The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

state of anonymity to their true status as builders of civilisation”. In his address to the
conference, Tabata traced “the whole developmental pattern of western society”. He
ended the lesson in history and social development with the argument that “in order to
succeed in our task of liberation”, it was necessary for APDUSA to link itself
“dynamically and inseparably with the labouring classes”. 171 When the NEUM executive
made the decision at the beginning of 1963 (following Tabata’s secret overseas trip) to
embark on armed struggle, APDUSA was designated “as the main vehicle” for
implementing the new approach. Nevertheless, establishing an army was seen as
secondary to the “political mobilisation of the oppressed”, which would remain
APDUSA’s “main function”. 172
In order to execute its plans, the NEUM executive decided to send Tabata to Dar‐es‐
Salaam with Jane Gool and Nathaniel Honono to petition the newly created African
Liberation Committee (ALC) of the OAU in Tanzania for recognition. 173 Once recognised
as a liberation movement, the NEUM would be eligible for material assistance for its
plans for political and armed struggle, and would have a platform to ask for further
assistance from newly independent African governments. The upshot of the NEUM’s
efforts at achieving recognition from the OAU was that it was rebuffed, because it had
dared to argue that “the struggle must be conducted in such a way as to save us from
neo‐colonialism”, and because it was “not known by the world”. The response of the
NEUM was immediately to “plead guilty to these charges” as “the poorest group of
organisations in South Africa”. Tabata and his colleagues immediately drafted a
response aimed at “chang[ing] the mind of the ALC “in the name of an oppressed
nation”. 174 In the process they explained why there might have been lack of knowledge
of the NEUM:
We are not known by the outside world because the agencies
for publicity are in the hands of the same groups who regard
171 Ilizwi LeSizwe, Vol 1, no 6, May/June 1962.
172 Robin Kayser and Mohamed Adhikari, ‘“Land and Liberty!”’, p 8.
173 ‘South Africa: A Memorandum submitted to Committee of Nine by the All‐African Convention and
Non‐European Unity Movement’.
174 ‘Statement by the AAC and NEUM justifying their rights to the funds voted by the Liberation
Committee of Nine’, December 1963, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
385