Documents: Africans and Whites in Dialogue

DOCUMENT 41b. "Christianity, Basis of Native Policy?" Article in The Workers' Herald by James S. Thaele, December 21, 1923

Ambitious men and women of the Race, in the third instalment of this "bluff" (the Johannesburg-Pretoria Conference), I shall deal with that pan of it which purports and is deliberately intended to abuse further the religion of Christ under the pretext that it is to be made the basis of native policy.

In my last article I threw down the gauntlet against our contemporary, the Bantu-Batho,   for having taken a too optimistic view, as its editorial lead, inter alia, had gone so far as to say "the door which had been banged, bolted and barred since the days of Van Riebeek"--a meaningless historical blunder, often committed by school boys in matriculation when given an "essay on flies," to improve upon their English, for I am sure any student of socio-political evolution knows that as late as Moshweshue's time, those were the treaty-making days--days indeed when the vivacity, vigour and man-power of the Zulu army had reached its zenith; hence any attempt on the part of one Van Riebeek and his congeners would have been all "tommy rot". It is therefore equally important, if not more, that in this issue of this widely read periodical, that I trace some discrepancies from their origin, especially as they touch upon Christianity, a doctrine good in all its essentials, yet the direct course and immediate one, when it comes down to accounting for the seemingly religious apostasy among the aboriginal races of the Dark Continent, their loss of confidence in the white man (thank God), their ready acceptance of Pan Islamic religion; and I may point out as far as it lies in me, the individuals who have condescended to stoop so low as to be used as mere tools by the other fellow in order to exploit the African Race.

Taking them in their order of magnitude, "the good boys" who subscribed to the whiteman's usual hypocrisy that "Christianity be made the basis of Native policy" are none other than men of our own race, men, indeed, above the mediocre, luminaries of the indigent African race--graduates somebody, whose knowledge, if not acquaintance, with the academic world would in the least, if you please, allow perspective. But behold the contradiction in terms!

Let me state my syllogism as the basis for our deductive reasoning so as to be within bounds. The Dutch Reformed Church and Union Government is one and the same ring. It is solidly and compactly a church and a government of, by, and for the Boers, dominated  diagonally and diametrically by "boorish" principles and ideals.

It is this church which, in the Grondwet of the Republics of Transvaal and Free State not long ago, stated that there was to be no equality in church or state between the Blacks and whites. And recently, if you choose, the Dutch Reformed Church of the Cape has introduced segregation into church matters. This then, is the body that has taken the initiative in this hypocrisy. It is not a bit to be wondered at that it is supported and is working in conjunction with the then government--the capitalistic machine whose capitalistic bugaboo and inconsistencies and wanton systematic butchery of helpless women and children by machine guns have baffled the human under­standing! "Thy vengeance, oh God, is too slow!" We are fed-up with the white man's camouflage, his hypocrisy, his policy of pin­pricks in "the land of our forefathers." I am appealing to the racial consciousness of the radical aboriginal to use all the means to rouse the African race to wake from their long sleep of many decades. The voice of posterity is calling upon us men to play our part, and play it nobly. Law and authority must be respected, even as we did before the aliens came here; but when those in authority become so unreasonably notorious at your expense, disregard that authority, be blind and "damn the consequences."

It is a fact that our present Prime Minister, now at the head of the Union Government, made a speech devoid of all common sense and unbecoming of any Christian, at the Savoy Hotel, when he said that "the early Christians made a mistake in putting into practice the principles of brotherhood."

In the light of these foregoing statements, how in the name of God and all that is holy can "Christianity be made the basis of Native policy" by the South African white man who has countenanced it already as "impracticable for statesmanship," a "counsel of perfection?" What is the good of any hypocrite or a group of hypocrites telling us to "do as I tell you but don't do as I do." The peace-making psychology of the white man is rapidly becoming a farce, particularly here in the Union of South Africa. Is it a wonder that the League of Nations should condemn the policy of the Union Government as being one-sided and operating in the interests of the whites only?

Our white brothers have got to translate their actions into realms of practicalities and learn to practice what they preach. Hitherto, their evils have hit the thermometer of our auditory nerves many degrees beyond their normal registry that it is almost a physical impossibility to hear what they say. It is indeed amazing to see that delegates accept in good faith and with genuine integrity a quasi hypocritical policy that emanates from such a source as the Dutch Reformed Church--a source that has made itself notorious without that source, making a public confession of its notoriety.

Equally amazing and puzzling is the fact that our delegates accept in bona fide the mixing up of Christianity with politics without General Smuts retracting his infamous speech on the eve of his banquet at the Savoy Hotel in England. Can you beat it?

Poor Blacks accept this, of course, apologetically. One of the delegates is reported to have said he never "mixed up politics with religion." He has got to be told that politics rule the world, not religion, don't fool yourself. That is why the wily Union Government has it down that civil servants must not engage in politics.

The Blacks have got to be told by students of theological thought that in the cosmog­onies of Moses, or of Biblical history, we find the Prophet Isaiah breathing politics. The fundamental maxims of his statesmanship come first into the limelight in the crisis of the   Syro-Epraimitic  invasion;  in  that memorable interview with Ahaz (recorded, Isaiah, chapter 7) is nothing but politics sane and sound.

Space will not allow me to enter into Biblical exegisis of this matter as I would like to do. It is a disgraceful public confession of the worst kind I have ever heard or read of. Politics is the science and art of government, the study of the state, its life and its conduct. Whether looked on as a field of study or as a field of practical endeavour, politics is a noble sphere of manly thought, energy and enterprise.
Education in politics is not chiefly a question of knowledge; it is a question of character.

Sidney Smith has well said "the only foundation of political liberty is the spirit of the people."

President Hadley one day said: "Better the worst form of government with character and righteousness in the rulers and the ruled, than the best form of government with rulers and ruled indifferent to moral principles."

Because of the close and vital relation of politics to ethics, one would naturally see the feasibility of Mr. De Tocqueville's saying that "politics is the end and aim of American education." What America, "home of the brave and land of the free," wishes to put into the life of the nation she must first put into her schools.

The idea of some wily autocratic govern­ment prohibiting the civil servants from engaging in politics, think of it!

Do you blame student-graduates from such centres for being so narrow-minded on the present day issues that affect our life?

It is the law of economics as well as that of psychology that "the beneficiary of a system will not antagonise it," and "power over man's subsistence is power over his will."

The programme of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union of the African race is well defined, this the radicals must realise through and through. In it we have a weapon that can paralyse "the whole industry," as the able champion. Dr. Abdurahman, has put it, "within twenty-four hours."

The calling of this Johannesburg-Pretoria Conference is prompted, not by Christian attitude on the part of the white men; it is because of the awakened attitude on our part, as the African Race, from our long sleep of decades. We, of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union would recommend the "radicals" of the race that roads must converge at East London for the annual Conference next month.

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