JUDITH FEBRUARY: Sol Plaatje’s work a reminder ANC’s intellectual roots have diminished
'Plaatje’s life and work provide lessons not only in activism but, more importantly, in leadership and values. It also provides an insight into those who founded the ANC and their ideals,' writes Judith February.
Supporters of the ANC wave flags during the election manifesto launch at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on February 24, 2024. Picture: RAJESH JANTILAL / AFP
The diary of Sol T Plaatje, written between 1899 and 1900, makes for fascinating reading. It also goes some way to putting the debate about land and expropriation in proper context. It is the only account by a black person of the Siege of Mafeking during the South African War of 1899-1902. Plaatje’s formal schooling was limited, yet he excelled at the then civil service examinations, and on the eve of the war, he was sent to Mafeking and, during the siege, acted as a court interpreter.
An account of his life tells us he was drawn to journalism and established the first Setswana-English weekly newspaper in 1901. He speaks at least eight languages and is considered one of South Africa’s great public intellectuals. It was Plaatje’s 1916 Native Life in South Africa that provided an in-depth insight into South Africa after the passage of the 1913 Native Land Act. It details the disastrous effects of the Act on South Africa’s rural heartland and the assault on the rights of black South Africans during that time. The opening lines in Chapter 1 are as powerful as they are relevant today:
The opening lines in Chapter 1 are as powerful as they are relevant today: “Awaking on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth.”
He later goes on to write, “Mine is but a sincere narrative of a melancholy situation, in which, with all its shortcomings, I have endeavoured to describe the difficulties of the South African Natives under a very strange law, so as most readily to be understood by the sympathetic reader.”
Still today, the land question remains precariously unresolved. In 1919, Plaatje took part in a meeting with the then British Prime Minister Lloyd George regarding the land question and played a key role in the founding of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) in 1912, which would become the African National Congress (ANC) in 1923. Plaatje was its first secretary-general.
He was part of a small mission-educated black intelligentsia and was deeply opposed to narrow tribalism. The first president of the SANNC, John Dube, was a minister and educator (it is said that after Nelson Mandela cast his vote in 1994, he visited Dube’s grave and simply said, "Mission accomplished". Poignant, to say the least), while Pixley ka Seme, a lawyer, was regarded as the founder of the congress.
Plaatje’s life and work provide lessons not only in activism but, more importantly, in leadership and values. It also provides an insight into those who founded the ANC and their ideals. Like any party, it was often wracked by divisions. Any cursory reading of history shows this. Andre Odendaal, in his detailed account of the ANC, the epic tome, The Founders: The Origins of the ANC and the Struggle for Democracy in South Africa, details those ups and downs.
When reading all this, one cannot help but notice the contrasts and how the ANC’s intellectual roots have diminished over the decades. Fikile Mbulala is its current Secretary-General. T
The Zuma years, in particular, were rooted in an anti-intellectualism which has become dangerous. In the cause of populism, Zuma regularly joked about “clever blacks” at rallies, and his presidency itself was an empty shell. The ANC’s so-called “battle of ideas” is now safely a “battle of factions”. One might then be moved to ask, “What would Plaatje and others have done today?”
It’s easy when looking at the tired, tawdry ANC of today, so diminished, to forget its history and its intellectual roots. Its founders were individuals who understood the power of engagement and ideas, even when the ANC was divided and its internal politics fraught.
ANC policy conferences are mostly mired in factional battles, with the party trying to use populist sway with phrases like “radical economic transformation (RET)”. It, of course, lost an election largely due to intellectual denuding and an inability to deal with corruption in its ranks. The electorate had had enough by May 2024.
While expropriation without compensation has become the issue of the day, dominating headlines, what has been mostly lacking is a meaningful public debate that deals with the land issue systematically, the flaws of post-apartheid land redistribution, the amount of land which is state-owned, training and support to emerging farmers and the degree to which urbanisation and the housing challenge need to be integrated into any thinking about land reform and redistribution.
But, the ANC can't steer public debate in large measure because it is in a state of disarray and held captive by the corrupt and inept or simply muddled thinking and weak leadership.
Our greatest challenges remain poverty, inequality, unemployment and fixing the corruption and governance crises we have. The legacy of Zuma’s incoherence, corruption and disastrous governance decisions have aggravated our challenges tenfold. The confusion, incoherence and mismanagement of the economy have real consequences for real people and are catching up on the ANC and us all - as a result. The chaotic Budget debacle is an indicator of this.
As the ANC muddles along in coalition (yet acting as if it is still a majority party), it will be up to the other sectors of society – business, civil society and the media – to continue to steer the national conversation into a more constructive and honest direction.
This will take time, energy and a commitment to building cross-sectoral coalitions. The late Pravin Gordhan said he was still hopeful about the future and our collective ability to self-correct. He is right when he said we must not become cynical but develop an understanding of our challenges, and push in all corners for proper policy conversations that will bring meaningful transformation. It will be a long, tough road ahead.
The obituary for Plaatje read, “He was a man who, by force of character and sharpness of intellect, rose to the front rank of leadership… never have I found him autocratic, contumacious or narrow of outlook.”
Sadly, in 2025, there are precious few within the ANC of whom the same can be said.
Judith February is Freedom Under Law's executive officer.