The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

on the English published price, “plus a substantial proportion of what is paid for the
American edition.” 163
Inside the South African edition, Tabata had been named as the author of other works,
and a list comprising The Awakening, ‘The Boycott’ and ‘The Rehabilitation Scheme’ was
given opposite the title page. In May 1959, Zulei Christopher reported to Dora Taylor –
who was in England for four months ‐ that a party had been held “to launch the new
book of ‘the author of many books’”. Speeches had been made by Tabata himself and by
“our people from the country”, including one which “commended Tabata for having
once again added to our literature in spite of his ban”. The celebration of the booklet’s
release was an event that honoured Tabata as someone who “was able to overcome …
the effects [of the ban] and make yet another contribution to our struggle”. 164 The May
1959 issue of Ikhwezi advertised Tabata’s booklet for sale and promoted it as “a
penetrating analysis of Bantu Education”, and in October 1961, Ilizwi LeSizwe announced
that a “limited number” were still available. 165 In June 1959, while still in England, Dora
Taylor passed on “information” about Tabata to an academic, who she had identified as
a potential reviewer of the booklet. 166 Authorship was indeed a harbinger of Tabata’s
biography. In addition, the promotion of Tabata as author in his own name was a
prelude to promoting him as a political leader of the movement, and not so much as the
‘cultured African’ social commentator that Pall Mall Press had hoped for.
As if to demonstrate that his main commitment was to projecting a collective political
vision and rebuilding a political movement, Tabata spent two weeks in July and the
beginning of August 1960 writing about the politics of the Pan‐Africanist Congress
“adventure” that had “exploded on the South African scene”. He had felt “teased by the
idea” of doing so. He felt that “so many people” had been “swept off their feet” by
“recent events” that “an assessment” was necessary. As a pamphlet, he felt it “could
163 John H. MacCallum Scott, Pall Mall Press Limited (Essex, Britain) to I.B. Tabata, 27 June 1960, I.B.
Tabata Collection, BC 925.
164 Zulei Christopher to Dora Taylor, 27 May 1959, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
165 Ikhwezi Lomso, vol 2, No 5, May 1959; Ilizwi LeSizwe, Vol 1, No 2, 18 October 1961.
166 Dora Taylor to Professor Tingsten, 10 June 1959, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
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