‘We Are Only Humble People and Poor’: A.A.S. le Fleur and the Power of Petitions

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the extensive correspondence of the Griqua leader, A.A.S. le Fleur, with representatives of the South African government and the British Crown. Le Fleur's many self-help schemes often proved to be impracticable, but the author argues that previous studies which placed his struggle for recognition and respectability in the context of millenarian protest against colonial rule must be re-examined. Because of an early phase of open rebelliousness, government officials never ceased to view his activities with utmost suspicion. This article shows, however, that Le Fleur's vision of coloured socio-economic reconstruction unfolded within the given parameters of the segregationist colonial state. Although he based his influence among his marginalised followers on a loosely defined Griqua identity, he was nevertheless alert to the national and international context within which black and coloured South Africans articulated their aspirations during the turbulent 1920s and 1930s. Instead of relying on strategies of magic or ‘mimicry’ in order to subvert the colonial order, Le Fleur's communication with government officials and his leadership style reflected a more modern approach to South African politics in the interwar years.

Keywords:

• Griqua
• A.A.S. le Fleur
• petitions
• protest movements
• indigenous self-help
• coloured loyalism
• race relations
• modernity