A TRIBUTE TO MUZIWAKHE ANTON LEMBEDE A REVOLUTIONARY GIANT WHOSE LEGACY SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN INDELIBLE PLACES By Vuyo Yekani In a poem written for Kwame Toure, titled “Tribute”, Professor Dennis Brutus, a professor of literature, an anti-apartheid activist and scholar of note, wrote: “He does not die who lives in the consciousness of his people. He does not die whose works endure in the society of his people. His spirit lives when the memory of his people preserves his work and his words, and when his deeds continue to march forward to shape the future”. The life and times of Anton Muziwakhe Lembede bears resonance to the memorable mind of Prof. Brutus. Such an illustrious, short, yet well-lived life is one that should not be mourned, but celebrated. The 10th of September 2012 also marked the 68th anniversary of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League, a youth movement that Anton Lembede died serving in its echelons as President. This therefore presents us with a prestigious moment to contemplate on, and draw lessons from the life he lived. Here is a life of giant whose values should be written in indelible places - in our psyches, hearts and minds. President Anton Lembede lived an exceptional life as a teacher, a lawyer, a writer, a humanitarian, a community builder and as a devoted Christian believer. It was on the 21st of January in 1914 that Mr Mbazwana Martin and Martha MaLuthuli Lembede were blessed with a baby who later became a humble agent of change and servant of the people. Anton was the first of seven children whose father was a farm labourer. Muziwakhe was baptized in the Anglican Church and given the Christian name Francis. He later converted to being a Catholic, along with his father and brother, joining a Roman Catholic Church near Eston. It is in that Roman Catholic parish that the priest, Father Cyprian gave him a name that he is renowned with, Anton. Church played an integral part in his life to an extent that he and his brother had calling to become priests. He made a vow that before joining priesthood, he would teach for a number of years so as to pay school fees for his brothers and sisters. Indeed, this indicated fulfillment of Che Guevara’s words that “the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love”. Through such, we are introduced to a selfless leader who realized the importance of education as tool through which the oppressed masses could no longer be deprived of. His formal education did not begin until he was thirteen, but he demonstrated hunger for learning. Anton was tutored at home by his mother who had attained a standard five education qualification, which was considerably a milestone for an African at a time. His mother taught in a number of schools at Darlington, Umlazi Bridge and Vredeville. While working, his parents had the anxiety for him and other children to escape burdensome lives as farm labourers. Lembede began his formal schooling at Inkanyezi Catholic School where he was taught by a teacher who had recently graduated from the Marianhill Training College. Bernadette Sibeko’s (Anton’s teacher) first teaching experience was enriched and made a remarkable experience by Anton’s inquisitiveness and his desire to impart knowledge to his peers. Anton, being taught in a classroom of sixty squeezed learners, distinguished himself as one of the best learners. He would be taught a lesson, and would in turn teach other learners. Having to grapple with academic and domestic responsibilities, like his counterpart of the same school-going age, he herded the family’s livestock. Even in his execution of such duties, he was immersed by his books that at times, he let the cattle wander off. After completing standard three, Ms Sibeko encouraged him to continue with his education. Anton worked for some time at Escombe in order to buy books and pay school fees while studying at Umbumbulu Government School. He completed standard six at the same school, with distinctions. Hamilton Makhanya, a local school inspector helped him to secure a scholarship at Adams College. Adams College had three sections, namely, a high school, an industrial school that equipped students with carpentry, building and related qualifications, and a teachers’ training college. In the contemporary higher education landscape, Adams College served similar functions served by a Further Education and Training (FET) College. In 1927, a new teachers’ course was introduced to prepare students for the Native Teachers Higher Primary Certificate. It was later renamed he “T3”. Such a qualification allowed teachers to assume teaching jobs in Intermediate, Higher Schools and Training Colleges. This was the course for which Lembede enrolled in 1933. Chief Albert Luthuli was among his teachers at Adams College. Anton left an unforgettable outward impression on his school mates because of his miserable poverty, which was apparent to everyone due to his ragged attire, his patched pants and worn-out jacket. One of his classmates and a founding member of the ANC Youth League, Jordan Ngubani, described Lembede as the “living symbol of African misery”. No one would want to be associated with such a fellow, who, yet intelligent, look “very stupid in appearance”. What drew other students closer to him was his brilliance and dedication to his studies. Muziwakhe Anton Lembede also distinguished himself as a linguist of a special caliber. He excelled in learning and speaking other languages. At Adams College, he portrayed linguistic proficiency in Afrikaans, Sesotho and IsiXhosa. He had learnt some German from German nuns who resided within the College’s vicinity. He had already started studying Latin. Another gigantic trait that Lembede possessed was that of being a prolific writer. Between 1934 and 1939, he published several journal articles with a strong focus on educating the youth in becoming self-reliant and improve their socio-economic situation. He explicitly expressed strong views on the tendency of educated black people to “despise manual labour”, regarding it as inferior. He left Adams college in 1936 to take up a series of teaching posts in Natal, with the first being at Utrecht, Newcastle, and then in the then Orange Free State (now Free State) at Heilbron Bantu United School where he taught Afrikaans, and Parys Bantu School, where he became headmaster. He also taught at the St. John’s Berchman Catholic Primary School in Orlando Township. Anton Lembede must be remembered as a revolutionary whose thirst for education could not be quenched! His philosophy and approach to education was one which taught humankind an appreciation for manual labour. He progressively advanced himself through a number of degrees, through private study and funded with his inadequate personally-accumulated resources. He passed the Joint Matriculation Board exams in 1937, with symbols A and B in Afrikaans and English, respectively. Coupled to this was a distinction in Latin. He then pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Philosophy and Roman Law. This he did through correspondence courses with the University of South Africa (UNISA). He completed the academic programme in 1942, in record time. The degrees he attained at UNISA include an LLB. In further quenching his thirst for education, he registered for a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy, in 1943, with UNISA. The year 1945 saw the successful completion of his Masters degree, and he submitted a thesis titled “The Conception of God as Expounded by, or as it Emerges from the Writings of Philosophers – from Descartes to the Present Day”. Anton’s academic milestones inspired many of his comrades and friends, considering the fact that only a few Africans had attained post-graduate qualifications. In paying tribute to him, AP Mda had this to say: “This signal achievement I the culmination of an epic struggle for self-education under severe handicaps and almost insuperable difficulties. It is a dramatic climax to Mr Lembede’s brilliant scholastic career”. The bedrock of his academic attainment was his abstinent lifestyle and his disciplined, serious study routine. Two staple ingredients to such academic accomplishments were perseverance and resilience. It should be noted, however, that Lembede’s academics, though prioritized, did not consume all of his time, as he participated in a range of activities. The year 1943 marked an end of his teaching career. He abandoned teaching to become a lawyer. He then moved to Johannesburg to serve articles under Pixley ka Isaka Seme. Upon his arrival in Johannesburg, he revived his friendship with his old friends Jordan Ngubani and AP Mda. He qualified as an attorney in 1946, and partnered with Seme. Lembede had a first encounter with Afrikaner Nationalism in the Orange Free State. Such an experience coupled with his readings of European philosophy equipped him with the principles of the nationalist ideology. In co-operation with Mda, he integrated these ideas into African Nationalism. Anton became an instrumental figure in the formation of the ANC Youth League in 1944. The period between 1944 and 1947 really characterize his political ascendancy at the help of the ANC Youth League. The motivation behind the formation of the Youth League was the desire to shake up the “Old Guard” in the ANC and set the ANC on a more militant cause. That moment in history presented us with a remarkable generation of African leaders including, but not limited to Oliver Tambo, Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Rolihlahla Mandela, Jordan Ngubane, David Bopape, Ellen Kuzwayo, AP Mda and Dan Tloome. Lembede’s sharp intellect, fiery personality and unwavering commitment to the struggle made an immediate, lasting impression on his peers. He was elevated into prominence in both the ANC and the Youth League. He became part of the National Provisional Committee which would oversee the formation process of the ANC. On 10 September 1944, he took over from William Nkomo as the Youth League’s General President. He contributed immensely in the drafting of the ANC Youth League’s Manifesto. He also served in various ANC positions. In the same year, he was elected ANC Provincial Assistant Secretary in the Transvaal. Two years later, Anton was seconded to the ANC National Executive Committee and National Working Committee under the leadership of Dr. Xuma. He was regarded as the architect of the 1949 Programme of Action (of the ANC YL). Being true to his African roots, Anton Lembede declared that “I am one with Mother Africa’s darkest soils. I am Africa’s own child. My heart yearns for the glory of Africa that is gone. However, I shall work for the future Africa, free and great among the nations of the world”. Anton Lembede died at the age of 33, in 1947, in the Coronation Hospital. This happened on the 30th of July. At the time of his death, he was in pursuit of a Doctorate in Law. After a post mortem, his cause of death was certified by doctors as cardiac failure, with intestinal obstruction as a major contributor. He was buried on the 3rd of August 1947 at the Orlando Cemetery. His bones were exhumed and re-buried at the family homestead at Madundube in the Mbumbulu area in 2002. Here is a short, well-lives life. A life of a great revolutionary who has distinguished himself as a devoted Christian believer, an educator and an educationist, a linguist, a writer, an advocate of the voiceless , a trailblazer of the youth movement, a father of African Nationalism, a humble servant of the people, a moral torch-bearer and a beacon of hope to the down-trodden. Anton Lembede is indeed a pioneering figure in the intellectual ancestry that was later embodied in Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Robert Sobukwe and Stephen Bantu Biko. He has led and left a movement that has attracted into its ranks people to whom personal power, success and fare are the absolute barometers of value. Now, more than ever, the movement has no need of people whose value system and aspirations are personal glorification, rapid wealth, success and fame. His thirst for education implores us to make education more fashionable within the ranks of the Mass Democratic Movement, particularly in the ANC Youth League He calls upon us to constantly develop most of his ideas to fruition as he could not live to see their realization. He, without demur solidified his position in the upper echelons of the new African intelligentsia. Onus is upon youth activists of this generation to continue producing all-round intellects – traditional and organic intellectuals who will further advance the ideals of the youth of his generation. In his undefeatable death, lie great lessons for the living! Youth formations and the rest of the movement have a responsibility to continuously draw on his live to stay on the course. As President Mbeki echoed Cde JB Marks’ sentiment, we should “write the late Lembede’s virtues in brass and his vices, if any, on water”. We ought to give practical meaning to what he lived for. Here is life of a lifelong learner who should serve as an inspiration to us. Indeed, a brick that was rejected by the builders has become a cornerstone. That is embodied in Muziwakhe Anton Lembede. In his own message to the African youth: “We are not called to peace, comfort and enjoyment, but to hard work, struggle and sweat. We need young men and women of high moral stamina and integrity: of courage and vision. In short, we need warriors. This means that we have to develop a new type of youth of stoical discipline, trained to endure suffering and difficulties. It is only this type of youth that will achieve the national liberation of African people”. If Muziwakhe Anton Lembede is disremembered, he should be remembered, if forgotten, he should be remembered, if ignored, he should be remembered. For he is A REVOLUTIONARY GIANT WHOSE LEGACY SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN INDELIBLE PLACES Vuyo Yekani is a member of the ANC Youth League and Provincial Treasurer of the Young Communist League in the Western Cape
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 16:41:54 +0000
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