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ABSTRACT
This paper unravels the problems and challenges faced by the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) during the repatriation of its archival material to Fort Hare. One argument that this paper makes is that the politics of archival repatriation and preservation are linked intrinsically to broader questions of South African politics and historiography. There is however an underlying point of more general significance. An acute awareness about the making of any archival collection is essential, particularly in the context of the highly contested and controversial field of South African liberation politics. In this context, the author argues that most heritage sites and monuments erected in the post-apartheid South Africa are a reflection and celebration of ANC history and heritage. Considering this, it is possible for individuals to conclude that the repatriation of the BCM consignment to Fort Hare is of no significance and that no lessons can be drawn from this experience. Yet, the BCM experience is equally important in further understanding the nuances and challenges of the repatriation of archival material.
Note on the contributor
Brown Bavusile Maaba holds a master’s degree from the University of Fort Hare and a PhD from the University of Cape Town. He has published papers on the South African liberation history, heritage and visual arts. Maaba is the co-author of the book Education in Exile: SOMAFCO, the ANC School in Tanzania, 1978–1992. He was the Speech Writer for the Minister of Higher Education and subsequently that of the former Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Parks Tau. Maaba is presently a Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg and a member of the panel of experts at the National Heritage Council (NHC).
Notes
1 In this paper, the Black Consciousness Movement will mean the movement that was spearheaded by Steve Biko until it was outlawed on 19 October 1977. The Black Consciousness–oriented organisations shall mean organisations that were inspired by Biko’s philosophy and established after the Black Consciousness Movement was outlawed in October 1977. These organisations include the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO), the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania (BCM(A), and the Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA).
2 See B. Maaba, ‘The Archives of the Pan Africanist Congress and the Black Consciousness–Orientated Movements’, History in Africa, 28 (2001), 417–438.
3 For some sources on the heritage in South Africa see, A.E. Coombes, History after Apartheid: Visual Culture and Public Memory in a Democratic South Africa (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2004), 12–23; B. Maaba, ‘Challenges to Repatriation and Preservation of Tangible Heritage in South Africa: Black Art and the experiences of the Ifa Lethu Foundation’, South African Historical Journal, 60, 3 (2008), 500–513.
4 G. Dominy, ‘Archives in a Democratic South Africa: The Proposals of the ANC, an Evaluation’, SA Archives Journal/SA Argiefblad, 35 (1993), 67–76.
5 For details and challenges around renaming of South Africa’s public spaces see, M. Ndletyana, ‘Changing Place-names in the Post-apartheid South Africa: Accounting for the Un-evenness’, Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies, 38, 1 (2012), 87–103.
6 University of Fort Hare (henceforth UFH), National Heritage and Cultural Studies (henceforth NAHECS) administrative files, Memorandum from G.J. Gerwel to Nelson Mandela, 28 October 1991.
7 Xolela Mangcu is one of the leading adherents of the BCM ideology. His columns in the newspaper Business Day often criticised the government and the heritage sector for not according Biko and the BCM their role in struggle history. AZAPO once raised the issue of the omission of the role of BCM in the struggle against apartheid in the exhibitions of the Red Location Museum. This was rectified. See interview with Lungile Dick, conducted by Brown Maaba, New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, 31 March 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, LD’).
8 Speech by the Mayor of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo on the unveiling of the Tsietsi Mashinini Statue, 16 June 1910; “Let's Hope This One Does It”, Sunday World Newspaper, 20 June 2010.
9 Interview with Jairus Mpotseng Kgokong conducted by Brown Maaba, Johannesburg, 13 April 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, JK’).
10 Interview with Ntobeko Maqashalala conducted by Brown Maaba, Port Elizabeth, 27 March 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, NM’); Interview with Themba Sirayi conducted by Brown Maaba, Fort Beaufort, 26 January 2010 (henceforth ‘Interview, TS’).
11 For more on the BCM movement, see G.M. Gerhart, Black Power in South Africa: The Evolution of an Ideology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979), T.G. Karis and G.M. Gerhart (eds), From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882–1990 (Stanford: Hoover Institute Press, 1997); M. Mzamane, B. Maaba, and N. Biko, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, 1960–1970’, in South African Democracy Education Trust (eds), The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Vol. 2, (Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2006), 99–159.
12 M. Ramphele, ‘Empowerment and Symbols of Hope’, in N.B. Pityana and M. Ramphele, eds, Bounds of Possibility: The Legacy of Stephen Bantu Biko (Cape Town: David Philip, 1991), 155, 160–178; M. Mamphele, ‘The Dynamics of Gender Within Black Consciousness Organisations: A Personal View, in Bounds of Possibility, 216; D. Magaziner, The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968–1977 (Johannesburg: Ohio University Press, 1910), 34; M. Mzamane, B. Maaba, and N. Biko, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement’, 135.
13 Ramphele, ‘Empowerment and Symbols of Hope’ 154, 162, 178; L. Hadfield, Liberation and Development: Black Consciousness Community Programs in South Africa (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2016), 16–46.
14 Mzamane, Maaba, and Biko, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement’.
15 Interview with Lybon Mabasa conducted by Gail Gerhart, New York City, 7 April 1991 (henceforth ‘Interview, LMA’).
16 UFH, NAHECS, AZAPO Collection, Box 72, George Wauchope, attacks of the Azanian People’s Organisation by the United Democratic Front, 24 September 1986; Eastern Province Herald, 20 January, 1987; Sowetan, 2 February 1987.
17 Mzamane and Maaba, ‘The Azanian’s People’s Organization, 1977–1990’, in , The Road to Democracy in South Africa, vol. 2, 1299–1358.
18 UFH, NAHECS, BCM(A), Box 5, Proposal for interim central office in London, September 1980, letter from Dodo Thandiwe Motsitsi to Nzisi.
19 B. Maaba and M. Mzamane, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement of Azania, 1979–1990’, in South African Democracy Education Trust (eds), in The Road to Democracy in South Africa 1980–1990 (eds), Vol. 4 ,(Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2010),1361–1398.
20 UFH, NAHECS, BCM(A) Collection, Box 3, letter from Dodo Motsisi to all members of the BCM(A), 5 February 1981, letter from Mandisi Titi to BCM(A) cadres, 14 August 1982.
21 UFH, NAHECS, BCM(A) Collection, Box 5, Proposal for interim central office in London, September 1980.
22 Interview with Pandelani Nefolovhodwe conducted by Brown Maaba, Leondale, Alberton, 12 May 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, PN’).
23 Maaba and Mzamane, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement of Azania’.
24 UFH, NAHECS, BCM(A) Collection, Box 5, letter from Basil Manning to Clive Nettleton, 16 September 1980, letter from Clive Nettleton to Basil Manning, 6 October 1980.
25 Interview with Jairus Mpotseng Kgokong, conducted by Brown Maaba, Johannesburg, 13 April 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, JK’).
26 Interview with Molefe Pheto, conducted by Brown Maaba, Johannesburg, 20 April, 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, MP’).
27 F. Garaba, ‘Provenance, Identification, Restitution and Management of the Liberation Struggle Heritage in the ESARBRICA Region’, Journal of the South African Society of Archivists, 44 (2011), 30.
28 Maaba and Mzamane, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement of Azania’.
29 Ibid; Interview, JK.
30 Interview with Kabelo Makola, conducted by Brown Maaba, Pretoria, 28 April 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, KB’).
31 Interview with Strike Thokoane conducted by Brown Maaba, Johannesburg, 20 April 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, ST’); Interview, JK.
32 Interview, JK.
33 UFH, NAHECS, BCM(A) Collection, Box 3, Memorandum from Dodo Thandiwe Motsisi to members of the Interim Committee, 29 November 1980.
34 Interview, MP.
35 Interview with Gerald Phokobye, conducted by Brown Maaba, Pretoria, 28 April 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, GP’).
36 Interview, KM.
37 Interview, GP.
38 Interview, ST.
39 Ibid.
40 Interview, MP.
41 Ibid.
42 Interview with Twiggs Xiphu, conducted by Brown Maaba, Centurion, June 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, TX).
43 Interview, ST.
44 Ibid.
45 Interview, ST.
46 Ibid.
47 Interview, KM.
48 Interview, MP.
49 Interview, JK.
50 Interview, GP.
51 Interview, JK.
52 Ibid.
53 B. Maaba, ‘The ANC’s Joe Gqabi In Exile No More’, Daily Dispatch, 16 December 2004; B. Maaba and S. Morrow, ‘Fear and Infiltration in Mazimbu, The Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, 1978–1992’, Society and War, 23, 1 (2005), 107–124.
54 Interview, GP.
55 Interview, JK.
56 Ibid.
57 Interview, MP.
58 Interview, JK.
59 Interview with Lybon Mabasa, conducted by Brown Maaba, Johannesburg, 5 May 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, LM’).
60 Interview, PN.
61 Interview with Ishmael Mkhabela, conducted by Brown Maaba, Johannesburg, 13 May 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, IM’).
62 Interview, LM.
63 Interview, IM.
64 Garaba, ‘Provenance, Identification, Restitution and Management’, 36.
65 Interview with Don Pinnock, Cape Town, conducted by Brown Maaba, 26 February 2011 (henceforth ‘Interview, DP’).
66 Interview, LD.
67 Interview, IM.
68 Interview, LM.
69 Interview, IM.
70 Interview, JK.
71 Maaba, ‘The Archives’.
72 Interview, JK; Interview, MP.
73 Interview, GP.
74 Interview, PN.
75 Interview with Godfrey Vulindlela Mona, conducted by Brown Maaba, East London, 16 November, 2010 (henceforth ‘Interview, GVM’).
76 Vuyani Booi, On the Liberation Movements Archives at Fort Hare. 18 April, 2011, http://www.apc.uct.ac.za/apc/projects/have-your-say/liberation-movementsarchive-fort-hare. Accessed 7 October 2020.
77 Interview, MP.
78 Interview, JK.
79 Interview, ST.
80 Interview, GVM.
81 Interview, GP.
82 Remarks by Don Nkadimeng on behalf of AZAPO, http://www.si.umich.edu/fort-hare/nkadimeng.htm. Accessed 27 August, 2009.
83 Interview, PN.; Interview, JK.
84 M. Ngope and S. Netshakhuma, ‘Archives in the Trenches: Repatriation of African National Congress Liberation Archives in Diaspora to South Africa’, Archival Science,18 (2018), 57.
85 Interview, GP.
86 Interview, ST.
87 Interview, ST.
88 Interview, LM; Interview, ST.
89 Interview, GP.
90 Interview, ST; Interview, JK.