A Tribute to Govan Mbeki

by Sandra Perumal

Govan Archibald Mvunyelwa Mbeki, a stalwart of the Antiapartheid Struggle died on August 30, 2001 in the city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He was 91 years old.

Mr. Mbeki can be described as many things some of which are, a teacher, a warrior, a revolutionary, an editor and publicist, an organizer and leader of the oppressed masses, an educator, mentor, comrade and a friend.

Govan Mbeki was born on 4 July 1910 in the Transkei, one of the infamous homelands of South Africa. He spent the better part of his early life here. He was born of a family of peasant farmers in the Transkei. While growing up in the Transkei, Mr. Govan Mbeki lived the conditions and problems confronting the poor masses in South Africa even today after our negotiated freedom.

The Transkei region was the most important producer of wool and grain for export in the 19 century. With the discovery of gold and diamonds and capitalistic greed, these booming export products were replaced with the mining industry. Mbeki was therefore, through this intimate knowledge, able to write passionately about migrant labor versus capitalist production.

In 1925, Oom Gov developed an interest in the activities of the Industrial and Commercial Worker's Union [ICU]. This was the first black worker's movement in South Africa.

He moved to Johannesburg, South Africa in 1929. It was here that he saw the complete picture of the plight of the African working class no matter where they lived. Oom Gov said, "Once again I saw the poverty of the black Africans. Where I lived - in the city and in the suburbs - police raids were always taking place. Either they wanted to check our passes, or were looking for illegal drink. No other event up till then had provoked my anger as much as those raids and I decided definitely to join the struggle to put an end to such a system."

He attended the University College of Fort Hare. He sold newspapers during holidays in Johannesburg, South Africa and earned him a Bachelor of Arts Degree. He then assumed a teaching position in Durban. While teaching he pursued a Bachelors in Economics through the correspondence university called UNISA [University of South Africa].

In 1938 Oom Gov abandoned teaching and devoted himself to local politics and writing. His first publication was a magazine called "Territorial Magazine" which later was renamed "Inkundla Ya Bantu".

Oom Gov.'s first political appointment was representative of the Transkei Territorial General Council in the early 1940's. This council soon fell under the jurisdiction of the apartheid government and Oom Gov resisted this. After a fight to prevent this, Oom Gov felt obliged to let his constituents know that the character of the council had changed and that they no longer represented the people. He resigned from this office soon after. He used this as an opportunity to make the people aware that they should not allow the government to gradually relinquish them of their rights. He met with opposition from the government for this move but earned the respect of the people for his integrity and courage

South Africa developed the system of apartheid in 1948. This system allowed a white minority to oppress a black majority with laws that were declared a crime against humanity by the United Nations.

Being a teacher, a government job, and earning a meager salary, Oom Gov tried a number of business ventures to relieve him of this job. However, he was forced back into teaching in 1954. He was expelled at the end of that year from teaching because of his hostilities to government policies. He then became a staff writer for the newspaper called The New Age. This newspaper was the paper of the liberation struggle.

By 1960, Oom Gov gained prominence in the ANC and was recognized by his colleagues as the expert on South African homelands. He joined the Communist Party in 1961.

In 1962, "New Age" was banned and Oom Gov was arrested and detained for 5 months on a charge of sabotage, only to be released and arrested again the last time for the Rivonia trial.

In 1963, Oom Gov went underground. This same year, he and seven other African leaders among whom was Nelson Mandela, were arrested on a farm in Rivonia near Johannesburg South Africa. They were tried on charges of trying to overthrow the apartheid government. They were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

In 1970, while in prison, Oom Gov completed an Honors degree in economics and in 1977, the University of Amsterdam awarded him an honorary doctorate in social science, for his work.

Oom Gov married in 1939 and leaves behind a wife, three sons and a daughter. His son Thabo Mbeki is presently president of South Africa. His son, Jama, a lawyer disappeared 20 years ago in Lesotho South Africa, under mysterious circumstances.

The South African Beacon is published every quarter in the hope that the Freedom Charter would be the Bill of Rights in a Free South Africa. The Congress of the People at Kliptown, Johannesburg, South Africa, adopted the Freedom Charter on 25,26 June 1955. The Freedom Charter was inspired by "The African Claims" of 1943. In August of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain proclaimed the Atlantic Charter as a statement of the peace aims of the allies. In December of 1942, the African National Congress [ANC] requested that a committee be appointed to study the Atlantic Charter and thereafter draft a bill of rights to be presented to the peace conference at the end of the world war. The report of this committee was "African Claims in South Africa". Oom Gov was one of the prominent African professionals and intellectuals who not only served on the committee, but he was also at the signing of the "African Claims" document on December 16, 1943 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. This document stipulated the aspirations and rights of the African people, and was unanimously adopted by the ANC. It however was spurned by the racist regime in South Africa at the time. With his powerful intellect and absolute dedication, this was just one of the many contributions that Oom Gov made to the cause of freedom.

In April 13 of 1964, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the son of Govan Mbeki addressed a United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, in London. President Mbeki's father, Govan Mbeki was the oldest of those convicted in the so-called Rivonia Trial in April 20, 1964.President Mbeki in this address served to represent not only the anti apartheid struggle, but also to represent the feelings of his father, Govan Mbeki [Oom Gov] as he was fondly known. President Mbeki appealed to the committee to spare his Father and those accused with him from being hanged. He said that his father derived his inspiration for his political activity from his love for his people. Oom Gov did not fight for Black dominance but rather for equality of all people irrespective of color. Even though President Mbeki appealed to the United Nations Special Committee, his father, Oom Gov and others like the esteemed Nelson Mandela spent more than 20 years of their lives as political prisoners at Robben Island, Cape Town, South Africa.

Oom Gov spent 23 years of his life on Robben Island. He was something of a father figure, said Ahmed Kathrada, one of the ex-political prisoners of Robben Island. Kathrada said: "Naturally, we looked upon him with a great deal of respect, for his wisdom, his worldliness, his courtesy, his patience, his concern and his compassion."

Mr. Nelson Mandela in his autobiography, "Long walk to Freedom", talks about Oom Gov. Mandela read a booklet published by Oom Gov called "The Transkei in the making" as a student. Mandela describes Oom Gov as "serious, thoughtful, and soft spoken, equally [at ease] in the world of scholarship and the world of political activism." Mandela goes on to talk about Oom Gov's deep involvement in the planning of the Congress of the People and describes him as being "destined for the highest level of leadership in the organization." At the funeral, Mr. Mandela said, "We are not only bidding farewell to an individual. We are losing a piece of ourselves."

In Govan Mbeki's novel, "The Peasants' Revolt", he describes the fierce confrontations between oppressor and the oppressed in South Africa between the years 1956 to 1960. This book was begun while Oom Gov awaited trial and he wrote it on pieces of toilet paper. Some of the confrontations deals with the conflict at the time, namely, the deportation or arrest of popular ones, pass laws for women, forced removals and armed conflict.

On June 26, 1980, Govan Mbeki received the time-honored title of "Isithwalandwe". He could not receive this honor as he was still serving his sentence in prison. He was released from prison on November 5, 1987. In 1994, after the first democratic elections in South Africa, Govan Mbeki served as Deputy President of the Senate.

Thousands of South Africans throughout the country attended memorial services for Oom Gov. Thousands attended his funeral in Port Elizabeth, South Africa as well. President Nelson Mandela paid tribute to this African Giant at his funeral. He said, "Throughout the years he continued to inspire all of us inside and outside prison with the certainty that we would triumph in the end. South Africa today mourns the passing of one of Africa's sons. We salute a comrade and a friend, a leader in the struggle, one of the intellectuals of our movement and a fellow member of a generation that has given so much to the shaping of this country.

Oom Gov was buried in a derelict cemetery in a town called Zwide, to draw attention to the cemetery's neglect. Thousands of graves here are marked with simple wooden posts or tin markers and Oom Gov lies beneath an ornate black marble gravestone. He spent much of his life in this little town. Many political activists of the antiapartheid struggle are buried in this cemetery, which was allowed to fall into a state of dereliction. Both the white authorities and now the ANC are guilty of this neglect. He was buried at this cemetery in accordance with his wishes to be buried among the ordinary people that he served. Oom Gov was buried, wrapped in a blanket bearing the markings of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the country's largest labor movement, and wearing a cap of the ruling ANC which he joined as a student in 1935. Death cannot defy Oom Gov's fight against inequality and injustice.

People in this little town talked about how the fence of the cemetery disappeared. Now, landless people have erected shanties among the graves.

His grandson, Karl Mbeki, read a letter from ailing ANC veteran Walter Sisulu. Sisulu apologized for not being able to attend the ceremony. Sisulu said that Mbeki and he had many differences of opinion. He agreed that both men were stubborn and went on to say that the argument between them went on for years at Robben Island. Sisulu did say that he felt "pride and great sadness' at the passing of his comrade and friend.

Mr. Govan Mbeki died at the very time when nations gathered in South Africa for the racism conference. Enver Surtie, from the National Council of Provinces said' " As we lit torches of tolerance, reflecting freedom we achieve, one of our political lights was extinguished."

To end this tribute to a liberation leader, here are a few quotes from Oom Gov. on the issues, which still plague South Africa today.

On the issue of land, Mbeki said, "The issue of land and its redistribution is fundamental to the struggle for liberation in South Africa. There can be no peace until this and other rights of which the majority of the people have been deprived for so long have been restored to them."

On the issue of class struggle and national liberation, he said, "The working class has no way of bringing about fundamental changes to the long entrenched policies of exploitation without first breaking down barriers that stand in the pathway towards national liberation. The role of the working class in the national democratic struggle and the role of the ANC in the working class struggle for the recognition of the rights of workers to form and belong to trade unions became two faces of the same coin."

Mbeki had this to say about the wretched system of apartheid which robbed him of 23 years and more of his life, "Here was a plan that was painstakingly designed to wipe out millions of people by subjecting them to a slow death of starvation, so that the Afrikaner could live out his life in peace without fear of the swart gevaar [black danger], the Bantu."

And on negotiated freedom, Mbeki said, "It is doubtful whether history can provide a comparable example of a tyrant loosening his grip on power and allowing it to be negotiated in the hands of the enemy. But it is important to acknowledge that the apartheid regime was forced into handing over power by the sheer weight of millions of people who had been mobilized into an irresistible force."

COSAS and The south African Beacon salutes Govan Mbeki, a revolutionary who will go down in the annals of our history as a true son of Africa and a revolutionary for all times. Long live Oom Gov!

September 2001