The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

political practice”. Tabata assured her of “the correctness of the step” that they had
taken: “There can be no going back now. We must go forward on that road. Our future
lies in that direction”. 89 And as if to confirm that the new approach marked a shift away
from anonymity in favour of acknowledging and asserting political agency, Tabata
informed Taylor that her decades of selfless political labour in the shadows of obscurity
and isolation were over. After having already ‘come out’ a few months before in being
at Tabata’s side in meetings with potential supporters, now Taylor acquired a formal
status in the movement itself.
From the moment of his return to Cape Town from his secret overseas journey, Tabata
had decided that the time had come for Taylor to be accorded recognition for her work,
and for the cloak of anonymity to be removed. Tabata reminded Taylor of how she used
to worry “that nobody will ever know how hard we worked”. And he agreed people
“had no conception” of her efforts. 90 However, at the beginning of 1963, this began to
change, and Tabata wrote the following words to Taylor:
I have been talking and talking and talking. Now they have a
pretty good idea. I am glad of one thing. For the first time in our
life I have been able to talk about you simply, naturally and
forcefully. For the first time you have taken your rightful place
in the centre of things. It gives me great pleasure to be able to
accord an individual a place due to her. As we grow older we
have no time for extraneous considerations of false modesty. I
myself in talking about it all acquire a fresh sense of
appreciation and a profound respect for a comrade whose
single‐mindedness and devotion developed under conditions of
anonymity without the aid of public acclaim or the ambition
spurred by the foot‐lights of public performances. 91
A few days later, at the NEUM’s extended executive conference, which was “the most
interesting and successful gathering of the tribes for many years”, Tabata made a
presentation in which he “held the floor for 5 hours”. In his speech, “for the first time”,
89 I.B. Tabata to Dora Taylor, 7 January 1963, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
90 I.B. Tabata to Dora Taylor, 2 January 1963, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
91 I.B. Tabata to Dora Taylor, 2 January 1963, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
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