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The Archives of the Pan Africanist Congress and the Black Consciousness-Orientated Movements

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The Archives of the Pan Africanist Congress and the Black Consciousness-Orientated Movements African Studies Association http://www.jstor.org/stable/3172227 . Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. African Studies Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to History in Africa. http://www.jstor.org THEARCHIVES OF THE PANAFRICANIST CONGRESSAND THEBLACK CONSCIOUSNESS- ORIENTATEDMOVEMENTS1 BROWN BAVUSILEMAABA GOVANMBEKI RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTCENTRE UNIVERSITYOF FORT HARE I On 19 September1998, ProfessorSibusiso Bhengu, the SouthAfrican Ministerof Education,officially opened the NationalArts and Heri- tage CulturalCentre (NAHECS) archives at the Universityof Fort Hare. This archivehouses documentationfrom three formerlibera- tion movements:the Pan AfricanistCongress of Azania,the Azanian People'sOrganization and the Black ConsciousnessMovement of Azania. Bhengu,from 1991 to 1994 the first black rector of Fort Hare,had signaleda new era for the university. It was duringBhengu's administration that the universityreceived ANC archivaldocuments, firstly from the SolomonMahlangu Free- dom College(SOMAFCO), the ANC school in Tanzaniaduring the exile periodbetween 1978 and 1992, followed by other documents from ANC missionsin differentparts of the world.2 The arrivalof 'I would like to especially thank Prof. Sean Morrow, formerlyDirector of the Govan Mbeki Researchand DevelopmentCentre, now Departmentof History, Universityof Fort Hare, and Prof. Tim Stapleton,Trent University,Canada, for their advice. I would also like to thankthe staff of the National Arts and Cultural Centre (NAHECS)for making researchmaterial available, and for their com- ments. These includeProf. ThembaSirayi, the Director,and the archivists,Festus Khayundi,Noludwe Lupuwana,and PunkyKwatsha. Thanks also for comments from BulelwaMetuse. 2Forthe ANC Archiveslodged at Fort Hare see T. Stapletonand I. Maamoe, "An Overview of the African National Congress Archives at the Universityof Fort Hare," HA 25 (1998), 413-22. See also: S. Morrow,B. Maaba, and L. Pulumani, "RevolutionarySchooling? Studying the SolomonMahlangu Freedom College, the African National Congress LiberationSchool in Tanzania, 1978-1992," paper submittedfor publicationin Social Dynamics. History in Africa 28 (2001), 417-438. 418 Brown BavusileMaaba these sources,which are lodged in the UniversityLibrary, was fol- lowed by the officialopening of the ANC archiveson 17 March1996 by Deputy PresidentThabo Mbeki of behalf of Nelson Mandela. Evenbefore they were officiallyopened, the universityhad begunto receivescholars who combed the documentsin an effort to recon- structthe historyof the exiledliberation movements. Fort Hare histo- riansalso utilizedthe archives.3 The presenceof the ANC archivesat Fort Hare seemsto have in- spiredMbulelo Mzamane, Bhengu's successor as Vice Chancellor,to statethat FortHare should be a homefor all SouthAfrican liberation movements'archival material. Soon, sourcesfrom the threeliberation movementswere sent to the universityand the formerCentre for Cul- tural Studies(CCS), now NAHECS,took chargeof the documents. Whilethese paperswere being sortedout, a buildingwas beingcon- structedon campusto housethe papers.4 In what appearedto be a repeatof the scene at FreedomSquare when the first consignmentof ANC papersarrived, dignitaries, stu- dents and universityofficials watched, on 17 February1997, as the Premierof the EasternCape, Arnold Stofile, who is also a Fort Hare alumnus,turned the sod at the site where the new buildingwas to stand.By the end of 1997 the buildingwas ready.With the archives of Fort Hare itself, unorganizedas they are, the ANC archives,and the joint PAC, AZAPO and BCM archives under NAHECS,Fort Harehas becomea majorcenter for researchinto the historyof South Africanliberation.s 3See as well L.B. Maaba, "The Students of Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, 1978-1992" (M.A., University of Fort Hare, 1999); idem., "The Social Life of the Students of Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, 1978-1992," paper presented at the Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre Seminar Workshop, 22 March 2000; idem., "Historians Do You Us? The Photographs, Art and Artifacts of Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, 1978-1992," unpublished paper; Mor- row/Maaba/Pulumani, "Revolutionary Schooling?"; Morrow/Maaba/Pulumani, "Education in Exile at Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College and Dakawa Devel- opment Centre, 1978-1992," forthcoming in P. Kallaway, ed., The History of Education Under Apartheid; S. Morrow, "The African National Congress Dakawa Development Centre in Tanzania, 1982-1992," African Affairs 97 (1998), 497-521. 41t should be noted that NAHECS has papers of some South African literary fig- ures, including A.C. Jordan and G. Mzamane, both renowned Xhosa writers, as well as the papers of political movements described in the present paper. Also in- cluded is a collection of Xhosa literature published by Lovedale Press and some of the original manuscripts of these books. sS. Morrow and Khayalethu Gxabalashe, "The Records of the University of Fort Hare," HA 27(2000), 481-97. Pan Africanist Congress and Black Consciousness Archives 419 II Why should the liberation movements have chosen Fort Hare as a de- pository of their archival material? Before the establishment of Fort Hare in 1916, different types of missionary institutions had mush- roomed in southern Africa. Included was Lovedale Missionary Insti- tution, which was built on the east side of the Tyume River in the 1830s near the future Fort Hare. Around 1878 James Stewart, the Lovedale missionary and principal, suggested the idea of higher edu- cation for black students. However, Stewart'sdream of a higher insti- tute of learning never materialized in his lifetime, as Fort Hare was only established in 1916, 11 years after Stewart's death, under Alexander Kerr, the first principal of the institution. Among those who played an important role in assisting Kerr was D.D.T. Jabavu, the first black staff member in the institution, who taught courses in Latin and the Bantu languages. He was the son of John TenguJabavu, one of the founder members of the university, who was educated at Lovedale.6 From its establishment,Fort Hare experienced a number of phases, firstly as the South African Native College attached to the University of South Africa. In 1951 it acquired the status of the University Col- lege of Fort Hare by close association with Rhodes University. In 1960, as part of the rise of apartheid, it was brought under the Minis- try of Bantu Education, following the passing of the 1959 Promotion of Bantu Self GovernmentAct which marked separate development in South African educational institutions on ethnic lines.7In 1970, the university became independentand was granted the status of the Uni- versity of Fort Hare, but was controlled by the apartheid government. The winds of change that swept across the country in 1990, beginning with the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of liberation movements, as well as the return of exiles, were felt in Ciskei when Lennox Sebe was overthrown by Brigadier Oupa Qgozo. At Fort Hare, the university council and six top administrators resigned.8 A new era had dawned for the university. 6For sources that touch on Jabavu see for example, C. Higgs, The Ghost of Equal- ity: The Public Lives of D.D.T Jabavu of South Africa, 1885-1959 (Athens, 1997); S.J. Ngqongqo, "Mpilo Walter Benson Rubusana, 1858-1910: The Making of the New Elite in the Eastern Cape" (M.A., University of Fort Hare, 1996), Monica Wilson, ed., Freedom for My People. The Autobiography of Z.K. Mathews: Southern Africa, 1901 to 1968 (London, 1993). 7Morrow/Gxabalashe, "Records." 8Fort Hare Newsletter 1992, 4. 420 Brown BavusileMaaba The appointmentof Bhengumarked the re-emergenceof the insti- tution fromapartheid and was soon followedby the appointmentof OliverTambo as the firstblack Chancellor of the Universityin 1991. In the early 1940s O.R. Tambohad beenexpelled from the university followinghis participationin studentpolitics. Tambo, however, was not the only renownedleader produced by this university,which was the cradlefor blackhigher education in southernAfrica and also at- tractedstudents from as far as Kenya.Included in these is Nelson Mandela,sentenced to life imprisonmentat the RivoniaTrial of 1964 and in 1994, firstpresident of a democratically-electedgovernment in SouthAfrica. From the liberationmovements whose archives are with NAHECScame leaders like RobertMmangaliso Sobukwe, founder of the PAC,who was imprisonedat RobbenIsland. He was a memberof the ANC youthleague at FortHare and Presidentof the StudentRep- resentativeCouncil in 1948.9Another was SabeloQqweta whose nom de guerrewas SabeloPhama. A FortHare student from 1971 untilhis expulsion in 1973 following a student strike, he later becamethe commanderof the AzaniaPeoples Liberation Army (APLA) and the PAC Secretaryof Defense.'l From the BlackConsciousness Move- mentcame the youngand militantBarney Pityana, one of the leading proponentsof the organizationin the early 1970s, exiled laterin the decade.11 Thereis no doubtthat FortHare managed to host the archivesbe-
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