The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

marginality. Among the materials in the office were pamphlets, newsletters and
books, the distribution of which seemed to be one of the main activities.
Amid the reading materials were piles of publications written by Tabata. On the
walls were photocopied poster advertisements: “Education for Barbarism On Sale,
R5.00 only”. Prominent on the posters was a copy of the black and white portrait of
Tabata, which graced the backcover of the edition of the book, which had been
republished by the Unity Movement of South Africa (UMSA) in 1980. 1 Photographed
from the chest up, in a pose that had him gazing into the distance, and dressed up in
a grey suit, with horn‐rimmed spectacles and a pen prominent in his pocket, this was
an image of Tabata as political leader, possibly from the early 1970s, turned into a
realm of memory. 2 On the back covers of the piles of Tabata books, the late UMSA
and APDUSA president was described as an “indefatigable organiser, orator and
writer”, who had been “very active in the national struggle of the oppressed blacks
for over forty years”. 3 Amid the scattered evidence of intermittent political work, the
name of I.B. Tabata, as late political leader and chief author of the movement, and
narrations of his life history, had a prominent position, albeit on the margins of post‐
apartheid South African political life.
Not far away, in downtown Cape Town, on the edge of District Six, another image of
I.B. Tabata was put on display. A large portrait of Tabata was installed as part of a
Portrait Gallery, one of the display features of an exhibition, Digging Deeper, which
1 I.B. Tabata, Education for Barbarism: Bantu (Apartheid) Education in South Africa (London and
Lusaka: Unity Movement of South Africa, 1980; first published by Prometheus, South Africa, 1959
and by Pall Mall, UK, 1960). Other publications by Tabata available for sale included The
Awakening of a People; Imperialist Conspiracy in Africa; ‘The Rehabilitation Scheme: A New Fraud’;
The Boycott as Weapon of Struggle; ‘Freedom Struggle in South Africa’ and Apartheid: Cosmetics
Exposed. UMSA became the convenient name of the NEUM after the name ‘Unity Movement’ or
‘UM’ was decided upon in 1964 by exiled members. It was felt that the category ‘Non‐European’
had become outmoded and it was necessary to identify the South African specificity of the
organisation as part of their agitation (I.B Tabata to Dora Taylor, 11 August 1964, I.B. Tabata
Collection, BC 925; Interview with Alie and Ursula Fataar, Harare, 19 July 1992). See also I.B.
Tabata, The Awakening of a People, Nottingham: Spokesman Books, 1974.
2 See the discussion of the concept ‘realm of memory’ in Chapter Two.
3 I.B. Tabata, Education for Barbarism, back cover.
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