Gandhi and Some Contemporary African Leaders from Kwazulu-Natal

Gandhi and some contemporary African leaders from KwaZulu-Natal

by Anil Nauriya

XCEPT for some visits, That Gandhi’s ethnographic ideas mainly to India and England, had evolved considerably even while he E M.K. Gandhi (1869-1948) was was in South Africa is evidenced by his in South Africa during the period remarks in a speech at the Johannesburg May1893-July1914. Some scholars in YMCA on 18 May 1908: “If we look the last few decades have suggested that into the future, is it not a heritage we Gandhi and the African leadership in have to leave to posterity, that all the early 20th-century South Africa had little different races commingle and produce or no awareness of or contact with one a civilisation that perhaps the world has another and were like ships crossing at not yet seen?”1 night. A closer scrutiny, however, indi- cates multiple contacts between Gandhi Gandhi’s African interface in Natal and the African leadership. Evidently before Phoenix-Inanda these were more extensive than has It is generally assumed that the initial hitherto been assumed. This article is, interface that Gandhi had with the however, confined to Gandhi’s interface African leadership in KwaZulu Natal with African leaders from what is now was when he met John Langalibalele known as KwaZulu-Natal.

interest the journal took in Gandhi was such that it seems unlikely that Gandhi himself would have been unaware of it or that he did not have some manner of contact with Inkanyiso’s primarily African journalists and, with what was, from around January 1895, its African proprietorship. The journal expressed satisfaction on learning that “the Natal Law Society’s objection to Mr Ghandi [sic] being allowed to practise in the Supreme Court of the Colony has been overruled”.3 “We know not,” it continued, “whether prejudice against his colour, or fear for the loss of fees, prompted the opposition ….”4 It saw M.K. Gandhi in London, 1909 common factors between the Indian (Photograph: National Gandhi and the African plight: “Already has Museum, New Delhi) it been intimated that it is advisable in Dube (1871-1946) in 1905. By this the interests of the white mechanic that time Gandhi had a journal of his own, Natives should retire from the struggle Indian Opinion, which had commenced to gain a livelihood lest amongst the publication from Durban in June 1903, “survival of the fittest” we should see enabling him to express himself on too many dark skins, and now we find topics of his choice. Before this, in the that the Indian, however qualified, must period from 1893, his journalism in or keep back too. How absurd prejudice is about South Africa usually took the when you come to think of it!” 5 form of occasional pamphlets and let- Having come under African own- ters to editors of the established Natal ership from the beginning of 1895, press. In the pre-Indian Opinion phase, Inkanyiso’s editorial of 4 January 1895 information touching on Gandhi’s in- referred to itself as being the only such terface with the African leadership is paper in Natal.6 Citing discrimination therefore not as definite as it is for the against himself on grounds of colour in subsequent period. It is not possible to Durban’s restaurants, Inkanyiso’s editor assert categorically that such interaction referred in this context also to Gandhi’s existed; nor is it possible, contrariwise, experience: to rule it out. There are certain things Mr M.K. Gandhi in his “Open one may reasonably infer from what is Letter” pointed to the fact that even known even about this early period. The respectable Indians had been refused a African journal Inkanyiso, published night’s lodging in certain hotels, but he from Pietermaritzburg, had taken early was violently attacked by most of the note of Gandhi. Founded as an Anglican South African journals, and told that Christian journal, Inkanyiso Yase Natal he was guilty of gross exaggeration. It was effectively under independent was no doubt felt that treatment such African control, chiefly of Solomon as he complained of was unworthy of Englishmen, hence the indignation.7 Kumalo.2 The significantly sympathetic

On political issues such as the ques- It noted also Gandhi’s benign ex- tion of franchise, Inkanyiso supported planation of the objects of the Indian Gandhi and the Indian position: Congress and congratulated the colonists “on their escape from an imaginary Mr M.K. Gandhi’s very temperate 12 letter in the Mercury on the subject of danger”. Gandhi’s explanation of the the Indian franchise has only to be read objects of the Natal Indian Congress by any justice loving person in order to had been published a couple of days be convinced that the Indian in Natal earlier.13 In continuation of its firm sup- is being deprived of what is his by port for Indian grievances, Inkanyiso right. Mr Gandhi very shrewdly points observed: out that the Indian would be perfectly satisfied to have, what theMercury and It is amusing to read the various others have always admitted he ought arguments which are brought against to have, viz., the same rights here as the admission of the Indian to the he would enjoy in India. In his own franchise. That these arguments are, country he is not excluded from what all of them, weak and often absurd is the Englishman is admitted to and evident to those who hear them: and neither should he be in South Africa if what is more, they go to show that justice is of any value to the colonist.8 the objection to Indians and Natives enjoying the franchise is not made on “But,” added Inkanyiso, those who principle, but from prejudice.14 take a narrow and selfish view of In yet another editorial note in the things have never yet been able to same issue of Inkanyiso, it was sug- see the real beauties of such qualities gested that “it would only be just to ad- as justice and fairness, and we must mit Natives and Indians to the franchise, not be surprised if the lofty and 15 humanitarian sentiments which it is so but this privilege is refused them”. Yet easy, and often so convenient, for men “what the Colonist is so much alarmed to give expression to, are so often set at are the political objects of the Indian aside and forgotten when they should Congress”.16 The journal reiterated its be practised.9 support for granting the franchise “to A few days later Inkanyiso noted edi- all those of Her Majesty’s subjects in torially the concern that had been caused Natal” whose qualifications were equal among colonists by the establishment of to Europeans, asserting strongly: “No the “Indian Congress”, a reference to the honest and fair reasons have yet been given as to why the Indians should be Natal Indian Congress which had been 17 founded in 1894.10 The journal asked, excluded….” A week later Inkanyiso pointing to the colonist, that noted: “The Indian Congress in Natal is being bitterly attacked and Mr Ghandi if his conscience tells him that he [sic] abused presumably for standing is behaving justly and honourably ready to protect Indians from injustice. towards the coloured races in the In Natal this is not surprising.”18 In the country, he will not surely mind a little bit of organisation among either following month the journal remarked: the Natives or the Indians who desire At the Richmond meeting on the no more than the establishment of subject of the Indian franchise, Mr friendly relations between all sections Harrow said that in New Zealand of the community, based on the firm the Maoris were allowed several foundation of justice and fairness.11 representatives in the House. He

M.K. Gandhi leading a small group of striking Indian coal mine workers out of Newcastle on October 29, 1913, en route to the Transvaal border to defy the government’s Restriction Act and to court arrest (Photograph: National Gandhi Museum, New Delhi)

thought that Natal should allow the “Christianity vs Natives” published in Asiatics a representative: Mr Ghandi Inkanyiso. Gandhi was, as we shall see, [sic] would be superior to anyone aware of this debate. Certain mission- already there. So with the Natives – let ary attitudes in Africa were specifically them appoint a man. Mr C. Hammond critiqued in a series of articles published and Mr G. Alexander of course vetoed so fair a proposal. Is it not a farce – nay in Inkanyiso beginning on 19 April 20 more, hypocrisy – to talk of defending and concluding on 31 May 1895. Native interests against the Indians Provoked by the Inkanyiso articles, The and yet to deny the coloured races Times of Natal joined issue on 18 June the privilege of appointing one or 1895, while the Bishop of Natal in an two gentlemen (white) to look after address rebutted The Times of Natal, their interests? Does not this look and “practically endorsed Inkanyiso’s as if the colonists were determined indictment”.21 Referring to the bishop’s that the interests of both Natives and address, Pyarelal, Gandhi’s secretary in Indians shall be neglected if possible? It certainly does.19 India and later biographer, writes: “A well-marked clipping of this address Given such solidarity and consistent preserved among Gandhiji’s records support by Inkanyiso to Gandhi’s efforts bespeaks the deep interest it evoked and Indian causes, one may discount in him.”22 Bishop Arthur Hamilton the possibility that Gandhi was not Baynes’s address appears to have been acquainted with the journal or with its frowned upon in a section of the Natal proprietor-editor, Solomon Kumalo. press, which suggested that his ideas Actually, in April-May 1895 there would change with time. But the bishop had been a controversy in the Natal earned the respect of Gandhi who had press, arising from a series of articles, followed the debate quite closely.23

April 1895, when the Inkanyiso- say for certain. But some significance of initiated debate was on, happened to be the write-up in Inkanyiso may be sought the very month of Gandhi’s own visit in the fact that this outspoken African to the Christian mission at Mariannhill journal had put forth a broad rather than near Pinetown, a village “16 miles by a narrow or denominational view of rail from Durban”. The Mariannhill Christianity. This would most definitely monastery was established and run by have struck a chord with Gandhi. It had the Trappists, a German Catholic order. seemed to postulate a Tolstoyan view of Seeking them out initially for their Christianity for emulation, thus possibly simplicity and vegetarianism, about contributing, directly or indirectly, to which Gandhi had read while he was stimulating Gandhi’s life-long passion in England, he was pleasantly surprised for the thinker. Inkanyiso was not pub- by what he found at Mariannhill. “The lished after 1896. Its regular readers principle of liberty, equality and fra- would have noticed a name occurring ternity is carried out in its entirety,” he with increasing regularity as the author noted.24 The emphasis on handwork and of some communications published in the various workshops – “blacksmiths’, it – that of John L. Dube.28 tinsmiths’, carpenters’, shoemakers’, tanners’ ”, the oil machine and the print- The connection with John Dube ing department – had impressed Gan- There appears to have been a growing dhi, as had the convent and the skills interest on Gandhi’s part in the question taught there. “They have the ironing, of land as it affected Africans. Some sewing, straw-hat manufacturing and indication of this is available between knitting departments, where one can the founding of Indian Opinion in June see the Native girls, dressed in clean 1903 and the shifting of the Internation- 25 costumes, working assiduously.” He al Printing Press and the Indian Opinion found the quarters for the African in- offices to Phoenix after Gandhi founded mates somewhat cramped – remarking that settlement in November-December on “the closeness and the stuffy air”, 1904 in John Dube’s Inanda neighbour- the beds were “separated by only single hood.29 Dube’s Ilanga Lase Natal had boards” and “there was hardly space started publication a few months before 26 enough to walk”. But on the whole Indian Opinion. In early 1904 The Natal Gandhi came back satisfied that the Mercury carried a letter, touching on Trappists believed in no colour distinc- the subject of African land rights, by tions. He praised the Trappists for their Josiah Mapumulo, who was apparently good treatment of the over 1 200 Afri- connected with the Native Vigilance cans who lived on the mission: “They Committee in Natal. Mapumulo, who believe in no colour distinctions. These would come to be known in subsequent Natives are accorded the same treat- decades as a leading intellectual and ment as the whites. They are mostly regular writer in John Dube’s Ilanga children. They get the same food as the Lase Natal, pointed out in his letter to brothers, and are dressed as well as they The Mercury that Africans were being 27 themselves are.” deprived of all but the inferior lands; Whether the issues raised in Inkanyi- he proceeded to warn: “We won’t sit so had a bearing on the timing of Gan- complacently still while our country dhi’s visit to Mariannhill is difficult to is being parcelled out exclusively for

M.K. Gandhi and others under arrest, 1913. He is seen on the right, standing next to Miss Sonja Schlesin, his secretary (Photograph: National Gandhi Museum, New Delhi) Europeans. It must not be forgotten, too, Nelson Mandela has observed: that we have an army of sympathisers in M.K Gandhi and John Dube, first the British Parliament who would read- president of the African National ily take up our cause, and fight strenu- Congress, were neighbours in Inanda, ously for our legitimate grievances till and each influenced the other, for we get redress.”30 The letter appears both men established, at about the to have impressed Gandhi, who still same time, two monuments to human had faith in the sense of fairness of the development within a stone’s throw British Parliament. Mapumulo’s letter of each other, the Ohlange Institute was carefully cut out and preserved in and the Phoenix Settlement. Both institutions suffer today the trauma of Gandhi’s papers and forms part of his the violence that has overtaken that collection preserved in the library at region; hopefully, both will rise again, Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, whose phoenix-like, to lead us to undreamed database holds the press clipping under heights.31 the title “Native Vigilance Commit- tee”, 28 January 1904. As we shall see, The extent of the interface between Dube and Gandhi has been the subject during his subsequent years in South 32 Africa, beginning specifically from the of discussion. In her biography of John very next year, Gandhi would speak up Dube, Heather Hughes implies that for African land rights. Mapumulo’s Gandhi’s first visit to Dube’s Ohlange institution took place only in Novem- letter reveals another characteristic 33 that underlay Gandhi’s own outlook ber 1912. Maureen Swan, an earlier at this time, that of counter-posing the scholar on Gandhi in South Africa, had British Government or constitutional suggested a higher degree of impact: the institutions against the discrimination inspiration for Gandhi’s Inanda settle- encountered in South Africa. ment lay not in the ideas of Ruskin and

Tolstoy alone, she suggested, but in the written a significant article in appre- more immediate example of John Dube: ciation of Booker T. Washington and the educational aspects of his work at John L Dube, an American-educated 38 Zulu, editor of the weekly Ilanga Tuskegee. Relying on an article in lase Natal, was already directing a the journal East and West, Gandhi set communal settlement at Phoenix when out the facts of Washington’s life, his Gandhi decided to buy land in the birth as a slave, his intrepid desire for same area. Dube’s settlement included an education, his association with the a school and training facilities for Hampton Normal and Agricultural In- various trades, all of which Gandhi’s stitute in Virginia and then the founding commune was eventually to offer. If of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Gandhi had no prior knowledge of Dube’s work, then the establishment Gandhi observed: of his commune, in the same area, is His idea about combining industrial 34 a most striking coincidence. education with a knowledge of letters In 1905 Gandhi, writing in the Gu- merely, as might well be imagined, jarati section of his journal, quoted was not taken up enthusiastically. He therefore travelled from place appreciatively a “very impressive” to place, lecturing to the people on speech that John Dube had made in the advantage of his system. In his his presence at the Natal residence of struggle for reform, he found Miss Marshall Campbell. In the course of Olivia Davidson to be a worthy helper, what Gandhi described as an “eloquent whom he afterwards married.39 speech”, Dube had argued that for the Africans “there was no country other It has been suggested that John than South Africa; and to deprive them Dube’s industrial school was “most of their rights over lands, etc., was like representative of Tuskegee’s influence 40 banishing them from their home.”35 in South Africa”. Hailing him as an African “of whom Although Indian Opinion focused one should know”, Gandhi expressed mainly on Indian concerns, the impact his appreciation for Dube, who “imparts of John Dube’s speech on Gandhi can- education to his brethren, teaching them not be discounted. Gandhi’s support for various trades and crafts and preparing the land rights and educational needs them for the battle of life”.36 In the of Africans is reflected in his journal’s context of the interest that Gandhi had multiple references to John Dube and started taking in African land rights, as to the latter’s paper, Ilanga Lase Natal. indicated also by the careful preserva- A couple of months after the reference tion of the Mapumulo letter, Dube’s by Gandhi to John Dube’s August 1905 words fell, so far as Gandhi was con- speech, Gandhi’s paper quoted appre- cerned, on receptive soil. In addition to ciatively and in extenso a “trenchant” the land question, on other matters as reply given by the editor of Ilanga well, Gandhi remained impressed with lase Natal, meaning, in all likelihood, and in contact with Dube and the institu- John Dube himself, to a correspondent, tions the latter established at Ohlange. Henry Ancketill, who had opposed the Dube had been much influenced by acquisition of landed property by Af- Booker T. Washington and his institu- ricans.41 This was followed by further tion at Tuskegee in the United States.37 references, as we will see presently. Two years earlier, in 1903, Gandhi had

Meanwhile, with the coming of 1906, mean? Call it a remarkable coincidence the poll tax issue boiled over into the if you please, but we regard it as Bhambatha rebellion. Even as Gandhi having a very deep meaning, whether 44 asked Indians to offer their services we are superstitious or not. to the government in a bid to perform It is evident that Gandhi had come to what he saw as his duty as a subject of notice a conflict between his sense of the Empire and prepared to establish an duty and his sense of justice. ambulance corps, his sympathies and With the 1906 experience, Gandhi dilemmas appeared to approximate to became even more conscious of African John Dube’s own. Referring to the inci- rights, especially with regard to matters dent in the course of the African revolt concerning land and education. In an in Natal before promulgation of mar- editorial in late 1906, Gandhi’s paper tial law in which two policemen were heaped praise on John Dube along with killed, Gandhi commented wryly on the Joseph Baynes as also on the Bishop official response in which some Afri- of Natal, Arthur Hamilton Baynes. A cans “were prosecuted under the martial sermon by the bishop was appreciated law, and 12 of them were condemned for urging that Africans and Indians to death and blown up at the mouth of in Natal be freed from their “admit- a cannon …. Twelve lives have been ted grievances”; Joseph Baynes was taken for two.”42 Gandhi’s anguish at commended for his criticism of the the execution of 12 Africans is again Unoccupied Land Tax Bill, then before evident in his contemporary account, Parliament, which was iniquitous as albeit using language then current, of a between Europeans on the one hand search and clash that followed: and Africans and Indians on the other; The small party of soldiers that was and John Dube was hailed as a “self- on Bambata’s [sic] trail included sacrificing leader”, who had “boldly the Englishmen who had shot the 12 published” a manifesto in Ilanga Lase Kaffirs. Bambata [sic] and his men Natal, criticising colonial policies that encircled the party and, though they worked unfairness towards Africans.45 fought very bravely, the soldiers were It appears that both Dube’s Ilanga defeated in the end and managed to Lase Natal and Gandhi’s Indian Opin- escape with great difficulty. Some of ion were conscious that the espousal them were killed. The dead included those who had shot the 12 Kaffirs. Such of the causes of their respective con- is the law of God. The executioners stituencies led occasionally to less met their death within two days.43 than enthusiastic references to those outside these constituencies and that Interestingly, the next issue of Gan- this phenomenon called for correction. dhi’s journal carried, with the heading Towards the end of 1906, Gandhi’s “A Strange Coincidence”, an extract journal carried, under the heading from John Dube’s Ilange Lase Natal “Fair Enough”, the following extract which expressed a similar thought: from Ilanga Lase Natal: “We candidly A remarkable thing about the first fight admit that whatever may be found in our with Bambata [sic] is that the four policy that does not admit of the good troopers who were killed were all in of all persons, must be deleted.” 46 As the firing party at the execution of the we shall see, some months later, Gandhi 12 men at Richmond. What does this on his part would, in clear recognition

Natalia 42 (2012) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2012 Gandhi and some contemporary African leaders from KwaZulu-Natal of the justice of African demands, begin in the Transvaal. It evoked an editorial to commend to the African people the appreciation in Ilanga Lase Natal which path of passive resistance. was reproduced in Indian Opinion dur- There was enough familiarity being Gandhi’s imprisonment in Johan- tween Gandhi’s Phoenix institution and nesburg in January 1908. Dube’s paper John Dube’s Ohlange for developments expressed admiration for the “the coura- at the Ohlange institution intermittently geous manner in which the Indians are to be reported in Gandhi’s paper. For acting in the Transvaal”, observing that example, the addition of a building “it is common for the Bantu to admire at Ohlange was reported.47 Important pluck” and that this was so “especially functions at Ohlange were noticed and when the plucky contender has a fair Gandhi’s journal heartily commended claim for Justice”.49 the efforts John Dube had made towards With such editorials appearing in African education, holding him out as the African press, fears were voiced in an inspiration for all coloured people. colonial circles that similar movements The address by the Governor of Natal could develop among the African peo- (Sir Matthew Nathan) at the opening of ple. Responding to these apprehensions the new school at the Ohlange Industrial in an interview to The Natal Mercury, Institute was reported at length in Gan- Gandhi observed: dhi’s journal which commented: … if the natives were to adopt Mr Dube is to be warmly congratulated our methods, and replace physical upon a success that has culminated in violence by passive resistance, it a ceremony such as took place at the would be a positive gain to South Ohlange Mission Station last Monday. Africa. Passive resisters, when they He must have felt, when he heard are in the wrong, do mischief only Sir Matthew Nathan’s wise words to themselves. When they are in the of encouragement, that his years right, they succeed in spite of any of strenuous endeavour on behalf odds. It is not difficult to see in Natal, of his people had not been spent in that, if Bambata, instead of murdering vain. Mr Dube is a splendid disciple Inspector Hunt, had simply taken up of Mr Booker Washington, and his passive resistance, because he felt energetic faith is to be commended that the imposition of the poll-tax was unjustifiable, much bloodshed would to all presently designated “inferior” 50 peoples in South Africa. If the have been avoided…. colonial-born Indian will but take This stance was more than a reit- heart from so bright an example, and eration of Gandhi’s position against realise that there is something greater violent action; it was also an invita- even than the ideal of becoming an tion to the African people that Gandhi office employee, he will have done would repeat more than once before much to better his own condition and that of the land of his birth.48 leaving South Africa. Clearly, Gandhi was fine-tuning his political posi- There is little doubt that the sense of tions so as to place himself as far as appreciation between the two neigh- possible in a position of minimal or bouring leaders and institutions devel- “no-contradiction” with respect to the oped on both sides. The Gandhi-led African leadership. With increased Indian struggle, involving passive mutual respect and appreciation, inter- resistance by courting arrest, started action between the two neighbouring

M.K. Gandhi at a farewell meeting held in Durban in 1914 (Photograph: National Gandhi Museum, New Delhi) institutions was bound to increase also Gandhi had complimented W.P. Sch- on other, including cultural, planes. A reiner, when both were on a visit to Lon- visit by the Phoenix Settlement School don, for his “noble and self-sacrificing to the Ohlange Industrial School was work in connection with the welfare of reported in Gandhi’s journal some three the coloured races of South Africa under weeks before his release from Pretoria the Draft South Africa Act.”53 Dinuzulu, prison. Exhibiting some familiarity with who was serving a term in prison, was Ohlange, Gandhi’s journal noted in its discharged soon after the formation of report of the visit: “The Ohlange School the Union of South Africa. John Dube has already outgrown its fine two-storey and other African leaders in Natal had building so that Standard III with its close links with the House of Dinuzulu. 37 pupils has to be taught in the old Welcoming the subsequent discharge refectory. The carpenter shops, smithy of Dinuzulu, Gandhi wrote: “It was no and turning benches were also much doubt right and proper that the birth of admired.”51 A musical performance held the Union should have been signalised at the Ohlange Industrial School was [sic] for the Natives of South Africa by also appreciatively reported in Gandhi’s the clemency of the Crown towards Di- journal in the following month.52 nizulu [sic]. Dinizulu’s [sic] discharge Increasingly, Gandhi emphasised will naturally fire the imagination of the the inter-connectedness of African and South African Natives.”54 Asian interests, even if not their amal- Gandhi saw in the new attitude, gamated identity. The Zulu chief Dinu- then exhibited in South Africa, ground zulu had been tried and convicted on for hope for Asians as well. This may various counts of high treason. He was be compared with the way Inkanyiso defended by W.P. Schreiner, a famous in 1895 had seen African and Indian lawyer based in the Cape whose sister, demands as inter-woven and non-con- the writer Olive Schreiner, became a flicting: Gandhi asked: “Will it not be deeply valued friend of Gandhi. In 1909 equally proper to enable the Asiatics in

South Africa to feel that there is a new acted as the main organiser of the visit, and benignant spirit abroad in South escorting Gokhale throughout the tour. Africa by conceding their demands, The historic meeting between John which are held, I make bold to say, Dube, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and to be intrinsically just by nine out of Gandhi took place in November 1912. every 10 intelligent Europeans in this It was only earlier in the year that Gan- continent?”55 dhi’s journal had occasion to welcome the election of John Dube as president The founding of the ANC of the new formation and warmly to When the South African Native Na- praise the manifesto issued by him. On tional Congress (SANNC), later to be the morning of 11 November, 1912, renamed the African National Congress Gokhale was taken by Gandhi to meet (ANC), was founded in January 1912, John Dube at the Ohlange Institute Gandhi’s Indian Opinion welcomed and discuss political issues.59 Gokhale the event as “The Awakening of the received a warm welcome from the Natives”. It wrote: “Our friend and staff and students of Dube’s school. neighbour, the Rev. John L. Dube, Prin- The occasion is saturated with historical cipal of the Ohlange Native Industrial significance. Gokhale had been presi- School, has received the high honour of dent of the Indian National Congress being elected the first president of the in India in 1905; Gandhi would became newly-inaugurated Inter-State Native president of that organisation in 1924. Congress.”56 The journal expressed Thus eight decades before the complete appreciation of the manifesto issued liberation of South Africa, a past and a by John Dube “to his countrymen” future president of the Indian National and published extracts from it. These Congress were calling on the leader of extracts from Dube’s manifesto con- the African National Congress. cluded: Characteristically not mentioning We have been distinguished by the Gandhi’s own visit to Ohlange, his world as a race of born gentlemen – a journal reported: “Mr Gokhale then paid truly glorious title, bestowed on few a visit to the Natal Industrial School at other peoples – and by the gentleness Ohlange and spent some time discuss- of our manners (poor though we may ing the Native question with the Rev. be, unlettered and ill-clad) and by the John Dube, principal of the school, and nobility of our character shall we break president of the Native Congress. The down the adamantine wall of colour students sang a couple of Zulu songs prejudice and force even our enemies and the band played popular music”.60 to be our admirers and our friend.57 John Dube’s paper Ilanga Lase Natal, The formation of such an African or- carrying a fuller account, mentioned ganisation had already been presaged in Gandhi as well: a report that Indian Opinion had carried 58 We of Ohlange have been greatly more than five months earlier. honoured by the visit of the Hon. G.K. Gokhale on Monday morning Gokhale’s visit to South Africa last. He came over from the Phoenix The eminent Indian statesman, Gopal settlement with Mr Gandhi and a few Krishna Gokhale visited South Africa friends, and was received by our boys in October-November 1912. Gandhi and girls who greeted him with cheers

and gave him an exhibition of band founding conference of the African Na- and vocal music.61 tional Congress at Bloemfontein earlier The same issue of Ilanga carried an in the year. Both Charles Dube and his editorial on Gokhale’s visit to South wife, Adelaide Dube, were associated Africa. with the Ohlange institution. Interest- It observed: ingly, among the European invitees at the banquet that evening was Dr J.B. The reception and attention that are McCord.64 Dr McCord had founded and being given by the government and ran the Zulu hospital in Durban where people of South Africa to the Hon. Katie Makanya, one of the two famous G. K. Gokhale, and the hearing he has received on all sides when he Manye sisters, worked as his assistant 65 has touched upon the unsatisfactory and dispenser. relations existing between the In the following year came the land European and Indian population legislation that was almost universally of the Union, convey a lesson of condemned by Africans in South Africa. importance to the Native population. Gandhi’s paper severely condemned the We have seen and heard a great man Natives Land Act as an “Act of con- whose knowledge and experience is fiscation” and supported John Dube’s equal to that of the foremost statesmen criticism of the enactment: of our day, and he is a black man …. We Natives of South Africa have not The Natives Land Act of the Union been given the opportunity of taking Parliament has created consternation part in the affairs of our fatherland, among the Natives. Indeed, every other and consequently cannot boast of such question, not excluding the Indian leaders as are Messrs Gokhale and question, pales into insignificance Gandhi … The Natives have taken a before the great Native question. This most important step in establishing a land is theirs by birth and this Act of representative Congress of their own. confiscation – for such it is – is likely They should perfect that organisation to give rise to serious consequences and support their congress and men unless the government takes care.66 they have chosen to office by every means in their power. Let them speak John Dube’s appeal to the British as those having authority, and the public against that Act was also repro- claims of the Natives to attention will duced in extenso.67 at least always have a hearing.62 Significantly, the Ilanga editorial Alfred Mangena (1879-1924) acknowledges the leadership attributes The affairs in the colony, a report in of Gandhi and Gokhale and stresses Gandhi’s journal noted, were discussed the need to bring about circumstances at a recent meeting in London of “near- and possibilities that may help build ly 30 Liberal members of Parliament and engender such leadership within and others” and “among those present an African context. were Mr Fox Bourne, Secretary of the In the evening of 11 November 1912 Aborigines’ Protection Society, and Mr John Dube and Charles Dube attended Mangena, an educated native of Na- the banquet held in Durban in honour of tal”.68 The latter was Alfred Mangena, Gokhale.63 Charles Dube, John Dube’s who would practise law in Pretoria, edit younger brother, had attended the the Advocate and, along with Gandhi

Natalia 42 (2012) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2012 Gandhi and some contemporary African leaders from KwaZulu-Natal and others, be involved with protesting the Transvaal Native Congress “ap- the Draft Union Act in 1909 and, as in pointed Alfred Mangena (already in the case of Gandhi, also be associated London) and instructed him to work in with the Universal Races Congress to co-operation with the other delegates, be held in London in 1911. viz. Hon W.P. Schreiner, Messrs J. The closer contacts that were now Tengo Jabavu, Advocate Gandhi and emerging between Africans and Indians others”.71 This information is based on were reflected in the African sources the proceedings of the Transvaal Native of inspiration that the Indian com- Congress, 24 June, 1909, Resolution No munity came to identify, the African 2.72 It appears that both Pixley Ka Isaka achievements which it celebrated and Seme and Mangena were so requested the African demands which it found by the Transvaal Native Congress, itself supporting or in sympathy with. In which “instructed Mangena and Seme September 1908, two years after Alfred to work in co-operation with Schreiner, Mangena was first mentioned in Gan- J. T. Jabavu, Mahatma Gandhi (who dhi’s journal, the journal re-published went to London on behalf of the Trans- from the East Rand Express, under the vaal Indians) and other delegates”.73 heading “A Successful Zulu”, a note on Of three “young” lawyers who were Mangena to mark his being called as a among the founding figures of the ANC, barrister by Lincoln’s Inn, London.69 Pixley Seme, Alfred Mangena (who was The journal noted that Mangena was appointed senior treasurer), and George born near Ladysmith and educated at a D. Montsioa (who was appointed re- mission station in the Cape Colony. It cording secretary), the first two were, was reported also that Mangena’s father, as we have seen, from Natal. Mangena Stomels, “was a veteran of Cetshwayo was the first African barrister-at-law and and fought with his tribe against the set up practice in Pretoria and Johannes- British in the Zulu war”. The report burg after his return to South Africa in appeared to show awareness of work 1910. Mangena makes an early appear- that Mangena had earlier done in the ance in the pages of Indian Opinion in Cape Town area. African activism was 1906. In 1912 Mangena also started the a feature of which some Indians were Pretoria-based Bantu-English weekly probably at least somewhat aware when Advocate. It could not have been pub- they set about seeking redress of their lished for long, however, and appears own grievances. to have closed down the following year. On 7 June 1909 Gandhi made an important speech in Germiston in the Pixley Seme (1881–1951) Transvaal, openly commending passive The Inanda-born Pixley Seme is cred- resistance to Africans: “Nor could such ited with having been the driving force a weapon, if used by the Natives, do the in the formation of the African National 70 slightest harm.” Congress although the idea of such an Soon thereafter, it was two KwaZulu- organisation had been discussed in Af- Natal Africans who were appointed by rican circles for quite some time. the Transvaal Native Congress to pro- Preparations leading up to the birth vide assistance to the African delegation of the African National Congress began proceeding to London in 1909. Within with Pixley Seme, who had returned days of Gandhi’s speech at Germiston,

Natalia 42 (2012) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2012 Gandhi and some contemporary African leaders from KwaZulu-Natal from his studies abroad to start a law would be countenanced, but it is practice in Johannesburg, supplying clear that the lessons of the Indian the new energy that was needed. At agitation have not been lost on the the end of July 1911, Gandhi’s Indian natives, and though nothing definite was said to indicate reliance on passive Opinion informed its readers, relying resistance, it is not improbable that in on a Mercury telegram: “Preliminary certain eventualities recourse will be arrangements have been completed … had to it.80 for the union of the various native as- sociations throughout South Africa and 1911 was also the year when Pixley a congress of the new organisation will Seme called on Gandhi at Tolstoy Farm be held next month.”74 It was reportedly near Johannesburg. An account of this expected at this stage that Dr Walter meeting has become available from Rubusana was to be the president of the the memoirs of Dr Pauline Podlashuk, new organisation and an executive of 30 a medical doctor who was active in members had reportedly been set up.75 the suffragette movement in South Indian Opinion described Pixley Africa as secretary of the Women’s Seme as “a young Zulu attorney prac- Enfranchisement League. It was Dr tising in Johannesburg”, who would be Podlashuk who had earlier translated the “hon. treasurer of the new society”.76 Tolstoy’s Russian-language letter ad- 81 Seme was quoted as saying: “We will dressed to Gandhi in 1910. Present at discuss questions affecting the status the Gandhi-Seme meeting in 1911, the of Natives as a whole, such as the Pass account she provides in her memoirs Law.” 77 Seme was also quoted as saying of her visit to Tolstoy Farm is fairly 82 that the new African organisation was detailed and specific. Dr Podlashuk, “anxious to have an inter-state college accompanied by Miss Stewart Sand- erected in a proper place”.78 Gandhi erson, who was then joint secretary of had supported the proposal for such a the Women’s Enfranchisement League, college since 1905.79 were received at Lawley Station near Pixley Seme’s statement provided yet Tolstoy Farm by Gandhi’s friend and another cause for satisfaction to Gandhi associate, Hermann Kallenbach. The who had been recommending the course two women then waited for Kallenbach of passive resistance to the Africans to receive another guest arriving by since at least the time of his speech in the same train. That was Pixley Seme. Germiston on 7 June 1909. As we have According to Podlashuk the party, in- seen, this was reiterated by Gandhi in cluding Pixley Seme, met Gandhi in his the Indian Opinion of 1 January 1910. library, “a large room lined with shelves The expectation that these methods full of books”, where “Mr Gandhi told might now be adopted found expression Dr Seme about his passive resistance in the Indian Opinion report in its issue movement and how he had settled the of 29 July 1911. On the methods to be women and children on the farm”. The adopted by the new African organisa- party was shown around the farm and tion to achieve its various objectives, it the workshops “where the boys were was noted in the report: learning shoe-making and tailoring and the women, basket-making”. Gandhi Seme was at pains to remove any and Kallenbach were to speak in Johan- suspicion that force in any degree nesburg that evening and they all took

Natalia 42 (2012) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2012 Gandhi and some contemporary African leaders from KwaZulu-Natal the train back to town. The train had others, including Alfred Mangena, Dr started pulling out when Kallenbach ran Abdurrahman of the African People’s to the stationmaster, who signalled it to Organisation, Olive Schreiner from stop. Dr Podlashuk recalled: South Africa and E.W. Blyden, the Naturally, all the passengers looked famous African intellectual from Sierra out of the windows to see what was Leone, and Dr W.E.B. DuBois, who happening and they saw a most curious was later known as the pioneering force sight for South Africa. Coming toward behind the Pan-African movement.85 the train were four dark men, three who looked like Indians – Kallenbach looked like one too – and a Native. The Msimang brothers: With them were two young white (a) Richard (1884-1933) and girls. The train stopped and our party (b) Selby (1886-1982) went into a first class carriage which The two Msimang brothers, Richard carried the sign “Reserved”. I did not and Selby, played a key role in the his- know then that this sign meant that tory of African nationalism and were the carriage was reserved for non- associated with the founding circles Europeans. of the ANC. The SANNC Constitution That Pixley Seme did draw upon which was drawn up in 1919, had, in and invoke events in Gandhi’s life we Chapter IV, Clause 13 emphasised “pas- know from a subsequent account. More sive action” as a means to be used. It has than a decade later, on a voyage from been suggested that this “was perhaps a Cape Town to England in December reflection of the impact Gandhi’s pas- 1922, Pixley Seme would recount to sive resistance campaigns among South Sobhuza II of Swaziland the earlier African Indians had made upon African 1893 incident of Gandhi’s eviction from opinion”.86 If so, it is of some inter- a train in Pietermaritzburg; Seme, who est to note that Richard W. Msimang was accompanying King Sobhuza II as (1884-1933), who “often served as his legal adviser on questions concern- the legal adviser” of the South African ing Swaziland which were to be taken Native National Congress, is reputed up with the British Government, sought to have been “primarily responsible” to stress that it was against racial dis- for drafting the constitution of the crimination that Gandhi had protested SANNC in 1919.87 Richard Msimang and once discrimination was removed, was among the first students at John with the provision of a first class cabin Dube’s Ohlange Institute.88 Thus he was and no imposition of a colour bar, other perhaps there when Gandhi set up camp discomforts, if any, on the ship did not at Phoenix nearby. From 1910 Richard matter.83 Msimang, having meanwhile qualified July 1911, when Pixley Seme figures as a lawyer in England, established a in Indian Opinion, was significant also legal practice in Johannesburg, where for the First Universal Races Congress incidentally Gandhi, too, had set up held in London. Indian Opinion had in base. its columns been mentioning plans for While individual factors and threads such a conference as early as 1909.84 may be points for further research, Gandhi was on the honorary general there appears to have been a general committee of the conference, along with consensus within the organised African

Natalia 42 (2012) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2012 Gandhi and some contemporary African leaders from KwaZulu-Natal leadership in South Africa by this time African political community would, in that unity and peaceful action was the any case, have found Indian politics too way to go forward. radical to countenance an alliance”.90 The younger of the two brothers Not entering into an alliance did not, was Henry Selby Msimang, one of of course, mean not seeking mutual the founders of the African National assistance or not inter-connecting. The Congress. His papers at the Alan Pa- interconnections between African and ton Centre and Struggle Archives in Indian-oriented circles were multi- Pietermaritzburg confirm that he knew dimensional. Thus Selby Msimang Gandhi personally. There was also had worked also with Gandhi’s close physical proximity. Selby Msimang associate and Phoenix trustee, Lewis worked with Pixley Seme and Seme’s Walter Ritch (1870-1964).91 Ritch had law offices in Johannesburg were close qualified as a lawyer in the course of his to Gandhi’s. From the manuscript of association with Gandhi and inherited Selby’s Autobiography, and recorded Gandhi’s law practice after the latter’s interviews available among his papers, departure from South Africa. One may it is instructive to note the following appreciate better the full significance observations by Selby about Gandhi: (a) of Selby Msimang’s observation about “When Seme would be away from the the comparative radicalism of African office for weeks, then I would go to him and Indian politics at the time by not- for advice.” (b) “Gandhi’s office was ing that he himself was active in the just opposite our office. Except that if African trade union movement and I had any difficulty in the office during was considered around 1919 as, argu- Seme’s absence I would go and consult ably, its most prominent figure. P.L. him [and] he helped me get over certain Wickins holds that at this time Selby of these difficulties.” (c) “Gandhi was a Msimang “eclipsed Kadalie in prestige very reserved man. But open, anybody and influence”.92 could see him.” (d) “I am not sure However, John Dube evidently came whether or not Gandhi was practising. to be impressed by civil disobedience But he knew South African law – he and the Indian campaign led by Gandhi, was very connected.”89 though he did not himself resort to it. In the natural course of things, such This is supported by a record of a dis- consultations which Selby Msimang cussion between Rev. W.W. Pearson, had with Gandhi could not have hap- Rev. Charles Andrews’ collaborator, pened unless there was a high degree of understanding between Pixley Seme who met Dube at the conclusion of and Gandhi. This understanding clearly Gandhi’s last (1913) campaign in existed even if there might not at this South Africa. Pearson and Andrews stage have been joint action on the had arrived in Durban harbour on ground among the various communities January 2, 1914, shortly after Gandhi’s in South Africa. release from Bloemfontein prison; There is on record also a notewor- disembarking at The Point, they were thy assessment by Selby Msimang of received by Gandhi at whose Phoenix organised politics at the time. He re- Settlement near Ohlange they would called some 70 years later that around stay during much of their visit. Dur- this time, “the leadership level of the ing his stay Pearson, accompanied by

Raojibhai Manibhai Patel, then living The onset of passive resistance: in Gandhi’s Phoenix settlement, called Indian women jailed in Natal, on John Dube. Patel kept a record of the African women in the OFS conversation and of Dube’s remarks. It There is an epilogue to the story of appears in Patel’s Gujarati-language Gandhi’s interface with KwaZulu-Natal memoir of life at Phoenix, Gandhiji African leaders of his time, which de- Ni Sadhna, published in India in 1939. serves mention because of its long-term Half-a-century later a translation- impact on events, although the scene adaptation of this work into English now shifts in some measure to outside was done by Abid Shamsi, then head KwaZulu-Natal and even outside South of the English Department, St Xavier’s Africa. Gandhi had in April 1913 made College, Ahmedabad.93 known the possibility of his wife Kas- In his conversation with Pearson, turba and other Indian women courting John Dube refers to a strike by Indian arrest in the Asian agitation. Here was a workers. The 1913 movement initiated case of a cross-fertilisation of ideas, for by Gandhi had been accompanied by Gandhi is believed also to have, in turn, and involved strikes by mine-workers, been influenced by the African women’s plantation workers and indentured la- struggle in the Orange Free State, which bour, and gaoling, not only of men but followed immediately, in focusing still also women. further on involvement of women in Dube had witnessed the tortures to the next round of his movement in which Indian men, women and chil- South Africa. The Asian movement dren were subject in the course of the was resumed in 1913 as the authorities strike and was deeply impressed by failed to honour their commitment to their willpower.94 He was witness to repeal the £3 tax on members of former an incident involving police beating indentured Indians’ families and failed Indian workers. Dube recalled that the also to resolve the fresh issues which latter refused to budge saying that “so had arisen about the validity and rec- long as our Gandhi Raja is not released, ognition of Indian marriages. This fol- we shall not go back to work”.95 Dube, lowed upon Justice Searle’s judgment in who witnessed the police open fire upon the Cape Supreme Court on March 14, Indian workers, credited Gandhi with 1913 in Bai Miriam’s case. The judg- having “revived that strength in your ment directly concerned Indian women nerves”.96 as the status of most Indian marriages Patel’s account of the Dube-Pearson became questionable under the new conversation is credible because it legal dispensation. On April 19, Gandhi accords also with the editorial views informed the Indian statesman Gokhale expressed in Dube’s paper on the earlier of the decision: round of the Indian struggle in 1908. As Most of the settlers here including we have seen, Ilanga Lase Natal had in the womenfolk will join the struggle. early 1908 appreciated “the courageous The latter feel that they can no longer manner in which the Indians are acting refrain from facing gaol no matter 97 in the Transvaal”. what it may mean in a place like this. Mrs Gandhi made the offer on her own initiative and I do not want to debar her.98

A few days later the South African NOTES press reported from Johannesburg of 1 Gandhi, M.K. The Collected Works of Ma- the Indian Women’s Association having hatma Gandhi [henceforth CW] (Ahmedabad, Navajivan Trust, [1958-1994]) vol. 8 p. 246. telegraphed the Minister of the Interior 2 Meintjes, Sheila “The Early African Press in seeking an amendment of the law “so Natal: Inkanyiso Yase Natal: April 1889- June as to recognise the validity of Indian 1896”, Natalia 16, 1986, pp. 6-11. 3 Inkanyiso Yase Natal, 7 Sep.1894. marriages which have been affected 4 Idem. 99 by the Searle judgment”. The women 5 Idem. stated that they “are prepared to offer 6 Inkanyiso, editorial dated 4 Jan,1895 repro- passive resistance and go to gaol with duced in Meintjes, “The Early African Press in Natal”, p. 7. their husbands rather than suffer the 7 Inkanyiso, 28 June 1895. indignity which the judgment subjects 8 Inkanyiso, 6 Sep.1895. them to”.100 Ultimately Kasturba Gan- 9 Idem. [Italics as in original]. Gandhi’s letter dhi, Valiamma and other Indian women to the Natal Mercury was published on 5 Sep.1895. Gandhi CW vol.1 pp. 251-3. were imprisoned in various prisons in 10 Inkanyiso, 27 Sep.1895. Natal in the course of this movement. 11 Idem. [Italics as in original]. The prisons included Newcastle and 12 Idem. 13 The Natal Advertise, 25 Sep. 1895; Gandhi, Pietermaritzburg, among others. Indian CW vol. 1 pp. 256-7. women courted arrest from September 14 Inkanyiso, 27 Sep.1895. 1913, after the African and Coloured 15 Idem. women in the Orange Free State whose 16 Idem. 17 Inkanyiso, 4 Oct.1895. agitation against the pass laws had 18 Ibid. 11 Oct.1895. begun in the interregnum. This agita- 19 Ibid. 29 Nov.1895. tion by African women was hailed by 20 The first two serial articles, published in Gandhi’s journal in a bold front-page Inkanyiso on 19 and 26 Apr.1895, are cited in Pyarelal Mahatma Gandhi: The Early Phase headline as “Native Women’s Brave (Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, Stand”.101 In the Asian agitation, Gan- 1965), pp.711-14 and p.806. dhi’s wife, was arrested on September 21 Pyarelal Mahatma Gandhi: The Early Phase, pp. 714 and 806 (citing The Natal Witness, 21 23 and not released until 22 December June 1895). 1913. Interestingly, Gandhi himself 22 Ibid. p.716. ended up in Bloemfontein prison at the 23 Hunt, James D. Gandhi and the Nonconform- end of 1913. ists: Encounters in South Africa, (New Delhi, Promilla & Co., 1986) p.12. Gandhi would re- Gandhi, in a speech in London four main in personal contact with Bishop Baynes years earlier (12 November 1909), of Natal during the organisation of the Indian had moved to the conceptual edge of Ambulance Corps in 1899. (See his letter to Bishop Baynes, Before 11 December 1899, the Empire, interpreting adherence or Gandhi CW vol 3 pp. 127-8). It was Bishop loyalty to it as being dependent upon Baynes who had intervened with the Natal adherence to the principle of equality Government so as to have Gandhi’s offer underlying the British Constitution.102 concerning the organisation of the Indian Ambulance Corps during the South African He would not now stand at this periph- War accepted. (See Indian Opinion, 22 July ery longer than necessary; yet the final 1914 and 23 Sep.1914; Gandhi, CW vol. 12 step would not be taken in Africa, nor p.465. immediately upon his arrival in India 24 The Vegetarian, 18 May 1895; Gandhi, CW vol. 1 p.224. in January 1915 in the midst of the 25 Ibid. p. 226. Great War. 26 Idem. 27 Idem.

28 See, for instance, Inkanyiso, 24 Nov.1893 41 Indian Opinion, 18 Nov.1905. which referred editorially to a letter on 42 Indian Opinion, 7 Apr. 1906; Gandhi, CW vol. “Manual Training” from J.L. Dube; see also 5 p. 266. Dube’s letter in Inkanyiso, 13 July 1894. 43 Indian Opinion, 14 Apr. 1906; CW vol. 5 29 The International Printing Press was founded p.281. by Madanjit Vyavaharik in 1898 in Durban 44 Ibid. 21 Apr.1906. at Gandhi’s suggestion. It published Indian 45 Ibid. 24 Nov.1906. Opinion from 1903 onwards. [Gandhi, CW 46 Ibid.15 Dec.1906. vol. 3 p. 256n., and Bhana, Surendra and Hunt, 47 Ibid. 2 Feb.1907. James D. Gandhi’s Editor: The Letters of M.H. 48 Ibid. 30 Nov.1907. Nazar 1902-1903 (New Delhi, Promilla & 49 Indian Opinion, 18 Jan.1908, reproducing a Co.,1989) p. 8]. For a while, until the Ohlange comment by Ilanga lase Natal. institution acquired a press of its own, John 50 The Natal Mercury, 6 Jan.1909; Gandhi CW Dube’s paper, Ilanga Lase Natal, was printed vol.9 p.127. at the International Printing Press. [Reddy, E. 51 Indian Opinion, 1 May 1909. S. Gandhiji’s Vision of a Free South Africa 52 Ibid. 19 June 1909. (New Delhi, Sanchar Publishing House, 1995) 53 Gandhi’s letter to W. P. Schreiner, 24 July p. 49]. 1909; Gandhi, CW vol. 95 (Supplementary 30 Sabarmati Sangrahalaya, Ahmedabad, India, vol. V) p. 5. Gandhi Papers: Serial no. 4127. 54 Indian Opinion,11 June 1910; Gandhi, CW 31 Mandela, Nelson “Gandhi The Prisoner: A vol. 10p.263. Comparison”, in Nanda, B.R. (ed.) Mahatma 55 Idem. Gandhi: 125 Years (New Delhi, Indian Coun- 56 Indian Opinion, 10 Feb.1912. cil of Cultural Relations, 1995) p. 8. 57 Idem. 32 See Hughes, Heather First President: A Life 58 Indian Opinion, 29 July 1911. of John L. Dube Founding President of the 59 Ilanga Lase Natal, 15 Nov.1912 . ANC (Johannesburg, Jacana, 2011) pp. 109- 60 Indian Opinion, 23 Nov.1912. 13 and pp. 171-2. Earlier, another writer had 61 “Our Distinguished Visitor”, Ilanga Lase asserted that “even a man like Dube was ap- Natal, 15 Nov. 1912. parently unknown to Gandhi”. (Switzer, Les 62 “Mr Gokhale’s Visit”, Ilanga Lase Natal, 15 “Gandhi in South Africa: The Ambiguities of Nov.1912. Satyagraha”, Journal of Ethnic Studies, vol. 63 Indian Opinion, “Souvenir of the Hon. Gopal 14(1), 1986, p. 125, cited in Hunt, James D. Krishna Gokhale’s Tour in South Africa, Oc- An American Looks at Gandhi: Essays in tober 22 – November 18, [1912]” p.36. Satyagraha, Civil Rights and Peace [New 64 Idem. Delhi, Promilla & Co., 2005] p. 8 and p.92 65 Margaret McCord The Calling of Katie note 37). Makanya (Cape Town, David Philip, 1995), 33 Ibid., p. 172. pp.167-82, 206-8. The hospital was opened by 34 Swan, Maureen Gandhi: The South African Dr James McCord in May 1909 and is now a Experience (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, large institution. Katie Makanya’s sister was 1985) pp. 59-60. the famous Charlotte Maxeke (1874-1939), 35 Indian Opinion, 2 Sep. 1905; Gandhi, CW, probably present at the founding of the ANC vol. 5, p. 55. According to Heather Hughes, in 1912, and who went on to become the first the speech by John Dube, praised by Gandhi, president of the Bantu Women’s League. was made in late August 1905 and that among 66 Indian Opinion, 30 Aug.1913. those present on the occasion, apart from Gan- 67 Idem. dhi himself, was also Dube’s wife Nokutela. 68 Indian Opinion, 26 May 1906. (Hughes First President, p.113). 69 Ibid. 5 Sep.1908. 36 Idem. 70 Ibid. 12 June 1909; Gandhi, CW vol. 9 p. 244. 37 See Davis, Jr, R. Hunt “John L. Dube: A South This suggestion was reiterated by Gandhi in African Exponent of Booker T. Washington”, his journal on New Year’s Day, 1910. The Journal of African Studies, vol, 2 (4), 1975, provocation for this was provided by a seating pp. 497-528. arrangement by the Pretoria Town Council 38 Indian Opinion, 10 Sep. 1903; Gandhi, CW that discriminated against an African youth. vol. 3 pp. 437-40. In response to this situation, Gandhi recom- 39 Ibid., p. 439. mended passive resistance, or satyagraha as 40 Marable, W. Manning, “Booker T. Washington he preferred to call it. “In a country like this”, and African Nationalism”, Phylon, 1974, vol. he continued, “the coloured people are placed 35(4), 1974, pp. 398-406. in an extremely difficult position. We think

there is no way out of this except satyagraha. Protest & Hope 1882-1934 bySheridan Johns Such instances of injustice are a natural con- III (Stanford, Hoover Institution Press, 1972) sequence of the whites’ refusal to treat the p. 62. Also see Reddy Gandhiji’s Vision, p. 75 coloured people as their equals. It is in order to note 85. put an end to this state of affairs that we have 87 Msimang, R.W., Natives Land Act 1913: been fighting in the Transvaal, and it is not Specific Cases of Evictions and Hardships, etc. surprising that the fight against a people with Reprint. (Cape Town, Friends of South Afri- such deep prejudice should take a long time can Library, 1996). Introduction by Timothy [to bear fruit].” (Indian Opinion, 1 Jan.1910; Keegan, p. v. Gandhi, CW vol. 10 p.113). In less than four 88 Idem. years after Gandhi’s Germiston speech, and the 89 Alan Paton Centre and Struggle Archives, reiteration on 1 January 1910 of the suggestion Pietermaritzburg, John Aitchison Collection: that Africans ought to use passive resistance, PC14/1/3/2/11. African women in the Orange Free State did 90 Swan, Gandhi, p.133, note 161. Swan inter- in fact take to passive resistance. viewed Selby Msimang at Pietermaritzburg in 71 Walshe, Peter The Rise of African National- September 1976. ism in South Africa: The African National 91 Deane, Dee Shirley, Black South Africans: A Congress 1912-1952 (Berkeley, University Who’s Who: 57 Profiles of Natal’s Leading of California Press, 1971) p.22. Blacks (Cape Town, Oxford University Press, 72 Ibid., p. 28n. citing “Schreiner Papers”. 1978) p.117. 73 Odendaal, Andre Vukani Bantu!: The Begin- 92 Wickins, P. L. The Industrial and Commercial nings of Black Protest Politics in South Africa Workers’ Union of Africa (Cape Town, Oxford to 1912 (Cape Town, David Philip,1984) p. University Press, 1978) p.43. 205 and p. 347n. 93 Patel, Raojibhai M. The Making of the Ma- 74 Indian Opinion, 29 July 1911, “A Native hatma: Based On “Gandhiji Ni Sadhna”, Union: The Lessons of the Passive Resistance (Ahmedabad, Ravindra R. Patel, 1990) pp. Movement”. 213-17. The title of Patel’s Gujarati work 75 Idem. ought to be more correctly translated as 76 Idem. Gandhiji Ni Sadhana. A more detailed ac- 77 Idem. count of the Dube-Pearson interaction, being a 78 Idem. complete translation of the relevant section of 79 Indian Opinion, 30 Dec. 1905; Gandhi, CW Raojibhai Patel’s work, is available in Nayar, vol. 5 p. 172 and Indian Opinion, 17 Mar. Sushila Mahatma Gandhi: Satyagraha at 1906; Gandhi, CW vol. 5 pp. 234-5. Work vol.IV (Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publish- 80 Indian Opinion, 29 July 1911. ing House, 1989) pp.714-6. Nayar, however, 81 That the translation from the original Russian utilises a Hindi language translation (1959) was by Pauline Padlashuk is acknowledged in of Patel’s Gujarati language (1939) work. A Gandhi, CW vol, 10, p. 370n and p. 512n. The further and direct translation from the Gujarati translation was published in Indian Opinion, version is available in E.S. Reddy’s essay on 26 Nov.1910. Gandhi and Dube in Reddy, Gandhiji’s Vision, 82 Podlashuk, Pauline The Adventure of Life: pp 23-5. Reminiscences of Pauline Podlashuk,; ed. by 94 Patel, The Making, pp. 216-7. Seftel, Effie and Nasatyr, Judy (Johannesburg, 95 Idem. Pan Macmillan, 2010) pp. 69-75. 96 Ibid. p. 217. See also the report “Indian Resist- 83 Kuper, Hilda Sobhuza II, Ngwenyama and ers” in The Bloemfontein Post, 30 October, King of Swaziland: The story of an hereditary 1913, a week prior to Gandhi’s arrest near ruler and his country (New York, Africana Charlestown, in which striking Indian mine- Publishing Co.,1978) p. 81. workers in Natal are quoted as saying that they 84 Indian Opinion, 12 June 1909 and 16 were “only prepared to receive instructions or Apr.1910. advice from Mr Gandhi”. 85 Spiller G. (ed.) Papers on Inter-Racial Prob- 97 See note 49 supra. lems Communicated to the First Universal 98 Gandhi to G.K. Gokhale, 19 Apr.1913; Gandhi Races Congress (London, P.S. King & Son, CW vol. 12 p. 41. 1911) p. xxxvii. Gandhi did not himself attend 99 The Bloemfontein Post, 7 May 1913. the Congress but sent his associate Henry 100 Idem. Polak. 101 Indian Opinion, 2 Aug. 1913. See also Indian 86 Karis, Thomas and Carter, Gwendolen Opinion, 5 July 1913. M.(eds.) From Protest to Challenge: Volume 1 102 Ibid. 11 Dec.1909; Gandhi CW vol.9 p. 542.