The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

he was able “to put D in the centre publicly”. “From now on”, he wrote to Taylor, “there
is no more isolation or anonymity”. 92
In the succeeding months in 1963, there were intermittent moments when Taylor
stepped back into the necessary anonymity of her pseudonym, ‘Anna Jack’. This was the
name with which she communicated with the Tanganyikan Ministry of External Affairs
and Defence about Tabata, Jane Gool and Nathaniel Honono’s arrival in Dar‐es‐Salaam
after they had found refuge in Swaziland for two months. 93 On two occasions in 1965
and once in 1971, Taylor again made use of her old 1952 pseudonym, Nosipho Majeke. 94
But by then, in some ways, Taylor had almost affectionately adopted this Nguni version
of her birth name as part of her own acquired Africanness. Apart from these cases,
Taylor began to engage publicly as a leader of the Unity Movement in her own name. In
July 1964, she joined Tabata and other Unity Movement members in Cairo at a hearing
under the auspices of the OAU Council of Ministers. 95 And in August 1964, Taylor was
made a member of the executive of the Unity Movement, and “officially a member of the
delegation in exile”. When Tabata informed her of this decision, he suggested it was “the
greatest tribute that has been paid to anybody in our movement. No longer will you be
able to say nobody knows you or is unaware of your existence.” 96
In Britain and Canada, where she moved in August 1964 to join J.G., who had taken up
another temporary research appointment, Taylor continued her biographical work. This
work was spurred on as a response to the charge made by the OAU’s Committee of
92 I.B. Tabata to Dora Taylor, 7 January 1963, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
93 C.S. Mengisen, for Ag. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and Defence to Anna Jack
(Dora Taylor), 7 August 1963, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925. Interestingly, the entry of “Mr and Mrs
Tabata” and Nathaniel Honono into Tanganyika was facilitated by a cable from the ANC, which
recommended that the chief immigration officer issue entry permits and travel documents. See Sam
Kahn (Maurice, Tarlo, Cohen & Co, Solicitors) to Dora Taylor, 8 August 1963, I.B. Tabata Collection,
BC 925.
94 See Chapter Five, footnote 17.
95 I.B. Tabata to Dora Taylor, 10 June 1964; 11 August 1964, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925. In June 1964,
Taylor spent a few weeks with her daughter Sheila in Northern Rhodesia before travelling to Cairo.
After Cairo, Taylor moved to Canada, at “the other end of the globe”.
96 I.B. Tabata to Dora Taylor, 11 August 1964, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925. This decision was made at
the same meeting at which Tabata was made Unity Movement external president.
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