The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

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‘Headquarters’ of APDUSA and UMSA, and of his meeting with Tabata (“Comrade Chair” in the text) and Jane Gool (the “grande dame”). Anthony’s book also examined the subsequent disillusionment that had engulfed him after he had crossed the border illegally to face not only a number of obstacles, but to find an ineffectual, severely weakened, decaying organisation, which sustained itself through a corrupt leadership. 138 This novel was an account of Anthony’s (Comrade B’s) loyalty to his organisation, of long held political relationships either sustained (such as with Bobby Wilcox, or “Comrade R”) or soured (such as with Kader Hassim, or “Moonsami”). But mostly it was a tale of his reverence for Tabata, and the fate of this reverence as he made his way to encounter Tabata in the flesh. In joining the New Unity Movement, Moonsami had chosen to break out of the orbit of his one‐time patron, Comrade Chair. Moonsami had been widely considered at one stage to be “the heir‐apparent”, and had even modelled “his bearing, his presentation, even his voice” on Comrade Chair. Yet after his release from Robben Island, Moonsami depicted him as “an unmitigated dictator” who had “destroyed all its notable leaders”. All Comrade Chair had left around him were “four or five lackeys who do his bidding”. Comrade B’s immediate response to this representation was anger at Moonsami, an “ambitious impostor” and “shrewd crook”, who had “dared to speak in pejorative terms about one of the bravest and most steadfast living revolutionaries”. 139 Comrade B had “never met a revolutionary approaching the skill, the single‐mindedness of purpose, the tenacity and the durability” as Comrade Chair. Comrade Chair was a man “born of the conditions of our country and drenched in it”. He was a “revolutionist without equal”. He epitomised a “concretisation of revolutionary consciousness” and was the “dialectical synthesis of the universal and the idiosyncratic”. 140 In Comrade B’s memory of a political meeting in the City Hall, Comrade Chair was 138 Frank Anthony, The Journey: The Revolutionary Anguish of Comrade B (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1991). 139 Frank Anthony, The Journey, pp 33‐34, 40‐44. 140 Frank Anthony, The Journey, p 150. 486
A man … surrounded by a sea of people, so many that they overflowed out into the streets, hungry and oppressed people, mesmerised for three hours by the man on the stage, proud, authentic, revolutionary…. He stood there, imperial, never once looking at the script of his prepared speech, expounding a profound political analysis, as if it were a fairy‐tale told by a master story‐teller. Such was the majesty of the man. 141 And yet, while still in Cape Town at the end of the 1980s, Comrade B received reports on Comrade Chair’s “disintegrating consciousness” from an activist courier. This was a tragic account of physical decline and intellectual and mental deterioration of an aged, frail activist in exile who clung to the leadership of his organisation. His waking hours, Comrade B heard, had been preoccupied with “his essentially non‐political past”, with “rustic stories about the horses he had broken in”. Tabata had spent time recounting “the odyssey of his escape from the country and the thousand and one little trivia he had encountered on that mammoth journey”. Comrade B arrived in Harare, having crossed the border “without permission”, in “an act of liberation” which had created in him “a new dimension of self‐awareness”. The purpose of the journey was “to test our logistical preparedness for launching our liberation drive”. 142 In Harare, he encountered in Comrade Chair not a colossus, but someone who “had become reduced to the crustaceous remains of his once pregnant voice”. Death was making its appearance on the horizon, especially the “spectre of the death of an era”. Comrade B’s towering respect had begun to turn into “censure”. “The rot”, he found, “was in the very air of exile”. 143 Nowhere had I found even the rudiments of organisation. Of an infrastructure there was not a sign. Armed struggle! This was … a tragic‐comedy, a macabre joke…. From this great distance the sick game of leadership was played. And we little fools back home played along in a deadly and futile 141 Frank Anthony, The Journey, p 198. 142 Frank Anthony, The Journey, pp 77, 112‐4, 194. 143 Frank Anthony, The Journey, pp 170‐184. 487
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The Individual, Auto/biography and
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation
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committee members selected me to ta
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements
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Authorship, individuation and the b
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ABBREVIATIONS AAC All‐African Con
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INTRODUCTION The research for this
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transformation in the Eastern Cape?
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South African society provided the
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manifest dishonesty. Through a case
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genealogy of biographic mediation w
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tribute to Tabata that Taylor const
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CHAPTER ONE AUTO/BIOGRAPHY, NARRATI
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self‐constitution and the “styl
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intercourse entailed in this metaph
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1930s, with decreasing institutiona
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psychological characteristics” wh
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entextualised in diverse ways”, c
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While all mankind may be the subjec
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life’ and career as the focus hav
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development, a “narrative of inte
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denies the centrality of the subjec
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story, creating a ‘transferential
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een backward‐looking. Their commu
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[w]e need to attend to the historic
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enacted, lived in particular conjun
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‘representivity’ would constitu
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through particular enunciative stra
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ones. 114 Modernity gave rise to li
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These, in turn, have a profound eff
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are also to be found in the ‘stor
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historian, personal and political,
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sites of the ‘memorial complex’
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These biographies of ‘great polit
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der Post family. 17 Even Bertolt Br
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While the limitations of Jones’ b
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and work had emphasised the serious
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accused Mother Teresa of promulgati
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Mother Teresa, “hoping some of he
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sainthood”, the amount of miracle
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This biographic world of saint vene
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dared to be that person”. She “
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and popular circuits of exchange an
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institutions that make up the exhib
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participation in annual heroic comm
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Biographic memorial productions hav
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myths, while radio and television p
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the monument was removed during the
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about the past, as “political eli
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suggesting that use was merely made
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and “The Annual Salute to Greatne
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the use of his image”. 106 Moreov
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In this radical biographic interpre
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In addition to this standard biogra
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National Civil Rights Museum in Mem
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Although Mao’s image had been use
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more varied … [and] far more exci
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esistance hero in general, of hope
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issues about image‐making and aut
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Lumumba who could stand in oppositi
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CHAPTER THREE RESISTANCE STUDIES AN
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in “a wide range of inventive pol
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marginalised, grassroots people [an
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Since the 1970s, the terrain of res
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In an obvious sense, these studies
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Under the conditions of deepening r
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Crucially, this feature found expre
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established through his professiona
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scepticism, 35 the use of this noti
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“glimpse into the inner mind of o
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Higgs and Steven Gish also followed
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understand the background, politica
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national and land questions” conc
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Higgs’ study was largely a chrono
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South Africans to protest against t
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In these traditional ‘masculinist
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1980s in South African scholarship,
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academic institutions involved in t
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struggles over municipal controls d
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that during the 1950s, a period see
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away from biographic images of cons
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orthography with “self‐appointe
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middle section had vacillated. Anot
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Biography has also been a vehicle f
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After collecting oral testimony fro
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and ‘jumping the fence’ led to
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whose value depended on their accur
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(probably Nkadimeng) in a resettlem
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determine the voice and style in wh
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memory into a written academic prod
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Biography for social history was a
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esistance history sought to provide
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and La Hausse were completed by sch
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consciousness, conversations, and/o
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A foray into biography in the work
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ceased to be the major site for the
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study did not go far enough in the
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continued political role”. It was
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In exploring these issues of image,
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While Clingman’s study has posed
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state they contested”, as the col
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focusing on the creation of systems
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and survival against the onslaught
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and reconciliation in South Africa.
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accustomed to clear hierarchies bet
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South African public history. This
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unifier and a liberator of the mind
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these ways, the Mayibuye Centre was
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together, these booklets attempted
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Biography also provided the basis o
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As part of these transformations, M
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leader, Bill Andrews. 58 Written fr
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It is this biographic impetus which
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the post‐apartheid present, and t
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Ngcelwane, whose family had had bee
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of softnesses and roughnesses” of
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extended to other arenas of public
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These images of the Business Day re
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once stood in central Pretoria, was
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declared a national monument on 12
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University’s Mark Haywood felt th
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Ministry of Water Affairs and Fores
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to the present. This project would
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was missed to develop a complex her
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contemplation and celebration were
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Morris Isaacson High School, Regina
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The Museum was really inaugurated,
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through biographic presentation. Bu
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2003. Thabo Mbeki expressed the poi
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In contrast, Ronnie Kasrils, Modise
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narratives and moral trajectories o
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visual terms as part of a president
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especially one who had been a long
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applications had to make a biograph
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In April 2003, the Nelson Mandela F
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ooklet was organised as a chronolog
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single sitting”. 191 However, it
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In 1999, Anthony Sampson, who had b
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eating breakfast and even shaving a
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(Mandela’s birth place), on the b
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“triumph of the human spirit”,
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sought to contest the tendency for
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deepening in Robben Island’s cult
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follow the advice of Anthony Sampso
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was asked to speak about the accuse
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new conditions of exile was the con
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importance of relations of cultural
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construction of Nelson Mandela has
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iography in public and commercial s
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artist, Jacob Khumalo, who had exhi
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epresentatives on the Nelson Mandel
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eliance, self‐respect and self‐
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PART TWO BEYOND MODERNIST HISTORY:
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marginality. Among the materials in
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Gradually, in drips and drabs, the
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While Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape
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for the field of political biograph
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microfilm collection contained a su
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and Karis may have received from Ta
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and reserve dwellers, arguing that
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Indeed, in this genealogy, the most
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and was conducted as part of a wide
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In making these assessments, Hirson
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policy that had envisaged redivided
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formation of APDUSA in January 1961
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“effectively … smashed within t
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opportunities that presented themse
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and verbal performances, which have
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political leadership was exercised
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CHAPTER SIX FROM COLLECTIVE LEADERS
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special protest meetings in convene
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upture was coming to a head, when h
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principles”. 18 Another aspect of
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included on the back cover of such
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political training did not take pla
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pertinent to the themes of this cha
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cause, rather than the leader”. T
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341
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343
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345
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347
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asic passport‐type pen picture sa
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their prominent placement in public
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353
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of individualised leadership may ha
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political positions which rejected
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interesting that Taylor’s first w
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handwriting, which had been prepare
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ehabilitation. 96 This did not stop
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ooted in the past”, he suggested,
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During 1949 and 1950, amid mounting
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“colour and strength” were impo
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Elsewhere on the left, Tabata’s b
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occurred in which Tabata was subjec
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Tabata, as an individual, bore a po
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making them “more careful about w
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teachers qualified to speak on matt
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Education for Barbarism marked Taba
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fulfil the same function” as ‘T
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state of anonymity to their true st
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of persecution and state harassment
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While Tabata’s presidency may hav
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final choice between the subterfuge
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circulated as the embodiment of its
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CHAPTER SEVEN DORA TAYLOR AND THE N
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Soon after Tabata arrived in Cape T
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historical understandings, Taylor
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was “tolerably easy”. In fact,
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her text had been “written in its
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the eastern Cape about which she wr
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While she was writing The Rôle of
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out of the strains and pressures of
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who were involved in the movement c
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moved into Gool’s newly rented ho
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off by expressing his “envy” of
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They had a full life and she a full
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emotional and sexual desires as the
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Fashioning Tabata’s biography Vir
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continued to rework and re‐edit T
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us”. Goolam Gool, he had argued,
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political practice”. Tabata assur
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Nine that the AAC and Unity Movemen
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authored pamphlets aimed at “clar
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production of I.B. Tabata made a mi
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Page 453 and 454: unleashing different forms of biogr
Page 455 and 456: their political exchanges. 9 Later,
Page 457 and 458: where “fierce debates and discuss
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Page 461 and 462: identification”. This identity cl
Page 463 and 464: need for leadership”. Tabata invi
Page 465 and 466: Likewise, concepts of strategic val
Page 467 and 468: was also invited to join along with
Page 469 and 470: fundamental and genuine manner and
Page 471 and 472: them. Sihlali’s presidentship of
Page 473 and 474: expressed had been “essentially h
Page 475 and 476: By the 1950s, increased internal bl
Page 477 and 478: way of their own greatness?” 76 A
Page 479 and 480: “suspended” from the movement,
Page 481 and 482: Thereafter, Alexander and his comra
Page 483 and 484: “mounting to a climax”. Jane Go
Page 485 and 486: From around 1960, leaders of the Un
Page 487 and 488: The movement’s ‘architect’ al
Page 489 and 490: with the other liberation movements
Page 491 and 492: The ADC was a means of Tabata “ri
Page 493 and 494: ureaucratic abuse and of trying to
Page 495 and 496: econstituted APDUSA represented an
Page 497 and 498: NUM. They found instead a hostility
Page 499: significance of deceased ‘heroes
Page 503 and 504: and Alie and Ursula Fataar had assi
Page 505 and 506: 491
Page 507 and 508: in “his contribution” to the li
Page 509 and 510: Almost unexpectedly, at his funeral
Page 511 and 512: 497
Page 513 and 514: community of Lesseyton interred one
Page 515 and 516: The final entry of Tabata’s body
Page 517 and 518: heritage sites and collections. I w
Page 519 and 520: discovered heritage constructions o
Page 521 and 522: national heritage, even when those
Page 523 and 524: elevant information from my researc
Page 525 and 526: disrespectful. And the fact that th
Page 527 and 528: what I offer here is more than a st
Page 529 and 530: (e) Central Archives Depot, Pretori
Page 531 and 532: Ilizwi leSizwe, Vol. 1, No 2, 18 Oc
Page 533 and 534: (b) Other Videos Hell’s Angel: Mo
Page 535 and 536: (f) CD‐Roms Nelson Mandela: The s
Page 537 and 538: Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museu
Page 539 and 540: 7. INTERVIEWS AND RECORDINGS OF SPE
Page 541 and 542: William Beinart and Colin Bundy, Hi
Page 543 and 544: Stephen Clingman, The Novels of Nad
Page 545 and 546: Jurgen Habermas, The Structural Tra
Page 547 and 548: Dominic LaCapra, Writing History, W
Page 549 and 550: David Morley and Ken Worpole (eds),
Page 551 and 552:
James D Sexton (ed), Son of Tecum U
Page 553 and 554:
Susan G Wynne (Compiler), South Afr
Page 555 and 556:
Elizabeth S Cohen, ‘Court Testimo
Page 557 and 558:
Brian Elliot, ‘Biography, Family
Page 559 and 560:
Baruch Hirson, ‘Ruth Schechter: F
Page 561 and 562:
Desiree Lewis, ‘Winnie Mandela: T
Page 563 and 564:
Bill Nasson, ‘A Sharecropper’s
Page 565 and 566:
Hilary Sapire, ‘African Political
Page 567 and 568:
Dora Taylor, ‘They Speak of Afric
Page 569 and 570:
Kwame Anthony Appiah, ‘Cosmopolit
Page 571 and 572:
Twentieth Century’, Paper present
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