Who is john dube

The Ohlange Institute itself was finally established by Dube in The Institute stressed education in practical knowledge, preparing its students in areas of skilled labor, although the school branched out into the humanities and sciences as enrollment grew in subsequent years. Ohlange was the first of its kind, a university founded by indigenous Africans for indigenous Africans, and bordered on controversy and government conflict, as the apartheid was quite wary of educated blacks.

The effects of the Ohlange Institute would have a lasting impact on South African intellectual history; for figures such as H. While serving his term, Dube was a staunch opponent of the Native Land Act which barred Africans from owning, buying, and using land and led a delegation to the United Kingdom to protest its enactment. In , Dube wrote of the Native Land Act:.

It would break your hearts did you but know, as I know, the cruel and undeserved afflictions wrought by the hateful enactment on numberless aged, poor and tender children of my race in this their native land. From the ashes of their burnt out kraals, kicked away like dogs by Christian people from their humble hearths, from the dear old scenes where their fathers were born and grew up in simple peace, bearing malice to none, and envying neither European nor Indian the wealth and plenty they amass themselves from this their land, these unfortunate outcasts pass homeless, unwanted, silently suffering, along the highways and byways of the land, seeking in vain the most unprofitable waste whereon to build their hovel and rest and live, victims of an unknown civilisation that has all too suddenly overwhelmed and overtaken them In , Dube was forced to retire from his position as President of the ANC, though he would remain an active member of the Natal Congress until his death in In many ways, Dube was a man of conflicting character, from his disrespect of Native culture and simultaneous embrace of the Zulu language and African equality, to his firm anti-communist stance and his extension of an invitation to Communist Party member Edward Roux to instruct at Ohlange.

Critics also cite his Christian ideals as being contradictory to his progressive politics. Yet Dube's legacy is too great to be tarnished by such minor flaws, as his revolutionary work in politics and especially education continue to effect South Africans long after his death.

Forging his accomplishments out of a mix of Zulu tradition, Western modernity, and American political sensibility, the Reverend Dr. Dube forged an alliance with the segregationist, Heaton Nicholls, and he toured the country soliciting the support of African leaders in Johannesburg, Kimberly, Bloemfontein and the Eastern Cape for a bill on Land Settlement promoted by Nicholls.

This provided for the allocation of seven million morgen of land, to be added to the already scheduled areas, and the provision of adequate funds. The problem was that, like Hertzog's proposals, Heaton Nicholls coupled his land schemes with an attempt to end the franchise of the Cape Africans.

This scheme also envisaged the representation of Africans in the senate but this never materialised. However, this did not discredit Dube. In he was elected to the Executive of the All African Convention. At a meeting of the Natal Debating Society in he launched a sharp attack on the government's policies, which Jabavu printed as a pamphlet: Criticisms of the Native Bills. In it Dube expounded his nationalism and his rejection of African inequality and his belief in the principle of African representation.

He still remained active particularly in the in s after Albert Xuma persuaded him to participate in the movement nationally, but with limited success. Dube was successful in his endeavours in contributing to the political and socio-economic development of Blacks in Natal.

He fought against the injustices against Black people and tried to gain a sense of equity through his lifetime. On 11 February , Dube passed away. Vil-Nkomo summed up his life when he wrote in Umteleli wa Bantu on February 26 that Dube: " has revealed to the world at large that it is not quite true to say that the African is incompetent as far as achievement is concerned ".

In time, this became 'Mafukuzela Week', with figures such as the Zulu king in attendance. Welsh,D, Gasa, E. D, , John L. Available at Available at [Accessed 22 November ] Switzer, Les ed.

Makhanda, L, The concerns of the NNC centred around the following issues: Unobstructed land ownership Education Parliamentary representation Free trade Freedom from enforced labour The Congress became the main political organ of the Black people throughout the period that Natal remained a separate colony. Ilanga Lase Natal focussed on issues pertaining to: Land controversies including taxes and land ownership ; Laws and acts, such as the poll tax; Reports such as those of the South African Native Affairs Commission; Political and social developments.

Publications by John L Dube Dube first published an essay in , in English on self-improvement and public decency. The work that was to earn Dube the honorary doctorate of philosophy was the essay Umuntu Isita Sake Uqobo Lwake A man is his own worst enemy He went on to publish a historical novel that has proven to be popular and influential in the Zulu canon, titled Insila kaShaka Shaka's Body Servant Insila ka Tshaka was translated into English as Jeqe, the Bodyservant of King Tshaka Dube also embarked on writing biographies of the Zulu royal family, especially that of King Dinizulu, making him the first biographer in African literature.

There are numerous other works of less significant literary quality such as the essay Ukuziphatha [On Behaviour] Further reading list. Challenges of Leadership in the Current Phase, 1 July John Langalibalele Dube. Liberation Struggle in South Africa. Land: dispossession, resistance and restitution. He was a bitter opponent of the Land Act. He spoke and wrote on this subject.

In an article in he wrote: "It is only a man with a heart of stone who could hear and see what I hear and see and remain callous and unmoved. It would break your hearts did you but know, as I know, the cruel and undeserved afflictions wrought by the hateful enactment on numberless aged, poor and tender children of my race in this their native land. From the ashes of their burnt out kraals, kicked away like dogs by Christian people from their humble hearths, from the dear old scenes where their fathers were born and grew up in simple peace, bearing malice to none, and envying neither European nor Indian the wealth and plenty they amass themselves from this their land, these unfortunate outcasts pass homeless, unwanted, silently suffering, along the highways and byways of the land, seeking in vain the most unprofitable waste whereon to build their hovel and rest and live, victims of an unknown civilisation that has all too suddenly overwhelmed and overtaken them The 19i3 Land Act was so hydra-headed that it affected every stratum of African rural society.

This delegation caused some controversy within the ANC. It was fed Dube had made some compromises on the principle of segregation. Dube was ousted from the presidency of the ANC. From this time onwards Dube concentrated his activities in Natal but in the 's Xuma influenced him to participate in the movement nationally with some success. In the s, like some of his generation and the stratum of mission-educated Africans? In he was one of the South African delegates to the international conference at Le Zoute in Belgium, a visit he combined with fresh fund-raising for Ohlange.

He represented Natal on the Native Representative Council from until his death, in , when he was replaced by Chief Albert Lutuli on the Council. One of Dube's controversial actions was in He openly flirted with Hertzog's bills in the hope that they would at least Provide some extra additional funds for development. It should be remembered that Dube was ousted from the presidency of the ANC in for his apparent acceptance of the principle - if not the contemporary practice - of segregation.

Dube forged an alliance with the segregationist, Heaton Nicholls, and he toured the country soliciting the support of African leaders in Johannesburg, Kimberly, Bloemfontein and the Eastern Cape for a bill on Land Settlement promoted by Nicholls. This provided for the allocation of seven million morgen of land, to be added to the already scheduled areas, and the provision of adequate funds. The problem was that, like Hertzog's proposals, Heaton Nicholls coupled his land schemes with an attempt to end the franchise of the Cape Africans.

This scheme also envisaged the representation of Africans in-the senate. But this never materialised. But all this did not discredit Dube. In he was elected to the Executive of the All African Convention. He became disenchanted with the government schemes at a meeting of the Natal Debating Society in he made a sharp attack on the government's policies, which Jabavu printed as a pamphlet: "Criticisms of the Native Bills".

In it Dube expounded his nationalism and his rejection of African inequality and his belief in the principle of African representation.

Dube and Champion John Dube's political history is a complex and contradictory picture - a reflection of the social contradictions in Natal and in South Africa - which were affecting the Africans most acutely. It was, in a sense, also an expression of a need for survival. Long before the advent of Whites in Natal "traditional authority" and "custom" was breaking down through Shaka's wars and the consequent upheavals and repercussions. No wonder that the missionaries had it relatively easy to evangelise the Africans and the Africans responded by forming the Ethiopian movement.

The Whites were hostile to Ethiopianism which to them was tantamount to a swear-word. Dube's elite straddles two eras: he witnessed the dramatic changes in African life consequent upon industrialisation. He saw the destruction of African independence and conversion of his people from independent freedom fighters and warriors into "house-boys" and "garden-boys", of independent peasants into dispossessed rural and urban wage workers.

He recognised the creation of an urban proletariat and tried to articulate some of its grievances but he could not provide the leadership this new class needed, nor could he empathise with its aspirations. Dube appealed to the British sense of fairness, pleading for the education of the people of a land that had once been the sole property of the Zulus. Now he needed help for Ohlange School at which the people of Natal, who were part of this empire, were educated.

Dube then began to take part in a number of political meetings. He attended the gathering in Bloemfontein at which African leaders discussed the South Africa Bill of Three years later he founded the Natal Native Congress.

His writing for the paper established his political reputation and in he was invited to become the first president of the South African Native National Congress. Over the years he was involved in a number of attempts at improving conditions for Africans and fostering better relations between the different races in South Africa. He received acclaim for his work in education and in he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of South Africa.

A year later Dube was elected to the first Natives Representative Council, an advisory body to the government. In these later years, then a widower, he married Angelina Khumalo of Pretoria and they had three sons and three daughters. He died in Durban on 11 February