The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

under his own name. The terms of his banning did not proscribe open written
expression. There was no need to conceal or refrain from a claim on authorship. He was
already personally the subject of repressive attention. And Tabata did indeed think of
himself as an author of works, and referred to Education for Barbarism as his “Magnum
Opus Minimum”. 157
This time, there was clear evidence of a commercial element in the publication, and a
few weeks before its release, Tabata received a cheque for ₤100. 158 A formal publisher,
Prometheus Printers and Publishers, which was a commercial operation in spite of its
close connections with the movement, published the booklet. 159 The inclusion of the
phrase “All Rights Reserved” opposite the title page made it clear that private
intellectual property rights and copyright were being claimed. Tabata and Dora Taylor
kept in touch with Neville Alexander, who was studying in Germany, about a German
translation and edition, and Alexander was also interested to ensure the booklet’s
distribution in Britain. 160 There were also indications that the American publishing
company, Knopf, may have been interested in an overseas edition. Tabata and
Prometheus entered into a formal contract over rights, obligations and mechanisms in
the event of any further releases of Education for Barbarism. In the meantime, the book
was sold through bookshops and mainly through an order form system. 161
In spite of – and, in some ways, because of – the isolation of his ban, and following on
from the processes of individuation set in motion by his other publications in the 1950s,
157 I.B. Tabata, Pocket Diary, entry for 5 September 1958, I.B Tabata Collection, BC 925. Tabata’s 1957
text on university apartheid was also incorporated.
158 I.B. Tabata, Pocket Diary, entries for 26 March, 13 April and 2 May 1959, I.B Tabata Collection, BC
925. Tabata was certainly concerned about how he would earn a living during his ban (I.B. Tabata to
Wycliffe Tsotsi, 20 March 1956, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925).
159 I.B. Tabata, Education for Barbarism: Bantu Education in South Africa, Durban: Prometheus Printers
and Publishers, 1959. One of the proprietors of PPP was AAC Assistant Treasurer, Enver Hassim,
whose partner, Zulei Christopher, was Jane Gool’s niece. In his correspondence, Tabata addressed
them jointly as ‘Zulenver’.
160 I.B. Tabata to Neville Alexander, 4 December 1958; Neville Alexander to Dora Taylor, 11, 24 & 25
May 1959, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925. Taylor spent the period April‐August 1959 in England.
161 I.B. Tabata to Enver Hassim, 16 March 1959; Zulei Christopher to Dora Taylor (in England), 27 May
1959, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
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