LIBERALS AGAINST APARTHEID Also by Randolph Vigne A DWELLING PLACE OF OUR OWN: The Story of the Namibian Nation A GESTURE OF BELONGING: Letters from Bessie Head, 1965-79 GUILLAUME CHENU DE CHALEZAC: The 'French Boy' at the Cape of Good Hope, 1686-89 Liberals against Apartheid A History of the Liberal Party of South Africa, 1953-68 Randolph Vigne First published in Great Britain 1997 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-40302-8 ISBN 978-0-230-37473-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230374737 First published in the United States of America 1997 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-17738-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vigne, Randolph. Liberals against apartheid : a history of the Liberal Party of South Africa I Randolph Vigne. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-17738-6 (cloth) I. Liberal Party of South Africa. 2. South Africa-Politics and govemment-1948- I. Title. JQ 1998.LS5VS4 1998 324.268'06--dc21 97-24724 CIP ©Randolph Vigne 1997 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997 978-0-333-71355-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 To Peter and Phoebe Brown Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.* Aeneid iv, 625 * 'Arise, avenger to come, out of our ashes': the epitaph pronounced by Gladstone for the gravestone of the failed 1869 Reform Bill of the British Liberals - 'with certain confidence in its fulfilment'. He continues: You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side. The great social forces ... are marshalled on our side; and the banner which we now carry in this fight, though perhaps at some moment it may droop over our sinking heads ... will be borne again by the firm hands of the united people. Contents List of Illustrations viii Author's Note ix Acknowledgements XI 1. A Hundred Years On 2. Years of Ferment 10 3. Yielding Place to New 19 4. 'It Will Work Again' 27 5. Towards the Voteless 33 6. ' ... Et Dona Ferentes' 44 7. Drawing-room Politics? 53 8. A Breathing Space 64 9. Beyond Parliament 74 10. Politics to the People 85 11. Other Battlefields 100 12. The Turning Point 114 13. In the Crucible 125 14. The Convention Road 138 15. Towards the Clash 152 16. Transkei Victory 165 17. The Firing Line 183 18. Partings of the Way 200 19. The End of the Road 212 20. The Surviving Ideal 225 Appendix: Interim Council and National Committee Members 1953-68 233 Notes 236 Index 257 List of Illustrations Patrick Duncan and Manila! Gandhi before the Germiston march, with the Patons, 8 December 1952. [Lady Bryan and Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York] 2 SALA council group, 8 May 1953. [Cape Times] 3 E. V. Mahomed, with Lutuli and R. R. R. Dhlomo. [Alan Paton Centre, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg] 4 Margaret Ballinger. [William Cullen Library, University of the Witwatersrand] 5 Leo Marquard. [Miss J. Marquard and University ofCape Town Library] 6 Sabata Dalindyebo, Paramount Chief of the Tembu. [Marion Friedman Collection and Institute ofCommonwealth Studies, University ofLondon) 7 Leslie Rubin, cartoon by David Marais. [Cape Times) 8 Margaret Ballinger, cartoon by Bob Connolly. [Rand Daily Mail] 9 The Liberal Party as the scapegoat, cartoon by Jackson. [Pretoria News] 10 Jordan Ngubane with N. Ngakane, 1961, Contact photograph by Gerhard Cohn. [Lady Bryan] 11 Roosboom Prayer Meeting, 1963. [Alan Paton Centre, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg] 12 Elizabeth Lewin, Sheila Robertson. [Alan Paton Centre, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg] 13 South African delegation, Pan-African conference, Accra, 1959. [Lady Bryan] 14 Alan Paton protesting against the Church Clause. [Tom Sharpe] 15 Bill Hoffenberg leaves South Africa. [Cape Times] 16 The last National Committee meeting, 1968. [Alan Paton Centre, University ofNatal, Pietermaritzburg] 17 'Liberal Party Workshop', Grahamstown, 1985. [Professor Jack Spence] viii Author's Note The connotations of the term 'liberal' are legion and probably nowhere more so than in South Africa. The Oxford Dictionary of South African English (1996) lists the word only as a term of abuse and pinpoints also its particular South African reference to those prone, in Hoernle's words, 'to plead for fuller knowledge, or more humane consideration, of non-European needs and interests'. Which earns them the title 'most scathing of all -"liberal"'. The quotation, from Hoernle's classic South African Native Policy and the Liberal Spirit (University of Cape Town, 1939), omits the first part of the definition, which relates to 'a member of the White group concerned about the impact of White domination on the non-European population of the Union'. One might add that in Hoernle' s South Africa, all liberals were thought to be white, as were all those to whom the word 'liberal' was a term of abuse. In the South Africa of which this books treats, it was applied equally to blacks and used as a term of abuse also by blacks. An indication of the even worse repute into which the term has since sunk is to be found in the blurb to the memoirs of Phyllis Lewsen (Reverberations, University of Cape Town Press, 1996), which states that 'she describes herself unashamedly as part of the liberal tradition in South Africa' (my italics). It is not to distance them from other liberals of the 1950s and 1960s that members of the Liberal Party are given a capital 'L' in the text that follows, but to denote that membership. Similarly, South African liberals referred to in pre-1953 and post-1968 contexts are given a small '1'. Both liberals and Liberals should wear their label with pride, a contention I hope this book supports. To both should apply, at the very least, the Concise Oxford Dictionary definition, 'favourable to democratic reforms and abolition of privilege'. At best, they can identify with the words oflsaiah (xxxii, 7-8): The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand. IX Acknowledgements This history of the Liberal Party of South Africa was written at the prompting and with the unstinting support of Peter Brown. The references to 'PC2/6/7/I' indicate only a small part of my debt to him: the number is that of the chronological account of the Liberal Party he wrote in the early stages of his ten years as a 'banned' person. My thanks are due also to the former Liberal Party members listed below who helped me with information and documents. Tapes of interviews recorded (indicated by an asterisk) are now, with documents donated, in the Alan Paton Centre, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. They are: Revd John Aitchison, Ralph Aitchison,* Terence Beard,* Bunty Biggs, Norman Bromberger, Catherine Brubeck,* Lady Bryan, Sam Chetty, * Sheila Clare, Dot Cleminshaw,* Monty Cohen, David Craighead, Eddie Daniels, Rodney Davenport,* John Didcott, * Jonty Driver, David Evans, Mike Gardiner, Colin Gardner, Gerald Gordon,* Magnus Gunther, Walter and Adelaine Hain, Wolf Hamm, Eric Harber, Ken* and Jean Hill,* Bill and Margaret Hoffenberg, Timothy Holmes, Peter Horwitz, Dan Jacobson, Hannah Jaff, Violaine Junod,* Ann Karson, Michael Laschenger, Hugh Lewin, Phyllis Lewsen, * Geoff Luffingham, Ruth Lundie, Pat McKenzie,* John Macquarrie,* Joe Majija, Derick Marsh,* Reg Mayekiso, John Carlyle Mitchell, John Morrison, Mike Ndlovu, Abiah Nkatlo, * Dempsey Noel, the Rt Revd Michael Nuttall,* Eric Gettle, Jonathan Paton, Pat Poovalingam,* Jean Ridge, Edna Robins,* Peter Rodda, Neil Ross, Leslie Rubin,* Neville Rubin, Lionel Sampson, Walter Saunders, Deneys Schreiner,* Jack Spence, Eulalie Stott,* Hennington Talatala, Jack Unterhalter, * Maritz van den Berg, Jean van Riet, * Tony Voss, Leslie and Pessa Weinberg, David Welsh, Jill Wentzel,* Bill West,* Adrienne Whisson,* Barney and Daphne Zackon. Two Liberals whom I interviewed but who have not lived to see the book are Marie Dyer and Oscar Wollheim. I am grateful also to Gertrude Cohn, Colin Legum, Tom Lodge, Francine Mamfanya, * Alex Mouton, Jeff Peires and, very particularly, John Sutherland.* My thanks are due to Professors Douglas Irvine and Ralph Lawrence, successive heads of the Department of Political Studies at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, who housed me in their department for a year; to Professor Jack Spence for his early encouragement; and to Mrs Joicelyn Leslie-Smith and her colleagues at the Alan Paton Centre who helped ease my task. And, of course, to my wife Gillian for her constant support. xi \ ·1, SWAZILAND TRANSVAAL \ .................. Volksrust ../_,.,___ ..... '....., ......... /..___ .... ,.~~ J-\.--. ·-·~;.,. t'J "charlestown "'-J--....../''·' "' ,) Newcastle ' I •• Besterspruit I • Madaden1 I "osizwenl Vryheid Nongoma ) ' I • Dannhauser Mondlo )' ·oundee ,-' .Uiundi ~ .Kumalosville Vulandondo __ ,.,..., ~cton Homes ~Lady~mith NATAL · \..