From Moderation to Militancy: a Study of African Leadership and Political Reactions in South Africa, 1936-1960.

Abstract

This study is an attempt at integrating a description of the leading African nationalist personalities in South Africa with an analysis of African political organizations and reactions in the period 1936-60. The study commences in 1936, the year that marks the abrogation of the Cape Native franchise--the symbol of the minimal rights which Africans enjoyed in South African political life. The study ends in 1960, the year in which the Sharpeville massacre occurred. Furthermore, the leading nationalist organizations, the ANC and PAC, were banned in 1960 and abruptly forced into radically alternative modi oper and i. In the method employed, biographical sketches and character analyses of the prominent African nationalists are outlined and placed in the context of the general political themes of the above-mentioned period. The study assumes the form of an historical narrative interspersed with analyses of conspicuous trends, ideas and historical events. The dominant conclusion of the study is that a gradual hardening occurred in the posture of the African nationalist movement. This development was commensurate with the increasing exclusion of Africans from the political mainstream by successive white minority governments. From a moderate approach suffused with a Christian ethic and a willingness to accept minimal political provisions, African nationalism was compelled to adopt an assertive militancy. It would not be appeased by anything less than an equalitarian dispensation for Africans in an inclusive South African state. In addition, a distinction is made between African nationalism and a functionalist model of collaboration based on traditional leadership structures. The purpose is to demonstrate the prevalent mode of opposition to domination by the former and the facilitation of the mechanics of domination by the latter.