In the first segment of this series on amaHlubi King Langalibalele – Fidel Hadebe reflected on the commonly held misconception that our struggles for freedom in South Africa with the political activities of prominent leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Moses Mabhida, Steve, Robert Sobukwe and Chris Hani. In this third instalment, he argues that the struggles against oppression and racism started long before these celebrated leaders came onto the political scene in South Africa.
The foundation of the struggle was laid by traditional leaders, amakhosi, who launched life-and-death struggles against colonialism in defence of their land, their people, and their dignity.
Apart from Langalibalele, there are many other such leaders whose struggles against colonialism contributed to the democratic breakthrough of 1994. We have a duty as a society to celebrate such leaders without picking and choosing which of them we celebrate. Our history as a country and a former British colony is more complex than many of us understand and the future that we wish to build for future generations will not be complete when if we choose to tell just parts of this history at the expense of others.
History makes sense when it is told in its totality and this is precisely what informs this series on Langalibalele who as we know, now mounted a brave struggle against colonialism leading to him dying as a commoner in 1889 technically still under house arrest in Swartkop.
At the time of his death in 1889, Langalibalele had been placed under the ‘care’ of chief Tetelegu of Mapumuza people, who was assigned by the colonial government as part of ensuring that the amaHlubi King remained in custody until his last days following his return to Natal in 1887.
Having died as a ‘commoner’ and prisoner what are the lessons that can be learnt from this hero, especially in the context of the anti-apartheid struggles that we in the 1950s and beyond? What kind of foundation can we justifiably attribute to a leader such as Langalibalele? How did that foundation shape the politics of later leaders such as Mabhida, Mandela, Sobukwe, Hani and many others?
One of the worst errors that I believe we are committing as a country especially post-1994 is to place emphasis on the period after 1948 in our history and give an impression that political troubles for black people started with the ascendancy into power of the National Party government in 1948.
The reality, however, is that by the time the National Party came into power in 1948 extensive damage had already been done. The 1948 apartheid administration was feeding off and building racial advantage on the damage done during the period preceding it and this is why one cannot over-emphasize the role of traditional leaders such as Langalibalele, who fought relentlessly against unjust laws and land dispossession as it was happening in Natal and other parts of the country during that colonial era.
According to historian CW de Kiewiet in his work The Imperial Factor, “The dispossession of Hlubi people was an intemperate and vindictive manifestation of the desire of the colonists to destroy what they conceived to be the too great economic independence of the natives to limit their lands…”
We should not excuse colonialism while pinning all the problems as black people on the post-1948 epoch and the apartheid policies of this period which are more documented and known, unlike their colonialism counterparts which are not as well documented leading to the dominant narrative that the real struggles and suffering of black people started post-1948.
The start of the 1950s witnessed the eruption of another phase in the liberation struggle (led by figures such as Mandela, Sisulu and others) as demonstrated by key militant political activities such as the Defiance Campaign and the adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955. These two important political events or moments were anchored on the foundation laid in earlier years and they had at their centre two key issues.
Firstly, it was about the dignity and self-determination of black people. Secondly, it was about the land and wealth of black people. These key events were later followed by other key moments such as the 1976 uprisings which saw a massive eruption in the anti-apartheid struggle which saw the eyes of the international community firmly focused on South Africa.
What is important to note with all of these key moments is that the foundation stone had been laid by leaders such as Langalibalele and others during that time. When he decided to exile himself in Basutoland in 1893 as the colonial government was pursuing him, Langalibalele was already writing a political script which was emulated by more political leaders like OR Tambo and others which we saw in later years, especially from the late 1950s and onwards reaching its peak in 1976 with the famous students’ uprisings.
One of the reasons why Langalibalele was pursued by the colonial government of Natal sought to seek refuge or exile in Basutoland (as Lesotho was known then), was his objection to unjust laws that were passed by the colonial government in Natal.
These laws, as has been explained previously, included issues of marriage (ilobolo) which affected not only amaHlubi but other people as well. Langalibalele’s troubles were also caused by his resistance to unjust gun laws, which advantaged whites and traditional leaders in the colony at least included unjust labour laws that required black people to provide their labour to white farmers in particular at a very little or no cost at all through schemes such asukubhalisa/isibhaliso which was used by the colonial government in Natal to use the labour of young black in building public infrastructure such as roads as part of weakening amakhosi.
As this series seeks to demonstrate, the struggles of black people in South Africa should be understood within its right context of generational context if it is to be understood in its entirety. The charge of treason that Langalibalele had to answer to at the start of his trial in 1874 is a charge that liberation icons such as Mandela had to answer to in the 1960s.
Just as it happened with Langalibalele in 1874 the incarceration on Robben Island of ‘troublesome’ liberation leaders happened again in later years with Mandela, Sisulu, Sobukwe being sent to the island as part of silencing them and keeping them away from their people as leaders. As far back as the 1800s already, Langalialele had been described by the colonizers as an individual of “contumacious disposition” and a rebellious native who did not fit in with the colonial agenda of suppressing black people.
Bhungane!
Fidel Hadebe writes in his personal capacity as a private citizen and as iHlubi and South African
