The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

followed, the president Leo Sihlali came out strongly against guerrilla warfare. He
expressed his “strong opposition to terrorism as a substitute for political education and
organisation of the people”. This opposition to “terrorism” was not “based on tactical
reasons but [was] one of principle”. 91
Sihlali also explained that suspension from the movement “amount[ed] to being
gagged” and that the movement “recoil[ed] from this” as it caused “great frustration on
the part of the suspended”. Suspension, he suggested, was different from expulsion,
because it implied that the “accused” did not “hold ideas hostile to the organisation”.
Organisations in the Unity Movement should only take this step “with the greatest
reluctance”, Sihlali argued. 92 Addressing Alexander and other suspended persons
directly, Sihlali reiterated that “if … you regard yourself as innocent, you must
remember that one way or another, you gave your organisation reason to distrust
you”. 93 In asserting the necessity of suspension, I.B. Tabata added: “we are strengthened
in guarding the gates of the NEUM against infiltrators”. Referring to Alexander directly,
Tabata emphasised that the liberatory movement had “great hopes for the youth”, and
“we have had and still have great hopes for him”. This was “a test to him … to put the
organisation before himself, [and] this will be proved by his willingness to subject
himself to the discipline of the organisation”. 94
During 1962, while Tabata was away on his secret trip abroad, “domestic trouble” in
APDUSA, arising out of Alexander’s suspension, continued unabated, with conflicts
formation of the secret study group, the Yu Chi Chan Club by Alexander and his colleagues in April
1962, and to the National Liberation Front shortly thereafter. This latter body was intended to become a
revolutionary national organisation that would embark upon armed struggle. After these structures
were infiltrated and documents intercepted, Alexander and 10 others were arrested, tried, and convicted,
inter alia, of trying to overthrow the government “by means of a violent revolution, guerrilla warfare
and sabotage”. This occurred despite no evidence being led that any acts of violence had been
committed.
91 Ilizwi LeSizwe, February 1962, p 6.
92 Deirdre Levinson, Personal Notes of Proceedings of the Ninth Unity Conference, Edendale, 3‐5
January 1962, Deirdre Levinson Bergson Papers.
93 Deirdre Levinson, Personal Notes of Proceedings of the Ninth Unity Conference, Edendale, 3‐5
January 1962, Deirdre Levinson Bergson Papers.
94 Deirdre Levinson, Personal Notes of Proceedings of the Ninth Unity Conference, Edendale, 3‐5
January 1962, Deirdre Levinson Bergson Papers.
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