African Nationalism: African Nationalism

By Ndabaningi Sithole and Garfield Todd

What was the fight for Africa's independence all about? Was it just about majority rule? Was it to replace foreign economic and political systems with home-grown African systems or for Africa to remain with and/or adopt foreign systems?  In "African Nationalism", th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ndabaningi Sithole Foundation
• Release date: Apr 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985405224

Ndabaningi Sithole

Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole was a well-respected statesman, Pan-Africanist, educationalist, theologian, political leader, and prolific author. Reverend Sithole published numerous books, including his first book in his mother tongue Umvukela wamaNdebele (1956), Roots of a Revolution (1970), The Polygamist (1972), Letters from Salisbury Prison (1976, written while he was incarcerated), Obed Mutezo, The Mudzimu Christian Nationalist (1977), The Frelimo Militant (1978), In Defence of the Rhodesian Constitutional Agreement (1978), Secret of America's Success: Africa's Great Hope (1990), and Hammer and Sickle over Africa (1991). His revolutionary masterpiece, African Nationalism (1959), crystallized the thoughts of modern Africa's founding fathers who successfully fought to end colonialism. The book was borne during his time as a student at Andover Newton Theological Seminary (now a part of Yale Divinity School) where he constantly found himself explaining to his fellow students what was happening in Africa, and why Africans objected to domination by Europe. Born in 1920, Reverend Sithole's captivating life began in abject poverty. On the day of his birth, he was made to inhale the smoke from a burning goat's horn so that no evil should befall him. At age 7, dressed in two skin aprons, he was herding cattle when he and his friends saw what they took to be a fast-moving hut bearing down upon them. They ran for their lives, finding out later that the monster was a car. After spending three and a half years in the United States, where he studied theology and did deputation work for the American by Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions across numerous states Reverend Sithole returned to Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) in 1957 as an ordained Reverend. He became headmaster of Chikore Mission in Chipinge and was elected President of the Rhodesia African Teacher's Association in 1959. The position lasted a year as Reverend Sithole was banned from teaching. Reverend Sithole would go on to play a major role as a nationalist in Zimbabwe's independence struggle. Reverend Sithole was elected Treasurer of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in 1960, Chairman of the Zimbabwe African People's Union in 1961, and founding President of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in 1964. Shortly, following his election as President of ZANU he was imprisoned for the next 11 years. Post-independence in 1980 and up until his death, Reverend Sithole was a leading political figure opposing the repressive state led by Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF. Reverend Sithole died in Philadelphia, USA on December 12, 2000. His remains are interred at Freedom Farm, his homestead in Chipinge, Zimbabwe.

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Published with re-origination typing, editorial and text by

Department of Publishing, National University of Science and Technology, 55 Jason Moyo Street Bulawayo Zimbabwe

Copyrighted: Freedom Farm Trust

Publisher: Ndabaningi Sithole Foundation

All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise - without the express written permission of the publisher

ISBN: 979-8-9854052-2-4

Dedication

To my Family

Wife:

Canaan (Land of Milk and Honey)

Daughters:

Siphikelelo (Perseverance)

Sifiso (Wish)

Sikhululekile (Freedom)

Mpilwenhle (Good Life)

And Sons:

Dingindlela (Find the Way)

Zibonele (Do it Yourself)

Third Edition Dedication 2021

We, the surviving children, dedicate this third edition to

All freedom loving persons in Zimbabwe,

Africa and the World over.

Acknowledgements

It is with utmost humility that we, Siphikelelo Sithole-Jentimane and Dr. Sifiso I. Sithole-Barrow, the two surviving children of the late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole (the author) and Mrs Canaan Alice Sithole, wish to express our indebtedness and profound gratitude to all persons within and beyond the borders of Zimbabwe who encouraged us to republish African Nationalism.

This has been a particularly difficult journey in that the contributions of Reverend Sithole to the independence of Zimbabwe have been distorted in official Zimbabwean history. Because of this, citizens and others alike, have had no opportunity to read the Reverend’s works which provide critical missing pages to the nation’s history and also provide his vision for Zimbabwe.

We hope the republication of African Nationalism will inspire all who read it, especially the younger generations.

WE ARE OUR OWN LIBERATORS!

FIRST EDITION, Published by Oxford University Press, 1959

Permission was obtained by our father to use extracts from several publications in the first and second editions of African Nationalism. As in the first and second editions, we continue to acknowledge and appreciate all such persons, organisations and publishers.

Posthumously, we honour the late Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd, the liberal Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958, for writing the foreword to the First Edition of African Nationalism. His vision then, articulated the urgency of building a non-racial society in the then Rhodesia and which remains relevant to this day in Zimbabwe. May His Dear Departed Soul Continue to Rest in Eternal Peace.

SECOND EDITION, Published by Oxford University Press, 1968

Subsequently African Nationalism was translated into Swedish, Italian and Portuguese.

THIRD EDITION, Published by Ndabaningi Sithole Foundation

We extend our deep and profound gratitude to The Right Honourable Raila Omolo Odinga, fondly called ‘Baba’ by multitudes, for writing the foreword. As fellow pan-Africanists ‘Baba’ and his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, were in the trenches with our father.

We also extend our deep and profound gratitude to Dr. Shingi Mavima for his overview of African Nationalism which succinctly contextualizes its position in pan-African political thought and its relevance to Africa today.

The Department of Publishing Studies at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, have edited this Third Edition of African Nationalism. We thank: Miss Fikile Nomadlozi Nyathi; Dr. [Rev] Ndabezinhle Dlodlo, and Mr Ngqabutho Dube.

We are extremely grateful to the team of independent trustees of the Board of the Ndabaningi Sithole Foundation: Retired Bishop Chad Nicholas Gandiya (Chairperson), Makaita Noel Mutasa (Interim Executive Manager), Senator Sekai Holland, Dr. Easther Chigumira-Chiura, Ms. Jessie Fungayi Majome, Dr. Tinashe Mushakavanhu and Mr. Eric Hammons, for their unwavering support and commitment to honour our father’s legacy.

We also wish to sincerely thank family members who contributed to the republication of this book. This includes: Ms. Susan Mwayera and her son Mr. Shingai Sithole, Mrs. Darleen Sithole and her sons Michael Itayi Sithole and Jason Simbai Sithole, Mr. Masipula Sithole (Jnr), Mr. Panganai Sithole and Mr. Simbaimuchimurenga Chizengeni.

Lastly, we continue to cherish beautiful memories of both our parents (Ndabaningi Sithole and Canaan Alice Mafu) and being full of praise for running their race very well in the liberation struggle of our beautiful God-given country of Zimbabwe. May Their Souls Continue To Rest In Perfect Peace!

Foreword to the Third Edition 2021

Reading African Nationalism evokes mixed feelings of sadness and joy. It is sad to imagine that a whole book had to be written to try to explain to fellow humans why Africans were agitating for and deserved self-rule.

Elsewhere during Africa’s colonial time, it had long been agreed that independence, freedom and self-determination were God given rights deserved by all human beings. By 1789, the French National Assembly had made a declaration that liberty is a natural and imprescriptible right of man and that men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Earlier in 1776, Americans had declared, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Yet here were our freedom fighters like Ndabaningi Sithole having to justify why Africans should be free.

Sad again to think that although the struggles of the likes of Sithole bore fruits and won us freedom, not all the ideals that drove the struggle were realized. Africans watched with disbelief as, for example, the idea that whatever the African land produced would now be used for the benefit of the African people. It was never to be and at some stage, Africans had to dig deeper into their reservoirs of love for freedom once again to fight for the freedom and dignity they thought they had gained when they vanquished the colonialists. In this Second Liberation struggle, which was not any easier than the first it was Africans against their own leaders battling it out.

It did not help that the defeated colonial masters did not really accept defeat but only took a tactical retreat and returned through neo-colonial schemes through which they controlled and managed Africa from a distance, imposing their preferred leaders on the Continent while organizing coups against those they did not like and even assassinating others.

Against all odds however, Africa has fought and today we can proudly say we have prevailed. That we are now an economic and political power to reckon with is no longer a mere dream but a lived reality. And it is thanks to the foresight and fortitude of the likes of Comrade Sithole and his generation who served as fighters, scholars and ideologues all at the same time.

The initial purpose of this book, as said earlier, was to explain why Africans were rising against colonial leaders. Next was to explain the meaning and implications of the freedom and independence that came just as the book was being completed.

In the 21st Century and with Africa agreed to be rising, this book must be a source of reflection on how we use experiences and expectations of the past to shape Africa’s future, to ensure Africa uses its new status to cement its place indelibly as an equal member of the community of nations in this century and beyond.

This book must be used as a guide for the current and upcoming generations and as a source of knowledge on why our fathers fought so hard, what their visions were for Africa, where they may have lost their way, where and how the world failed or worked for us and how to get back on the track of Africa’s dream. This is not an optional undertaking. It is a must if Africa is to take its rightful place as the richest continent on earth in terms of resources and which can be the global leader in safeguarding the wellbeing of its people and the human race as a whole in this century and beyond.

As a Pan-Africanist who also shares the writer’s Afro optimism, I believe our job is clearly cut out for us going forward. We have to rewrite and retell Africa’s story. We will tell that story through bold actions that will speak for themselves. It is clear what actions we need to take to change the perceptions of and narratives about Africa.

We need far-reaching, continent-wide social and economic reforms to address the problems of poverty and inequality that are marching hand in hand with growth on the Continent. For independence to bear practical results for our people, we must embrace a deliberate policy of paying attention to people struggling at the bottom of the ladder and to building strong foundations for broad and inclusive socio-economic growth.

We must begin paying attention to people struggling at the bottom of the ladder and to building strong foundations for broad and inclusive growth. We need to ensure growth is reflected in the human and physical development of our citizens; gainful employment, increased wages, job security, food security, better health and education for all.

Africa’s struggle for and attainment of independence, will be more practical when we invest the proceeds of growth in social safety nets that protect the poor, the vulnerable and the middle class.

In line with the Continent’s current Vision 2063 and the trends the world over, Africa must invest in connectivity via infrastructure of roads, railways, waterways, airways and Internet as paths to greater movement of goods, services and people. These will give our citizens access to gainful employment, increased wages, job security, food security, better health and quality education for all. Easy connectivity was a grand dream of Africa’s founders. We are one people after all, who were thrown asunder by colonial powers. We must work our way back into being one people.

As a continent, we must also do more to reign in the cancers of corruption, tribalism, nepotism and patronage that are stealing life out of our people. The colonialists conquered us by pitting tribe against tribe, race against race and community against community. It would be an unexplainable curse for free Africa to continue this heathen trend.

And we will be hoping against hope if we continue to ignore the damage that corruption is doing to our struggles for better livelihoods. Africa is losing $148 billion annually because of corruption. The amount is equivalent to 25 percent of Africa’s Gross Domestic Product. Corruption is responsible for the increase in the cost of goods in Africa by 20 percent as corrupt public officials receive between $20 and $40 billion in bribes annually, which is equivalent to 20 to 40 percent of official development assistance. If this trend continues, the 21st Century will end with Africa still stuck in the 20th Century.

To re-write Africa’s story, we will also need to make enough investments in value addition so that we stop exporting raw products to the rest of the world. We cannot continue trading in what our founding fathers traded in centuries ago and expect to break even and unlink the chains of poverty that has bound us over time.

This book spells out in clear and simple terms what the vision was. It should equally be a guide on how to reclaim that dream and continue proving that colonialism was wrong, that the liberation struggle was right and worth the sacrifices and that Africa is moving forward, sad but wiser. It is a book worth keeping, with counsel worth seeking.

H.E. Raila Odinga, EGH, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya 2008-2013

High Representative for Infrastructure Development, African Union

28 APRIL 2020.

Foreword to the 1957- First Edition

- by The Hon. R. S. Garfield Todd

African nationalism has already brought a great part of the continent under the government and control of black people, but, so far, the countries concerned have been populated almost exclusively by people of one race. African nationalism now clamours for control of multiracial countries such as the Union of South Africa, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and Kenya. The approximate ratio of Europeans to Africans in these countries is: The Union, 1 to 4; the Federation, 1 to 25; Kenya, 1 to 170. In our multiracial world, the struggle between European nationalism and African nationalism is watched with deep apprehension, and with the fervent hope that the conflicting forces may yet be aligned behind a new compelling loyalty to the country instead of to the group.

Mr. Sithole’s book is especially welcome and valuable at this time because it comes from a young African who has struggled against odds which would have dismayed most men. Now, with degrees from South Africa and from the United States of America, with a sensitiveness of nature which has made him fully aware of the handicaps and indignities which his own people face in the country of their birth, he believes that it is not only desirable but necessary, if the best interests of black and white are to be served, that people of all races should learn to respect one another and work together.

There will be criticisms from all sides, but anyone who really wishes to know what a moderate, capable, and thoughtful African thinks of the racial situation in Southern Africa should read this book.

Salisbury

April 1959

Contents

Dedication

Third Edition Dedication 2021

Acknowledgements

Foreword 1. By H.E. Raila Odinga

Foreword 2. By R. S. Garfield Todd

Introduction

Part One: Autobiographical Matters

Chapter 1: Finding My Way

Chapter 2: Studying in the United States

Chapter 3: Entering Nationalist Politics

Chapter 4: More Legal Battles

Part Two: Factors of Nationalism

Chapter 5: After World War II

Chapter 6: The U.N. Factor

Chapter 7: The Pan-African Factor

Chapter 8: The African Himself

Chapter 9: The Christian Church

Chapter 10: Colonialism’s Positive Role

Chapter 11: Nationalist Methods

Part Three: The Philosophy of White Supremacy

Chapter 12: The Power Formula

Chapter 13: The White Supremacy Factor

Chapter 14: White Supremacy in Action

Chapter 15: The Majority Mind of Europeans

Chapter 16: Counter-Methods

Chapter 17: The Cracked Myth

Part Four: Nationalism’s Problem

Chapter 18: The One/Two-Party System

Chapter 19: The Desirable System

Chapter 20: West or East?

Chapter 21: African Socialism

Endnotes

Introduction

During my stay in the United States of America I was confronted by what some of my American friends said about African nationalism, which at that time was just beginning to be felt throughout the length and breadth of the continent of Africa, and which was also just beginning to make fairly sensational international headlines. The big question which everyone was asking was: Is Africa ready for sovereign independence? The majority greatly doubted that Africa was ready. Some regarded the rise of African nationalism as a bad omen for the white man in Africa. Some felt that since the white man had opened up Africa there was no reason for the African, at least at that time, to be talking of ruling himself. They felt that the African should have been silent over the question of self- rule since the white man had done, so they argued, an excellent piece of work he had opened up Africa. I was greatly agitated by such attitudes, and I felt I should explain what African nationalism really was; and so it was that in 1957 I wrote my African Nationalism which was first published in June 1959 and was later translated into six other languages.

At the time I wrote African Nationalism, which was an attempt to justify the upsurging force which was swaying the entire continent, there were only eight independent African countries. Ethiopia, which has been independent since 1040 B.C., except for a short period- 1936-1941- when the Italians occupied it, and Liberia, which has been independent since 1847, are the two oldest independent African countries. Egypt (now the United Arab Republic) became independent in 1922, while Libya became independent in 1951, and Tunisia, Sudan, and Morocco in 1956. Ghana became independent in 1957. It was during this year that I began and finished my book, which was, as I have said, a justification for African nationalism. It took me over four months to write it.

Since that date 1957 - events in Africa have moved very rapidly, far beyond what I had anticipated. The map of Africa has changed considerably. Instead of only eight independent African countries, 1966 found 38 independent African countries! It is no longer necessary to try to justify African nationalism. That has already been done. It has justified itself by its own achievements. It is no longer a force of the future as it was in 1957, when I first wrote African Nationalism. It is now a force of the immediate past. Its main headwaters which swept away colonialism and imperialism were discharged in the year 1960 when seventeen African countries became fully independent. General de Gaulle - that shrewd, sagacious politician and statesman whose thinking was grounded in realism-greatly helped in the fortunes of African nationalism when in the years 1958-1960 he offered the French colonies independence if they so decided. Since the independence peak of 1960 thirteen more African countries have become independent, and the struggle for liberating Southern Africa has started. Present events on the continent of Africa seem to point only to one thing, and that is, Africa is destined to rule herself. Whatever enclaves of foreign rule are still found in Africa, it is now a question of time before these foreign enclaves are wiped out from the face of the map of Africa, just as we predicted in 1957 that ‘the domination space’ was rapidly shrinking everywhere in Africa. Only ‘the friendship race’ is rapidly expanding. Those who still hope to dominate Africa might as well rethink their position in their own interests since the merciless wheel of history is now turning with greater velocity in the direction of a free and independent Africa. It cannot be reversed in the direction of a European-ruled Africa. History has ordained it that way. The sooner those who still dominate some parts of Africa realize this, the better for them. Events are following an irreversible course.

As a result of these irreversible events which took an accelerated pace from 1956 onward, only 30,000,000 African people are still not independent out of the present population of 260,000,000. This is to say, 88 percent of the African population is now free from foreign rule. The free countries of Africa have now a much smaller task of liberating the remaining 12 percent of the African population from the clutches of foreign rule. The free forces of Africa should now find the task of liberating Africa much easier than at any time in the history of the liberation of Africa. In terms of the soil of Africa the present facts can only mean this: that most of the land of Africa, which is the real wealth of any nation and any people, now belongs to the African nations and the African people themselves. The 11,500,000 square miles of Africa which had been stolen by foreigners have been now restored to their rightful owners. Only about 2,000,000 square miles of Africa’s land are still under absolute control of foreigners. This is to say about one-sixth of African land is still under foreign control, and it is a question of time before this ‘unfree’ land comes under African control. That which the land of Africa yields will now be used first and foremost for the benefit of the African peoples who will no longer be looking for crumbs dropping from the tables of foreign rulers.

The enormous mineral wealth which is locked up in the very bowels of Africa will now be extracted first for the benefit of the African people. Foreign interests will no longer come first but second. This is as it should be. American interests must come first in America. European interests must come first in Europe. Russian interests must come first in Russia. Chinese interests must come first in the People’s Republic of China. And this has been the genius of African nationalism that African interests now come first in Africa. The injustices of many decades have been righted not only to the good of the peoples of Africa but also the peoples of the world, since the existence of an ‘exploitation continent’ is in itself a basic cause of war among those who feel they are entitled for one reason or another to exercise fully their self-given ‘exploitation rights’. That 230,000,000 Africans are now free has a significance which it would take a separate volume to explain. At the turn of the present century the African population that will have been born between now and then will be living in freedom and independence. They will walk with their heads held up in full human dignity since Africa for the most part has now ceased to breed ‘unfree’ men and women. She now breeds free men and women who no longer have to bow to foreign rulers. People now live for themselves and not for foreign rulers. They now get educated for their own sakes. They can now develop at their own pace without having to be controlled by the temperament of foreign rulers. They are now people. They feel they are people. Men and women of other nationalities and races now regard them as full persons. They now belong to their country. They can now say ‘Our Country’. No amount of money or wealth could have given them this feeling. Only freedom and independence gives this priceless feeling. When my publishers asked me at the beginning of 1966 to revise African Nationalism, I found it difficult to alter a word here, a sentence there. So much had happened. For instance, when I first wrote the book, the chapter headed ‘The Cracking Myth’ made a great deal of sense, since, indeed, the myth was then cracking but still holding together. It had not fallen asunder. But today it is no longer a question of ‘The Cracking Myth’ but rather ‘The Cracked Myth’. When I first wrote the book my main task was, as I have said earlier, to explain the rising African nationalism, but as I revise it today that is no longer my task. My task has been to explain how African nationalism has achieved its objectives as evidenced by the emergence of thirty more fully independent African countries. To do this I have had to increase the chapters from the original thirteen to twenty-one chapters.

As I stand, as it were, on the shoulders of my 1957 African Nationalism I can see farther afield than I did then, and as I have since then actively participated in the liberation struggle, I have had to give my revised book a special treatment. There are four sections altogether. The first is Part 1 - ‘Autobiographical Matters’; then come Part 2 - ‘Factors of Nationalism’; Part 3 - ‘The Philosophy of White Supremacy’; and Part 4 - ‘Nationalism’s Problems’.

Part 1 is mostly autobiographical. This is, I felt, a necessary background to my main subject-nationalism. The autobiographical account typifies in many ways the pattern African nationalists have followed all over Africa. Part 2 is an exposition of the factors that contributed to the rise of African nationalism. Part 3 deals with the nature of white supremacy, which stood over and against the African people who sired African nationalism, which in turn was responsible for the liquidation of white supremacy.

Part 4 deals with the problems which have been raised by the fact of Africa’s sovereign independence.

Events in Africa defy any pattern. Things seem to sort