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The Emergence of a Generational Cohort

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Exile Identity, Agency and Belonging in South Africa

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies on Children and Development ((PSCD))

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the emergence of a generational cohort made up of second-generation exiles who shared a political consciousness, sense of civic responsibility and a belief in social justice. Occupying a common historical location and experiencing similar crystallising events, often as victims of political violence, a shared political consciousness emerged among the children of exiles. Through families, children’s clubs and schools, the African National Congress institutionally sought to develop a specific political subjectivity among children, based on the values of respect, reciprocity and sacrifice, and the prospect of future return to South Africa. As agents, children critically engaged with and responded to these messages in the interconnected domains of formal Politics and the micro-politics of the everyday.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Lusaka Collection, Box 2, Folder 6, “The Role of Residential Care in the Liberation Struggle,” by Mabel Choabi at the First Conference of ANC Women in the External Mission (n.d).

  2. 2.

    Ibid., 3.

  3. 3.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Lusaka Collection/London Mission, Box 2, Folder 6, “Preamble of the ANC Children’s Committee.”

  4. 4.

    Ibid.

  5. 5.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Swedish Mission, Box 35, Folder 61, “ANC National Consultative Conference NPC Documents: Role and Place of the Youth in Society, the ANC and the Struggle,” June 1985.

  6. 6.

    Ibid.

  7. 7.

    Ibid.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    In Mozambique, most ANC members (and their families) in exile were expelled after the signing of the Nkomati Accord with South Africa on March 16, 1984. A pact of non-aggression and good-neighbourliness, the Nkomati Accord stipulated that South Africa would cease to support Renamo forces in Mozambique and, in return, Mozambique would not allow the ANC and PAC to establish bases in Mozambique or to transport arms or personnel through Mozambican territory (see Manghezi 2009).

  10. 10.

    Cry, the Beloved Country is a 1951 British drama directed by Zoltán Korda. Based on the novel of the same name by Alan Paton, it highlights the struggles of a black minister who searches for his missing son in the city, only to find that he has become a criminal.

  11. 11.

    Mayibuye Exile Project, MCA 6—377 Mohammed Tikly (retrieved April 7–15, 2014).

  12. 12.

    Mayibuye Exile Project, MCA—445 Fezeka Kuzwayo, p. 4.

  13. 13.

    Chris Hani, born Martin Thembisile Hani (June 28, 1942–April 10, 1993) was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of the MK.

  14. 14.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 1, Folder 4, “Pioneers Activities in SOMAFCO since 1979” (n.d).

  15. 15.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 4, “The Role of the Pioneer Organisation in the Struggle for Liberation.”

  16. 16.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Lusaka Collection/London Mission, Box 2, Folder 6, “Preamble of the ANC Children’s Committee.”

  17. 17.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Lusaka Collection/ London Mission, Box 2, Folder 6, “Report of Visit to Morogoro, September 10–14, 1981.”

  18. 18.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 11, Folder 8, “The Development of Masupatsela.”

  19. 19.

    The Treason Trial ran from 1956 to 1961. 156 people were tried for treason but all defendants were pronounced not guilty. During this time, prominent ANC leaders such as Oliver Tambo went into exile.

  20. 20.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 11, Folder 8, “The Development of Masupatsela.”

  21. 21.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Lusaka Collection, Box 93, Folder 3, “A Draft Constitution of the Children’s Club Established in August 1976,” p. 1.

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 1, Folder 9, “Structure of the ANC (South Africa) Pioneer Organisation.”

  24. 24.

    Ibid., p. 2.

  25. 25.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 4, “The Role of the Pioneer Organisation in the Struggle for Liberation.”

  26. 26.

    Ibid.

  27. 27.

    Ibid.

  28. 28.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 1, Folder 4, “Pioneers Activities in SOMAFCO since 1979” [n.d].

  29. 29.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Collection, Box 2, Folder 6, “Artek Trip Report [Pioneers]”, July 1979.

  30. 30.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Collection, Box 11, Folder 8, “Report of the Pioneer Visit to Soviet Union”, July 23–August 8, 1981, prepared by Jabulile Kunene.

  31. 31.

    ANC Fort Hare, The Primary Collection, Box 11, Folder 8, “Report of the Pioneers Trip to the 28th International Pioneers Summer Camp in the German Democratic Republic”, July 18–August 21, 1985.”

  32. 32.

    ANC Fort Hare, Lusaka/ London Mission, Box 2, Folder 6, “Report on the Visit to Norway.”

  33. 33.

    Mayibuye Exile Project, MCA—445 Fezeka Kuzwayo, p. 4 (retrieved April 7–15, 2014).

  34. 34.

    Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (born June 18, 1942) was the president of South Africa from June 14, 1999, to September 24, 2008. He went into exile in 1962, spending subsequent years studying at Sussex University, participating in military training in Russia and engaging in various strategic ANC activities in Lusaka, Botswana, Swaziland, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

  35. 35.

    Professor Jack Simons died on July 22, 1995. He was a South African Communist Party veteran and an exile, who became a political commissar in MK camps in Angola.

  36. 36.

    Ronald Kasrils (commonly known as Ronnie Kasrils) was a member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC from 1987 to 2007, a member of the Central Committee of the SACP from 1986 to 2007, and the Minister for Intelligence Services from 2004 to 2008.

  37. 37.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 11, Folder 9, “Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College: Primary School Report”, 1984.

  38. 38.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 1, Folder 4, “Pioneers Activities in SOMAFCO since 1979” [n.d].

  39. 39.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Secondary, Box 6, Folder 219, “Recommendations of 2nd National Youth Conference”, August 1987.

  40. 40.

    Ibid.

  41. 41.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 1, Folder 4, “Pioneers Activities in SOMAFCO since 1979” [n.d].

  42. 42.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Collection, Box 11, Folder 8, “Report of the Pioneer Visit to Soviet Union”, July 23–August 8, 1981. ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Collection, Box 11, Folder 8, “Report of the Pioneers Trip to the 28th International Pioneers Summer Camp in the German Democratic Republic”, July 18–August 21, 1985.

  43. 43.

    Mayibuye Exile Project, MCA 6—383—Bessie White (retrieved April 7–15, 2014).

  44. 44.

    Mayibuye Exile Project, MCA 6—280—Esme Goldberg (retrieved April 7–15, 2014).

  45. 45.

    Ibid.

  46. 46.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Official Programme “Education for Liberation: Overcoming Apartheid at the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College.”

  47. 47.

    Mayibuye Exile Project, MCA 6—377 Mohammed Tikly (retrieved April 7–15, 2014).

  48. 48.

    ANC Fort Hare, London Mission, Box 15, Folder 72, “SOMAFCO Primary Division: School and Society Discussion Notes.”

  49. 49.

    ANC Fort Hare, London Mission, Box 15, Folder 72, “To You Who Work for Children: Some Tips from a Nordic Seminar on ‘Children and the Mass Media’ in Hellebaak, Denmark” (May 1973).

  50. 50.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Secondary Division, Box 6, Folder 4, “Part One of a Two Part Series: A Visit to an ANC Community.”

  51. 51.

    Ibid.

  52. 52.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Secondary Division, Box 48, Folder 179, “Principal’s Second General Progress Report,” October 18, 1979.

  53. 53.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Secondary Division, Box 6, Folder 4, “Part One of a Two Part Series: A Visit to an ANC Community.”

  54. 54.

    ANC Fort Hare, ANC Primary Division, Box 11, Folder 9, “Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College: Primary School Report, 1984.”

  55. 55.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Secondary Division, Box 48, Folder 179, “Principals Second General Progress Report,” October 18, 1979.

  56. 56.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Collection, Box 3, Folder 13, “Report of the Tour of the Drama Group (1982) to the Netherlands and Sweden”.

  57. 57.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Collection, Box 93, Folder 9, Letter to the Prime Minister of New Zealand from the Students of SOMAFCO (July 19, 1981).

  58. 58.

    ANC Fort Hare, SOMAFCO Collection, Box 93, Folder 11, Briefing on a SOMAFCO visit to Italy, November 20–December 16, 1985; Box 93, Folder 11, Letter to all students involved in SOMAFCO tour to Italy.

  59. 59.

    On June 16, 1976, students staged school boycotts in Soweto in the wake of attempts by the Department for Bantu Administration and Education to introduce Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. The boycotts were met with a violent state response, leading to the death of hundreds of children. The boycotts then expanded to the rest of South Africa, involving approximately 20,000 students (Ellis and Sechaba 1992).

  60. 60.

    Recordings and transcripts are held by the author.

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  1. Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Zosa De Sas Kropiwnicki

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De Sas Kropiwnicki, Z. (2017). The Emergence of a Generational Cohort. In: Exile Identity, Agency and Belonging in South Africa. Palgrave Studies on Children and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53276-9_3

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