Saul Msane: friend or foe of the people? The life of the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries South African politician and journalist

Mokoatsi, Thapelo

Title: Saul Msane: friend or foe of the people? The life of the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries South African politician and journalist
Creator: Mokoatsi, Thapelo
Subject: Saul Msane
Subject: Elite (Social sciences)
Subject: African National Congress
Subject: Politicians South Africa Biography
Subject: Political dispute
Subject: Abantu-Batho
Subject: Enemy of the people
Date Issued: 2023-03-30
Date: 2023-03-30
Type: Academic theses
Type: Doctoral theses
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/409799
Identifier: vital:70631
Identifier: DOI 10.21504/10962/409802
Description: Saul Msane was a prominent founding member of the ANC and an active journalist and editor of the ANC newspaper Abantu-Batho. His career generated controversy. Towards the end of his life, he had a feud with his colleagues in the African National Congress (henceforth Congress) that led to him being labelled isitha sabantu, “the enemy of the people” for his refusal to support the Shilling strike of 1918, an accusation which was retracted a year after his death in 1919. The label of isitha sabantu levelled against Msane, had the effect of ending his political prominence in the Transvaal, forcing him to relocate to kwaNongoma where he died shortly thereafter. Msane’s years in the Congress amounted to about seven years, between 1912, the founding of the Congress, and the demise of his career in 1919. Msane’s seven years in Congress were characterised by controversies, clashes, and conflicts owing to his perceived elitism. In Congress historiography Msane is an obscure and elusive figure, he lives here and there in a footnote, as a supporting statement or a mentioned in mere passing. His marginalisation reveals some of the gaps within the history of Congress and invites us to write about those who did not emerge from the history of Congress necessarily as heroes. This thesis sets out to write a biography of Msane and document his political career beyond that one moment in which he came to be “isitha sabantu”. While Msane’s Congress career was comparably short and filled with tensions, an archive of his life exists. This study is an exploration of that archive to reconstruct the biography of a once prominent leader who dies in political exile from the Congress movement. This thesis sets out to do two key things in relation to reconstructing Msane’s life: Firstly, it reconstructs the longer biography of Msane’s political life by drawing on the existing archives, and thus filling in the South African historical record in that regard. Secondly, at the broader conceptual and historiographical level, it argues that the controversies surrounding Msane’s persona and character illustrate that conceptions of elitism and the nature of being ‘elite’ were key to the politics of Congress at the time.
Description: U-Saul Msane wayengomunye wabasunguli beqembu lika-African National Congress (uKhongolose) futhi eyIntatheli nomhleli wephephandaba i-Abantu-Batho. Umsebenzi ayewenza waba nezingqinamba eziningi ngokwezepolitiki. Ngasekugcineni kwempilo yakhe waba nokungazwani nabaholi ayesebenza nabo kuKhongolose okwadala ukuba abizwe ngesitha sabantu ngenxa yokuba engavumelananga nesiteleka sango-1918 lapho abasebenzi babelwela ukukhushulelwa amaholo. Leligama lokubizwa ngesitha sabantu lahoxiswa ngo 1919 sekudlule unyaka engasekho emhlabeni. Lokubizwa ngesitha sabantu kwalilimaza igama lakhe kwezepolitiki e-Transvaal waze wathutha wayohlala kwaNongoma nokuyilapho ashonela khona. Iminyaka uMsane ayisebenzele uKhongolose yaba isikhombisa, kusukela ekusungulweni kwayo ngo 1912 kuze kufike ekulimaleni komsebenzi wakhe wezepolitiki ngo 1919. Kuleminyaka eyisikhombisa umsebenzi wakhe kuKhongolose wawubhekene nokugxekwa okukhulu nokubukeka njengomuntu onokuzenza ngcono kunabanye abantu. Emlandweni kaKhongolose uMsane akavezwa ngendlela emfanele, kukhulunywa ngaye kudlulwa nje. Lokunganakwa kukaMsane emlandweni kaKhongolose kusiphoqa ukuba sibhale ngabaholi abangaqakanjiswa. Lolucwaningo luveza umlando kaMsane ngokujulile ngaphezu kwangalesikhathi abizwa khona ngesitha sabantu. Noma umsebenzi kaMsane kuKhongolose wabamfushane kunabanye futhi ugcwele izinto kodwa noko ingobo yawo ikhona. Lolucwaningo lucubungula lengobo ukuhlaziya nokubhala kabusha umlando wengqalabutho eyagcina ishonela ngaphandle kombutho kaKhongolose. Loluphando lifisa ukwenza izinto ezimbili: Okokuqala, ibhala kabusha umlando omude wezepolitiki kaMsane kusetshenziswa ulwazi olukhona. Loku kuzosiza ukunothisa umlando wezepolitiki wezwe laseNingizimu Afrika. Okwesibili, ezingeni lobunzululwazi, lolucwaningo luveza ukuthi izinkinga uMsane ahlangabezana nazo zazisukele endleleni okwakubukwa ngayo indaba yokucwasana ngazinga empilo abantu, kwakuyinto ejulile kuKhongolose ukubukeka kwabanye sengathi bazenza ngcono.
Description: Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, History, 2023
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (216 pages)
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, History
Language: English
Rights: Mokoatsi, Thapelo
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)

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