Sebatakgomo: Migrant organization, the ANC and the Sekhukhuneland Revolt
Date
197-?
Authors
Delius, P.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
In the 1940s and 1950s in reserve and trust area from the
Zoutpansberg to the Ciskei bitter battles were fought against
first Betterment Schemes and then Bantu Authorities. Communities
believed - with good reason - that these state initiatives posed a
mortal threat to their residual, but cherished, economic and
political autonomy. These episodes are usually treated under the
rubric of rural or peasant resistance but the centrality of
migrant labour to the South African political economy has always
undermined simple divisions between town and countryside. A
closer examination shows that in virtually every instance of
resistance urban-based migrant organizations played vital
roles. Yet this is difficult to explain for groups like the
Zoutpansberg Cultural Association, the Bahurutshe Association or
the Mpondo Association step almost entirely unheralded onto the
stage. We have the barest idea of the long history of
migrant organization which preceded their part in these events.
It has also become commonplace in the literature on 'rural
resistance' to suggest that the ANC, while not entirely
insensitive to rural issues in the 194Os and 1950s, nonetheless
failed to establish effective rural organization and played at
best a marginal role in the various revolts. This conclusion
is partly based on the sparseness of Congress branches in the
countryside. But it has been arrived at without any systematic
attempt to examine a crucial question. Did migrants and their
organizations provide a partly unseen but effective bridge
between the ANC, the SACP and rural politics?
These gaps in our understanding of 'rural resistance' will not
easily be filled . This article, however, attempts to provide
some illumination of these issues by means of a study of the role
of migrants in the Sekhukhuneland Revolt of 1957 — 1961. To give
some indication of the destination of the argument, the evidence
suggests that a movement established in 1954 from within the
ANC and the SACP - Sebatakqqmg - won widespread migrant
support and played a key role in organizing and sustaining the
resistance in the eastern Transvaal. The journey to this
conclusion will, however, be long and prone to detour - for in
order to be able to explain the interaction between migrants, the
ANC, and rural conflict in the 1950s it is necessary to trace
the changing patterns of Pedi employment and association from at
least the 1930s.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented. No dates given in the paper. No citations in copy. Marked 'Additional Seminar paper' and on the 1st page of text as 'informal'.
Keywords
African National Congress, Pedi (African people), Migrant labor. South Africa, Transvaal (South Africa)