin's birthplace, and how all people worked together for social development and progress.

His positive experiences there led him to label the Soviet Union in his famous speech:

 "I have seen the new Jerusalem."

Up until then, President Gumede had merely expressed support for an alliance between the national movement and the Communist Party but refrained from joining it himself.

When the South African communists formed the League of African Rights in 1929, he joined it and he was elected its President.

This drew the attention of the South African Police towards him even more than before and further alienated the conservative sections of the ANC leadership.

They began to hatch out a plan to oust him from the Presidency at the next national conference.

He tried unsuccessfully to salvage the situation by purposely distancing himself from communism during public engagements with government in 1929. However, the tactic backfired.

Instead of winning the hearts and minds of the conservative sections of the ANC leadership this approach created more problems for him as it also alienated him from his communist allies.

Gumede was outvoted and replaced with Pixley kaIsaka Seme as President General at the next elective conference of the ANC in April 1930.

It is clear that the Gumede era was far too early for an alliance with the Communist Party to be accepted within the ranks of the ANC.

It would take more than two decades before the birth of a proper alliance under the leadership of Presidents Chief Albert John Luthuli and Oliver Reginald Tambo from 1952.

President Gumede remained politically active within the ranks of the ANC between the loss of his Presidency and his death in 1947.

He chaired meetings, managed a newspaper and gave public speeches on the struggle for freedom and justice.

President Gumede left a powerful legacy for the ANC.

Although he often angered his adversaries within the ranks of the ANC, he laid the foundations upon which the alliance would later grow from strength to strength throughout the long period of struggle for human freedom and dignity of the vast majority of the South African population.

The solid and unique Alliance between the ANC, the South African Communist Party and the Trade Union Movement has its roots in the change in philosophical outlook brought about by President Gumede.

He taught us that the cooperation of all progressive class forces is essential if the ANC is to fulfil its historic task of achieving the national democratic revolution in South Africa.

He influenced the transformation of the ANC into a mass based, militant and revolutionary organization, which began to win international solidarity.

The relationship with the socialist bloc and in particular the Communist Party of South Africa proved critical in the survival of the ANC during its days in exile.

He also laid the foundation for deeper political thought, political theory, analysis and engagement within the movement.

Josiah Tshangana Gumede also remains one of the foremost pioneers of the ANC's commitment to mass mobilisation and people-centred programmes.

The adoption of a militant Programme of Action, spearheaded by the ANC Youth league led by the likes of Walter Sisulu, Anton Lembede, Oliver Tambo,  Nelson Mandela and others, have all their roots in the activism that was pioneered by a revolutionary that was ahead of his time, President Josiah Gumede.

Issued by the ANC, April 19 2012

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