Class consciousness, non-racialism and political pragmatism: a political biography of Henry Selby Msimang, 1886 - 1982
Date
2015-09-02
Authors
Mkhize, Sibongiseni Mthokozisi
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Abstract
This political biography examines Henry Selby Msimang’s political career with particular focus on
his background as a descendant of the Edendale’s amakholwa Christian middle class, his struggles
against land dispossession, his trade unionism, class consciousness, nationalism, liberalism,
ambivalent ‘native representation’, anti-communism, non-racialism and economic emancipation.
Msimang’s political career from 1912 to 1982 was characterised by a high degree of pragmatism,
internal contradictions, continuities and discontinuities. His political mobility, which defied the
public image of a struggle hero, and specifically his resignation from the ANC on the eve of the
1952 Defiance Campaign to found the Liberal Party in 1953 as well as his decision to join Inkatha
Yenkululeko Yesizwe in 1975, have arguably led to his erroneous association with conservatism
and a consequent neglect by historians.
Using primary and secondary sources, including Msimang’s unpublished autobiography, this thesis
demonstrates that Msimang was a complex, dynamic, versatile, disciplined and principled political
activist, which was demonstrated by his decision to align himself with the radical and militant
ANCYL in Natal and for implementing the ANC’s Programme of Action in the early 1950s. His
personal and political circumstances influenced his political choices. His political beliefs evolved
over time, thus resulting in instances in which he embraced contradictory political ideologies.
Msimang demonstrated willingness to put the interests of the organisation above his own, often
resulting in him having to suffer losses, both personal and political. He demonstrated this in 1921,
when he resigned from the ICU to allow Clements Kadalie to assume leadership, and in 1951, when
he provisionally resigned from the ANC provincial executive to give space to A.W.G. Champion.
Msimang belonged to a generation that believed in the power of the media, and this was evident
when he founded his own newspaper, Morumioa in 1918, and was associated with Abantu Batho,
Umteteli wa Bantu and Bantu World during the 1920s and 1930s. During 1950 and 1951 he and
Champion engaged in a bitter struggle over the leadership of the Natal ANC using Ilanga lase Natal
and Inkundla yaBantu. At the time of his death on 29 March 1982, Msimang was the last surviving
founder member of the ANC and was conscious of his significance as a repository of its history. He
saw himself as a public intellectual and regularly shared his views on land, apartheid, the ANC, the
role of the church, economic emancipation, and the history of Edendale by writing to newspapers
such as Ilanga, and The Natal Witness. This political biography demonstrates that life histories do
not necessarily follow a predetermined linear trajectory, and that the complexities and internal
contradictions in human behaviour serve to enrich our understanding of the wide spectrum of
political activists who were engaged in a myriad of struggles.
Description
Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities
University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg, South Africa
January 2015