1

Raymond Mhlaba, The Premier of the o ra6 Introduction

Raymond Mpakamisi Mhlaba remains a mystery to tire public. Little is known about his, background and bow he has earned his premiership, The public is presently perplexed by his leadership qualities; bis inaccessibility and his co-ordinating abilities to provide direction and leadership in the Eastern . What his vision is on implementing die reconstruction and development program, seems to be one of die anxieties experienced by the public presently.

This paper endeavours to illuminate Mhlaba's past in order to explain and clarify who he is. This would help to sec if there are any discrepancies between his past and the present, and what die challenges are to Mhlaba and to the public.

Who is he?

Mhlaba is a contemporary of President . Looking back at the past fifty years you see a loyal "Man of the Masses" who represented organisations that fought against national oppression and economic exploitation in . Having been bom in , among the poorest of the rural African populations, Mhlaba had to live school from early youth and work in an urban town. Endowed with a curious mind, he was initiated into die interests of the workers in Port Elizabedi. He learnt about the needs of the working class and their striving for freedom. He demonstrated the capacity for getting to grips with problems confronting working class people. These stemmed from his empathy and close contacts with the working people before his life imprisonment in 1963. After spending twenty six years in prison, Mhlaba was released and continued where he had left off, albeit in changed and changing circumstances. He has been part of die national leadership of both the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, and also played a leading role in dieir formal alliance. His life personifies the continuity of political traditions and ideological discourse. He has been at the 'cutting edge' of die historical and political developments in die Eastern Cape and nationally. He has not been just a voice from die past, but also a pioneer to the future which led him being elected as die Eastern Cape premier.

Why is Mhlaba not known to the public?

Th- reasons why Mhlaba is not known to the public can bs attributed interilia to die media and the prejudices of academic researchers. When the media referred to the famous Rivoo.ia Trialists, it only mentioned Nelson Mandela, , and "the odiers". Mhlaba has been "one of die others".

A)so, that Mhlaba has not been as famous as some of his mentioned contemporaries; did not attain higher academic qualifications and a profession; did not write books and articles although, he made speeches and wrote letters to die press; And as a result, little was available about him in written documentary, although a lot could be recollected dirough oral testimony; A.H these factors account for his nonentity which led him being marginalised even in academic discourse.

An upsurge in biographical writing

There lias been an upsurge in biographical writing as part of a wider movement to document the histories of the ordinary people such as Mhlaba who have been hidden from history. Biographies have been among the most popular and universal forms of historical writing. They have been found to be a powerful means of articulating the voice of the oppressed.1

The political climate in die country also presents exciting opportunities for biographical or life history research and experiment. The post 1990 epoch, particularly has made biography one of the most prominent methods of probing history. Mhlaba’s political biography has been amongst the very first endeavours to respond to this Iristoriographical challenge in South Africa.

Mhlaba has been amongst a distinctively communist-trade unionist oriented group which revolutionalised tire ANC in . He was amongst the working class activists with their militant working class ideologies that gave the ANC a new lease of life and its broad mass appeal during the raid 1940$ and early 1950s. This is contrary to the dominant and current theory about the ANC in the 1940s. that it was the youth League in particular, led by aspirant middle-class intellectuals who radicalised the organisation; that it was the bourgeois within the ANC that led to its rejuvenation.

Mhlaba’s group consolidated racial and class co-operation against the system. Mhlaba was active in die founding of the in Port Elizabeth. He succeeded in building a firm alliance between the Trade Union movement, die Communist Party and die ANC. It is through this alliance that we learn about the political transformation of the ANC 'from below’, that is from a working class cadre of activists rather than the middle class leadership. Mhlaba was involved in all duee formations and thus played a key role in die alliance politics. That alliance stood to strengthen the unity between racial and class groups working for die establishment of a deuiouaiic society against die apartheid system. Thai alliance was rooted and born out of the struggles of die masses in various formations.

Although existing literature on the history and politics of black resistance in Port Elizabeth identifies labour and political movements as the prime agents of mass mobilisation which led to the growth of community consciousness there2, the role played by individual activists such as Mhlaba who were instrumental in effecting that consciousness in die working class communities of Port Elizabeth is also imperative. Mblaba’s biography therefore provides access to dimensions and interpretations of events in ways less accessible by odiet research methods. Also, die role, of his oral testimony has been significant in broadening the sources of historical information. Oral testimony included his voice and his perspective as a participant in the events of those years. This dius has helped to construct a more comprehensive picture of the. past in order to correct the bias of official Suudi African history and has thereby enriched academic research.

His family profile

1 Laslett, B., "Biography as historical Sociology: Th© Case of William Fielding Ogburn" in Theory and Society, vol.20 no.4, August 1991, p.79

2 Cherry, Janet., "The Making of an African Working Class in Port Elizabeth.ca 1925 - 1963" MA Thesis, University of Cape Town, 1992.

Cherry, Janet., "Blot on the Landscape and Centre of Resistance: A Social and Economic History of Korsten", Honours Thesis, University of Cape Town, 1988. lodge, baines, cherry etal, p2 3

It was in Maqoma’s land, in one of the villages known as Nondyola dial Raymond Mphakamisi Mlilaba was bora, on February 14. 1920. This is die laud wheie Nondyola, Wezo, Gqugezi, Rantsana. Dubu villages, Tints . Mpofu (Seymour), Ngxwenxa (The Kat River) are situated; the area between the headwaters of Tyhume and Koonap rivers, also known as part of Western Xhosa!and.3

The origiiLS of his family as subjects of Maqoma reveals a social background steeped in the struggle against colonial domination, and oppression. Maqoma was still reigning during die days of Mhlaba's grandfather. With the encounter between die settlers and the indigenous Xhosa population, die area previously known as Xhosaland experienced wars of dispossession. British soldiers appeared in 1812, 1819. 1829, 1834, 1845, 1850, 1878. They destroyed homesteads, captured cattle, shot people, humiliated, detained and killed chiefs and conquered Xhosaland. whilst at die same time they expanded die British empire. This repressive invasion was accompanied by an ideological contestation. Missionaries also arrived with the word of a new God. The language and concept of private property began to creep in. This early process of commercialisation of the land and proletarianisation resulted in greater numbers of die Xhosa migrating to work on white farms that sprang up on the land that was once theirs.“

The stories of land dispossession was related to Mhlaba in stories by his grandfather. His grandfather told him about settlers who were "devils" and how Africans who used to move freely were suddenly restricted because their land was taken by the settlers.5 Mhlaba's grandfather was referring to die land and political power lost during the wars of dispossession between die Xhosa and the colonialists, in what is today known as the Eastern Cape, die ‘fortress' of black resistance.

Mhlaba's father was amongst those thousands of youths who were channelled to into cheap labour reservoirs tor die growing mines of Kimberley and Johannesburg. The growing mining industry generated an insatiable demand for cheap labour. He was driven out of bis village desperately in need of money to pay lobola, tax, rent and for other household needs. As a mineworker in Kimberley, he moved from being a peasant to being a wage labourer. He was to work as a labourer and later as a policeman in Cape town, Fort Beaufort, Seymour, Readsdale, Alice and a Security guard in Port Elizabeth. He was forced to leave his family behind.

What is recounted about Mhlaba’s father was typical of die process of proletarianisation. Like others, be could not support his family through subsistence agriculture on the tiny piece of land be occupied in Nondyola. The old subsistence system was replaced by the cash nexus and his life was inextricably bound into die dominant capitalist economy.

Mhlaba's mother used her own labour and that of die children on die piece of land diey occupied. She. and her children, had to till the land and look after die stock to satisfy dieir basic consumption needs for food. She had never worked as a domestic worker for white people, as was common with other women. His mother had pride, was stubborn, yet intelligent, independent and assertive, although she received very little formal western education.

3 Interview, Raymond Mhlaba, 16/5/1992 Interview, Nkosinkulu Mjamba, 20/12/1991 interview, Norman Ngcongolo, 26/12/1991 Crais, C., The Making of Colonial Order, University of Witwatersrand Press, Johannesburg, 1992, p.62.

3 Crais, The Making of Colonial Order, p.96.

5 Interview, Raymond Mhlaba, 18/12/1990 4

The political economy

Mfijaba's early life coincided with the deliberate and determined perpetuation of European domination and the exclusiveness of an all white state. He was to see- the exploitation of African labour by powerful and well otganised white capitalist class in the mining and manufacturing industries. This exploitation was given new impetus by the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, which brought co-operation between the British imperialists and Afrikaner nationalists and the maintenance of white supremacy. Africans, ‘Coloureds’ and Indians were excluded from real power and were denied the vote in Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State provinces. The path of capitalist development simultaneously generated further misery and suffering among rural and urban Africans. A pattern of accelerating rural impoverishment was evident in the early twentieth century. African rural economies were under iucieasiug slitun. Many wage labourers as exemplified by Mhlaba’s father, left their rural homes and headed for the growing mining industry. The 1913 Land Act forced Africans off their land into the mines, onto white farms and to the towns. An increasing number of Africans moved into urban centres and became fully proletarianised.6 A series of legislative measures by tire Union government followed, endorsing and extending the pillars of segregation between the white ruling class and the black proletariat. This meant further landlessness, homelessness, powerlessness, helplessness, wandering, impoverishment and appalling poverty for Africans.

The formation of the South African Native Congress in 1912, which later became die African National Congress, was a direct response to die budding exclusive white South Africa. The Congress was formed to tight against the exclusion of Africans from the franchise, inequitable land distribution and growing racial discrimination in the job market.7 The Congress remained committed to opposing die principle of segregation throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Resistance to segregation and political oppression went hand in hand with resistance to economic exploitation. The latter resistance led to the formation of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) in 191.9. The ICU organised black workers in the cities and rural areas and became a mass protest movement for national liberation in the 1920s. Although the life span of the ICU was ephemeral, as a political organisation it had an ’astounding itnpact oil consciousness and resistance in the country and articulated popular grievances and fuelled protest to an unprecedented degree’.5 Following the formation of die ICU was that of the Communist Party of South Africa (SACP) in 1921. Like the ICU, the C.PSA played a central role in the political development of the black working classing during the 1920s. As time went ou, the efficacy of these organisation became doubtful. This was because die various movements were not co­ ordinated.

The birth of an activist

6 Maylam, P., A History of the African People of South Africa, David Phillip, Cape Town, 1987, pp. 143-144, 1 4 8 .

7 Ibid, p.155.

% Bradford, H., A Taste of Freedom: The ICU in Rural_____ South Africa 1924 -1930. Yale U niversity Press, New Haven, 1987, chapters 1 & 8. O ' M e a r a , D . , "Class and Nationalism in African Resistance; Secondary Industrialisation and the Development of a Mass Movement in South Africa, 1930 - 1950", MA Thesis, Sussex U niversity, 1973, chapter 2. M a y la m , A History of the African People, ppl59 -160. 5

Mhlaba’s childhood was spent in Nondyola as a hcrdboy, whilst his two sisters collected wood and fetched water from the river and his mother prepared their meals. He comes from a Christian family which was made to believe that loyalty to the faith took precedence over objective material conditions. However, for Raymond Mlilaba, Christianity had different social implications. It was not simply a personal religion but also a guide for political, economic and cultural judgement. As a little boy, he could not accept the picture of the white god and the black devil. He found it morally wrong to see virtue and vice on racial lines. ,

Mhlaba was sent to missionary schools. He began his pre-primary education in Nondyola village where he learnt to sing scriptural memory verses and to write die vowels. He proceeded with bis primary education in. Balfour, Seymour, Readsdale, where b.is father had been working. He obtained his standard six certificate at Lovedale and thereafter went to study at Healdtown Secondary School in Fort Beaufort. At Healdtown, Mhlaba refused to take the Holy Scriptures as one of his subjects. He took this matter up with the principal. It was however Mr Sigila, a teacher from Mxhelo. who acquainted Mhlaba with political concerns. Sigila organised students from villages of Healdtown, Fort Beaufort and Alice. He explained to them how the land of Africans was confiscated by white people and how it was important that it should be repossessed, for it rightfully belonged to Africans.9 Mhlaba and other students therefore founded the Mayibuye Student Association whose main objective was to repossess the land. The students met occasionally, to discuss how they were to organise die youth in their own villages during school vacations. However, on account of the lack of funds, proper organisation, co-operation between the parents and the youth, this objective was never realised. His father could not.afford to nay for his tuition in .Standard nine For thit ranrnn ha hurt m Hmn «... ..u.i . >>i '

His superficial yet curios misgivings about the values of Christianity and his concerns about the return of land to Africans, were an integral part of long historical struggles against white domination and oppression. Mhlaba was unaware that his naive sceptistn about the authorities as represented by the church, the school and the colonial state was shared by thousands of people in the whole the country and also in the whole world. Africans as the oppressed and exploited people were already fighting colonialism and capitalism, for liberation, justice and socialism by die 1920s and 1930s.

This was but the beginning of a long political struggle for Mhlaba. If his ancestors fought and lost die wars of dispossession under the gallant and brave leadership of chief Maqoma, the struggle was not over. However its form was to change, in line with the wider changes in die political economy of a post - 3.910 South Africa. The proliferation of political movements aldiough they were weak, provided the continuity for the struggles for justice and democracy. Mhlaba and many others like him, engaged in similar struggles following in die footsteps of their forefathers. He was part of a generation that was to give a special character to the struggle in the period of heightened political struggle.

His initiation into politics, 1.942 - 1946

The year 1942 marked the end of Mhlaba's schooling and the beginning of his working life. Financial pressures made him leas e his modier and sisters in Fort Beaufort and go and join his father who was already working in Port Elizabeth, the most industrialised city in the Eastern Cape. Mhlaba's fadier was hoping that with his son's financial help, togedier diey would be able to meet die family’s cash needs regularly, out of what diey were to

5 Siyila was diuonysL those vociferous people who voiced the grievances of Africans. He approached the authorities to protest about the living conditions of Africans in the districts of Healdtown and Fort Beaufort. He was active in the Cape African Voters Association. (3C: 630 Kingwilliamstown, Holloway Commission., pp 4531-4535 6

earn as migrants in Port Elizabeth. Mhlaba was therefore expected to remit money regularly to liis parents, something that was not uncommon to many African families.

Mhlaba arrived in a city which had a history of worker resistance. Soon after his arrival, he was employed at Nannuci Dry Cleaners to do laundry, ironing and dry cleaning. ’ He was then recruited to join tire Laundry Workers union. He did not have prior knowledge about union activities and labour politics. He did not have a theoretical or practical framework of how the labour movement operated. He knew absolutely nothing about the workers’ strikes. He had no experience of confrontations and conflicts between the employees and die employers. He did not learn about these matters from school nor from his own father who had worked in Kimberley, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. By joining die laundry union, Mhlaba was merely following his own tuition that he was doing die right thing. He never got any discouragement or encouragement from his father.

His regular attendance at union meetings and campaigns won tiim an ‘executive position’ as a recruiting officer in 1943. His main task was to encourage Africans to join trade unions, notwidistanding the fact that membership of such unions was illegal for them as Africans. Mhlaba states that he was very much aware of the dangers and risks involved in his task. He wants us to believe diat his decision to accept the task was an informed one. because both die disadvantages and benefits of joining a union illegally were explained to him during his recruitment and orientation in trade unionism.10

Mhlaba therefore openly defied the prevailing labour laws of the 1940s. He had personally accepted die principles of trade unionism even though he and other Africans were seen to be forcing matters in the sense that legally, they were not recognised in die trade unions which they supported so energetically and endiusiastically.

Bravery, boldness, stubbornness and rebelliousness are some of the features characteristic of mhlaba in his early youth in Fort Beaufort. His willingness to join and actively participate illegally in the trade unions mirrored his character. He took the risk of exposing himself to significant government and employer harassment which was aggravated by his acceptance of the portfolio of a recruiting officer. He was acting militantly in an urban environment. By behaving in such a populist fashion, Mhlaba was therefore naturally and spontaneously expressing his antagonism towards a society which he felt was exploiting and oppressing him.

Mhlaba joined the Communist Party of Soudi Africa in 1943. Membership of the CPS A increased nationally between .1.941 and 1943, respectively from 400 to 1500. These figures represented a stable body of politically educated activists who were expected to play a leading role in trade unions, national movements, local communities, factories and radical organisations.11 Mhlaba was a classical case as evinced by his illegal membetship as a trade unionist; his membership in the Communist Party member and later in the ANC; He also became actively involved in Iso Lomri which was a PE residential association and (lie local Advisory board.

10 Considering that Mhlaba is in his seventies, it is understandable that he might not remember all the details about himself and particularly his father. His memory is dubious about how he joined the union. This may be that (consciously or unconsciously) he wants to create the image that no one influenced him to join it, that it was a personal decision based on self assurance.

11 Simons, R. & J., Class and Colour in South Africa, p.537 7

His involvement in the Communist Party and Trade Unions made networking between the two structures easier. Matters raised in his union were likely to be discussed in the Party meetings and vice versa. The same people were working together most of the time. As a result industrial and political resistance was characterised by overlapping and sometimes joint action.

In 1944, Mhlaba joined die African National Congress. It was in die Communist Party-meerings that Mhlaba heard about the significance of die ANC as a national liberation organisation. It was in those forums that die role of a national liberation organisation was outlined and analyzed. He understood tire ANC as an organisation that represented African people and he realised that he ought to be there as a member of dm organisation. Even though he was affiliated to a political organisation, the Communist Party which was non racial, he was made to believe diat a true African communist ought to belong to the national liberation organisation, in order to free his people from national oppression. He was thus encouraged by other party members to join the ANC, and he did in 1944.

Mhlaba asserts that.

"it was not the question of choice but rather circumstances which made me to join the Trade union; die Communist Party and then the ANC. in that order. I came to PE as a migrant, blowing very little about urban politics. I got exposed to trade union politics first, and concurred with what the trade union politics stood for and so made the decision to join. From there I was introduced to the Communist Party and I witnessed some of its activities which profoundly affected my life. And thereafter, I got to know about die anc. ”

He and his colleagues influenced die direction and organisation of die ANC. In their Communist Party meetings, they had lots of discussions about die weaknesses of the ANC organisationally. He therefore joined die ANC with a purpose of improving it with the experiences he had gained and die skills he had learnt from die Trade Union and die Communist Party. Other staunch communists and trade unionists were Gladstone Tsliumc. Clifford Dladla, Sam Ntunja, Rueten Mfecane, A.P.Mati, Caleb Mayckiso also shared the same objective.12

When Mhlaba joined the ANC in 1.944, die New Brighton branch was under the middle-class and moderate leadership. As in the rest of the country, all the local Port Elizabeth branches were moribund. The New Brighton ANC branch was only active towards December 16. when it was preparing for die ANC national conference in Bloemfontein. Those who were members would be busy drawing up lists for donations in order to send dieir delegates to Bloemfontein. They would then go and collect donations from the white liberals in town.

Mhlaba aud his group effected change widiin the ANC. In his words:

"This radically changed with our presence. We held political discussions about topics which were affecting people on the ground. We selected issues in the locality such as rents, sewage, transport, things that were confronting die residents daily. It was in this way that we got in touch with the masses. It was in this way that we strengthened people's political convictions. It was in this way diat we succeeded to win the confidence of the residents of Port Elizabeth. And all of diis was made possible on my side through the transference of organisational skills and experience from the (Communist)Party."

Mhlaba believes that he and his colleagues ‘gave die branch a political injection’ and thereafter many people.

12 Interview, Raymond Mlilaba, 19/12/1990. 8 started attending their branch meetings.11

Here, Mhlaba alludes to the integration of working class organisational methods with the general political activity of die people. The essence of this approach is agitation, .sensation, rousing the people into action and readiness to support demands widi strikes. In this Mhlaba and his colleagues from the trade unions and the Communist Party used these organisational methods to actively take up the political education of the people and to develop their political consciousness.

The years between 1941 and 1946 witnessed the emergence of a trade unionist-communist oriented member ship and leadership which was to introduce a unique combination of non racial and working class politics to Port Elizabeth. These years saw in that city die merging of industrial and political resistance against economic exploitation aud racial oppression.

Mhlaba’s grassroots membership when he was involved in die Non European Laundry Union, die Communist Party and die ANC. played ail instrumental part in forging such a political atmosphere. Unlike die 1930s when black opposition movements were ineffectual because of lack of co-ordination and little concerted effort to oppose the state, die 1940s revealed strong signs of die emergence of a working relationship between labour and political movements in PE. This was die scenario where the seeds of the foundation of die Congress alliance were sown by people such as Mhlaba, Tsliume, Mati and others who were Communists, Trade Unionists, ANC activists and Cape Indian Congress activists. This period, before 1946 revealed the emergence of the militant working class element which was beginning to give a new lease of life and mass appeal to the ANC in PE. This revelation is contrary to die conventional viewpoint diat it was the influence of the youth league that slowly moved the ANC into a more radical posture. And in any event, die youth league did not develop itself into a mass organisation in its formative yeats.

An Actor in the founding of the Congress Alliance, 1947-1953

Historians attribute the strength of die ANC in the Eastern Cape region and in Port Elizabeth particularly, to a combination of factors. These include: ethnic homogeneity of the local african population; the deep historical toots of modern political culture; the more relaxed legal environment: die strength of trade unionism, the existence of a large concentration of african industrial workers in Port Elizabeth; die stability of family life; die extent of conversion to Christianity and the lack of divisive communist influence in African politics. Other scholars emphasise die role of individuals in the leadership.14

Without underestimating tiie other factors, I would stress die efforts, hard work, courage, dedication and sacrifice of those like Mhlaba who took an active part in the local resistance movements. The period before 1946 showed that it was not only the local leadership but equally die rank and file membership which secured this special status of die ANC in the Eastern Cape.

Evidence in die period before 1946 clearly demonstrate that it was die communist and the trade union oriented group which played an influential role in transforming the ANC into a mass based organisation in Port

13 Ibid

11 Lodge, T., Black Politics in South Africa, pp. 45, 47. Carter, D . , "A Comparative Analysis of the Organisation, Leadership and Participation in the Eastern Cape and the Transvaal", ICS, pp.76-77. 9

Elizabeth. They organised popular resistance from early rnid-fotties, through the years Of the youth league in the late forties, to the early fifties.

From 1947, Mhlaba continued to work closely with Ills colleagues which he coins as the "task force", but now at a leadership level. Before be had worked as a grassroots activist. The ‘task force' was mostly people who were simultaneously Communists, trade unionists and ANC activists. Mhlaba himself became at the same time die chairperson of the New Brighton ANC branch and the secretary of the Communist Party hr the same year (1947). He continued as an organiser of die laundry Workers Union, a position he had held since 1943. Gladstone Tshume was the chairperson of the Communist Party, the organiser of the Textile Workers Union and the treasurer of the ANC. Chris Dladla was similarly in the executive of the ANC, the trade union and the Communist Party. The same can be said about Mohammed Desai iu the Cape Indian Congress, die Communist Party and the Council of Non European Trade Unions (CNETU) locally.

The radicalisation of the New Brighton ANC and the trade union action which took place during the mid 1940s encouraged many workers to join die ANC. Congress and trade union activities were often combined to the extent that people thought that they were one and the same thing. People in Port Elizabeth could not differentiate between the two.

Mhlaba acknowledges that as trade unionists and communists in die ANC. they as the executive influenced die branch to support the trade unions because the branch membership was to a large extent the working class. This was different from odier areas where there was a much stronger African middle class influence and domination. In Port Elizabeth, the influence of the middle class was Quite weak and in the process of a power struggle, they (middle classjlost effectiveness in the ANC and in die advisory board.

The same principle applied with regard to the anc and its relationship with die unions and the Communist Party. Mhlaba claims that the ‘task force’ believed that all three organisations were representing the interests of die same people, die working class. As a result most of die opposition to the government, whether by die ANC. the CPSA or PECNETU, was meshed. There was even a joke about Port Elizabeth activists that they were a mixed bag because it could not be told which was which, the Communist Party, the ANC, or the trade union.

The rootedness of the relationship between the key elements of the Congress Alliance in the context of the struggle, was nurtured and matured in the capable leadership of the Port Elizabeth ANC branch in the Eastern Cape region. If elsewhere, the ANC was radicalised by the Youth league, then in Port Elizabeth, it was radicalised by this unique relationship.

Mhlaba joined the Youdi League very late in 1944, the same year he joined the ANC. The New Brighton Youth League was a small branch which was not popular up until 1949. However, die Youth League had discussions on marxism in New Brighton. When this branch members had to cI w k a ruluui. fui its membership cards, they all unanimously chose red. In Mhlaba'$ words,

"The PE branch was the only Youth League branch that was 'red’. Here, we have been politically left, all left, too much, we were just one, all left. We pushed diat even at provincial level. When the Youdi Leaguers in odier regions, like Madiba (Mandela) and Xhamela (Sisulu) moved the motion that the communists should be expelled in the ANC national conference in 1949, I was present as both die PE ANC and the Youdi league delegate. This did not have any significant effect on us as the new Brighton branch. We were not worried 10

because we did not have problems with communists in our area."15

Joe Mati, who joined the New Brighton Youth league in 1953, also has memories of Mhlaba and his ‘red’ group attending a Youth League conference in Queenstown. They were neatly dressed in red ties, which symbolised their connection to the Communist Party. Mati asserts that this group was influential and dominated the Youth League.1'

In the Eastern Cape, the communists were thus a hegemonic group within the Youth League. Also, the latter had a different character which enabled it to play a unique role in pioneering alliances with other formations. This is certainly a different viewpoint from the dominant theory which advocates that the first signs of the revitalisation of the anc in the 1940s, came from an africanist-mioded, urban based intelligentsia which was anti communist.

The distinctively working class leadership of people such as Mhlaba represented an exceptionally unique characteristic of black opposition in Port Elizabeth. This is evident from the existence of the ‘red’ Youth League, whilst elsewhere, the forces opposed to apartheid were dominated by a generation of militant African nationalists.

In Port Elizabeth, the period between 1947 to 1952 revealed a heightened alliance between the labour and political movements. Nott racialism was also important and evident in the Port Elizabeth ANC leadership. Klass action and other important events such as the Food Protest; the Laundry Strike; the Bus Boycott; the ‘Coloured’ vote* tho demonstrated how the foundations nf the broad Congress Alliance solidified. Africans, Indians, ‘Coloureds, Whites, Communists, ANC members. Teachers came together in mass actions. Such a heterogenous group represented a foretaste of the coming Congress Alliance.

However, the ‘Coloured, Indian and White activists were mainly involved with trade unions and the Communist Party work in Port Elizabeth. There was little organisation of their communities. The Cape Indian Congress was not working class in character. Many of its members in Port Elizabeth were business people. Yet individuals from the leadership level occasionally attended ANC meetings in New Brighton. Also during the Defiance campaign of 1952, they offered financial support rather than going to goal. ‘Coloureds’ and Whites nleo givi individual support tn the ram r nf rhr srmrflfi Yr,f. NfiW Rl iftunn had a Sirens flfrifSW 3W? non-racial leadership, and no particular group dominated over the other. The New Brighton leadership did not have a strong Africanist position.

It was this non-racial working class quality which distinguished Mlilaba's Port Elizabeth leadership. And this was to be die salient feature of the Congress Alliance, eventually formalised in 1956.

Mhlaba, the indomitable

The banning orders imposed by Swart on Mhlaba and other leaders in Port Elizabeth, did not succeed to stop them fighting against apartheid and exploitation. More repression instead was met with intense efforts to mobilise more people against the government in semi and sometimes complete clandesrimty.

15 Interview, Raymond Mhlaba, 16/7/1991

15 Interview, Joe Mati, 7/9/1992. 11

Although Mhlaba stopped attending meetings, the branch secretary kept him up to date with the reports of the organisation. Individual members consulted with him regularly, seeking either his opinion or endorsement in the activities of tire organisation as well as his views on general developments in the area. The ANC was engaged in conducting classes on political education. Mhlaba claims that he continued to offer this widi his study group. Because of his predicament, he could only see one person at a time, who would then take over the study group. Although it seemed strange at the beginning for Mhlaba to conduct his political work in this fashion, he states that he adjusted quickly because he had already begun operating underground as a communist in the SACP.'7

Restrictions were not limited to individuals such as Mhlaba in Port Elisabeth. There was a national clampdown. Nelson Mandela who was the National Volunteer-in-Chief during the 1952 Defiance Campaign, anticipated that the government would attempt to stop die ANC from organising mass actions, holding public meetings and issuing press statements. As a result he proposed that the branches should be divided into cells based on a single street and headed by a cell steward. This is what became known as the M-Plan, the Mandela Plan.

In Port Elizabeth, die ANC prepared an infrastructure so as to ensure that those who were affected by the ban were not entirely excluded from its activities. At the same time, such an infrastructure also ensured its organisational capacity and improved its contact with ordinary supporters. By 1953, the M-pl.an was already implemented in the. Pott Elizabeth and rhe ANC operated more efficiently. Mass organisation continued and was sustained throughout the mid 1950s and late 1950s.lS This is attributed to the regrouping and infiltration of the Communist Party in the M-plao structures.

Even though Mhlaba was less directly involved, what he did contributed to the sustained use of strategies such as stayaways and consumer boycotts in the late 1950s. The. formation of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) solidified the close working relationship between the labour and political movements in Port Elizabeth. Sactu’s activities there were always distinguished by the disciplined and militant trade unionism and close relationship with die ANC and the Coloured People's Congress. This is attributed to veteran trade unionists and political leaders such as Mhlaba, Tshume, Ntunja, Mati, Coe and others who fed die younger activists with political education.

The ban of the ANC and die Pan African Congress (PAC) and the declaration of the state of emergency in 1960 did not deter people such as Mhlaba from fighting for justice. Under the auspices of the SACP, he left the country for military training in China, rather than succumbing to die nationalist government’s tyranny.

The transition from open, mass organisation to underground operation, first by the Communist Party and dien the ANC. was however not a smooth one. For Mhlaba and others it culminated in their arrest at Rivonia in 1963.

Robben Island and after

Unlike other Rivonia trialists such as Mandela, Sisulu and Govan Mbeki who were deeply involved in treason at the time, Mhlaba was not. He was outside die country for military training. Mhlaba refused to disclose this

17 Interview, Raymond Mhlaba, 4/3/1993

18 Interview, Govan Mbeki, 23/12/1990 Interview, Mthuthuzeli Magqabi, 16/7/1991 Interview, Nondwe Mankahla, 26/12/1990 12

information to the government. The latter had organised state witnesses to lie about him, being seen in taxes at KwaZakhele at die times he was overseas illegally. Even though he had a chance to appeal than other trialists. Mhlaba refused, and his adamant loyalty to his organisations led to his life imprisonment iu . »

On the Island, Mhlaba registered through the University of Southern Africa (UNISA) and studied some diploma courses iu Marketing and Economics. He also continued with political education and played some role in recruiting die young prisoners of die 1970s and 1980s to join the Communist Party. Mhlaba arranged to marry b.is wife, Dideka Mhlaba whilst in prison.

In 1989, after spending twenty six years in prison, Mhlaba was released. The extent of excitement, jubilance and happiness by the masses, young, old, active and inactive, for the release of die ‘People’s Heroes’, cannot be measured. One youth who desperately wanted to hold Mhlaba's hand unfortunately died in a crowd that came to welcome him in Port Elizabeth.

Mhlaba continued where he had left off although in changed and changing conditions. He remained part of die national leadership of both die ANC , die SACP and COSATU. and also played a leading role in the formal alliance. Mhlaba continued in his traditional footing of pioneering alliances wi th other formations. He spoke with Hendricks, die leader of the Labour Party in an attempt to sway him away from the Tricameral government. Known as a staunch communist. Mhlaba spoke with several church leaders to join forces so as to bring democracy and justice in South Africa. He also negotiated with employers on behalf of workers during industrial action in Port Elizabeth. These are die sterling efforts and activism that earned Mhlaba his premiership in the Eastern Cape.

Conclusion

The Past

The past shows us that organised, militant and popular resistance, in Port Elizabeth heightened between 1.941 and 1963. With die emergence of a distinctively working class leadership, a close working relationship between the labour and political movements solidified. If the Eastern Cape was the cradle for African nationalism, Port Elizabeth in particular has been distinctive in the sense that there, nationalist politics have been integrated with working class politics. In Port Elizabeth, a communist - trade unionist oriented leadership of people such as Mhlaba, waged co-ordinated and concerted struggle against racial oppression and economic exploitation.

Port Elizabeth still exhibits a continuity of historical and political traditions. There is still a very strong political and trade union activity visible in the now formalised Tripartite Alliance of the ANC, SACP and COSATU. The continuity of popular and working class forms of organisation and mobilisation can be attributed to die foundations laid by Mhlaba together with many of his colleagues.

The Present

Presently, die public is concerned about die "Man of the Masses" ’ inaccessibility. The public is curious about Mhlaba's leadership capabilities to improve die quality of life of the people in the Eastern Province. His direction and effectiveness in governing the Eastern Cape Province is not yet clear and felt by die public, hence die anxieties.

There is certainly a discrepancy between Mhlaba’s past and his present performance. Learning about his past, where he comes from, how he earned his premiership to an extent, helps to understand and appreciate who he J. 3

is and what his potentialities arc.

Mhlaba has been instrumental in bringing people from ail walks of life together. He has been committed and dedicated to bring democracy and justice to this country. He has been loyal and cmpadietic to tile interests of the disadvantaged. These are but some of his salient qualities he still possesses and bring forward to the government of national unity.

Challenges

Yet tlie circumstances have changed. Mhlaba is now in government and no longer in resistance movements. His greatest challenge is to bring together die ‘cabals' from the , die border and the Eastern Cape iu order to be effective in his office. Sterling efforts and clever strategies are lacking and are needed to govern our province. The public has an equal responsibility to contribute towards making the Reconstruction and Development Program work in die Eastern Province. Intellectuals from academic institutions such as Rhodes, Fort Hare . Vista and Port Elizabeth Universities, have to define their role and responsibility in providing support, assistance, leadership and direction in die Reconstruction and Development Program in this province.

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