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The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

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with heritage trails <strong>and</strong> cultural l<strong>and</strong>scapes as types of heritage resources. Dondolo on<br />

the other h<strong>and</strong>, had done some work <strong>in</strong> the Dïstrict Six Museum <strong>in</strong> the late 1990s, <strong>and</strong><br />

had written a critical study of the cultural politics of township tours <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Africa</strong> as<br />

part of his graduate work. 14 He was therefore quite familiar with the terra<strong>in</strong> of heritage<br />

routes <strong>and</strong> site identification. Significantly, Dondolo was from the Queenstown area of<br />

the Eastern Cape, <strong>and</strong> had even done some of his school<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Lesseyton with Mr<br />

Mciteka, one of Tabata’s followers. <strong>The</strong> Dondolo family had once been neighbour<strong>in</strong>g<br />

farmers of the Tabatas <strong>in</strong> more prosperous times. It seemed appropriate that Dondolo<br />

be given the opportunity to f<strong>in</strong>d ways of attach<strong>in</strong>g Tabata’s life history to the<br />

l<strong>and</strong>scape of the Eastern Cape.<br />

Early <strong>in</strong> 2004, I received an email request from Omar Badsha, the director of <strong>South</strong><br />

<strong>Africa</strong>n <strong>History</strong> Onl<strong>in</strong>e to discuss with him the possibility of utilis<strong>in</strong>g my Tabata<br />

research for use on the SAHO website. My study of Tabata would be <strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong>to<br />

a “comprehensive … people‐driven process of rewrit<strong>in</strong>g our history”. Not much had<br />

been written on “the <strong>in</strong>fluence of the Trotskyist movement on … [the] liberation<br />

struggle” for a “popular audience”. If I were to assist, “key <strong>in</strong>formation” about<br />

Tabata’s life would be presented <strong>in</strong> popular form through a chronology, which would<br />

be utilised to “create l<strong>in</strong>ks to key events, personalities, photographs, documents [<strong>and</strong>]<br />

extracts from his published work”. <strong>The</strong> request ended with a plea to work together “to<br />

popularize the debates with<strong>in</strong> the liberation movements”. 15<br />

Far from Tabata’s limited presence <strong>in</strong> the sites <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>stitutions of memory that I had<br />

described <strong>in</strong> Chapter Five, it seemed as if there was a significant call for Tabata’s<br />

political past <strong>and</strong> the narrative of his <strong>biography</strong> to be further <strong>in</strong>stitutionalised <strong>in</strong>to the<br />

doma<strong>in</strong> of heritage. Moreover, I was be<strong>in</strong>g asked to contribute my research to potential<br />

Tabata heritage <strong>in</strong>itiatives. However, this dissertation is a study of Tabata that is not<br />

driven by documentary dem<strong>and</strong>s of recovery <strong>and</strong> chronological narrative. Instead,<br />

14 Luvuyo Dondolo, ‘<strong>The</strong> Construction of Public <strong>History</strong> <strong>and</strong> Tourist Dest<strong>in</strong>ations <strong>in</strong> Cape Town’s<br />

Townships: A Study of Routes, Sites <strong>and</strong> Heritage’, M.A. M<strong>in</strong>i‐<strong>The</strong>sis, UWC, 2002.<br />

15 Email from Omar Badsha to Ciraj Rassool, 10 March 2004.<br />

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