The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

Family‐like relations were almost inherent in the structured relationships of training
between youth structures and ‘parent’ bodies, as in those between the NEF and the Anti‐
CAD, and SOYA and the AAC. Indeed, generational succession and the emergence of a
progressive younger element had been key features of the political argument in favour
of the AAC and the federal politics of the ‘New Road’. In 1943, Tabata tried to win over
Govan Mbeki to the new political direction, and to bring him into the new network of
younger activists who argued for building the AAC as the platform for unity on federal
lines. For Tabata, Mbeki had represented “a curious mixture of progressiveness and
peasant conservatism”. 5 Nevertheless, Tabata encouraged Mbeki “to act now” and
“push the people to the utmost” to challenge the roots of the Bunga system and ensure
that Transkeian organisations would affiliate to the AAC. 6 In asking Mbeki to consider
accepting the secretaryship of the AAC, should Jabavu canvass him, Tabata suggested to
him that
We have … to prove to the older men that we are capable of
filling responsible positions. Don’t forget that we are still
fighting for recognition by them. 7
A report on the National Anti‐CAD conference in 1943 also expressed this conception of
a historic generational succession. On the ‘New Road’, the report suggested, “new
weapons of struggle [were] being forged”, in which “the power of the written word”
was being “demonstrated in the bulletins and pamphlets sent throughout the country
very week”. Central to the success of these political endeavours was “the strength,
courage and leadership of the young men”. Indeed, it suggested further, “the old leaders
ha[d] been tried and found wanting. They ha[d] betrayed their people”. 8 So Tabata’s
relationships with promising young figures in the movement were important to him,
and often they were unmistakably paternal, much like a father grooming his sons for
leadership. This was undoubtedly the case with Seymour Papert of the Progressive
Forum in Johannesburg in the early 1950s, for whom he expressed real affection amid
5 I.B. Tabata to Wycliffe Tsotsi, 8 August 1943, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
6 I.B. Tabata to Govan Mbeki, 28 February 1943, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
7 I.B. Tabata to Govan Mbeki, 28 February 1943, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925. In spite of Jabavu being
the President of the AAC, it was Tabata who had begun to take the initiative behind the scenes,
8 ‘Cape Town Letter: The National Anti‐CAD Conference’, c.1943, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
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