Clements Kadalie

Date: 28 November, 1951

Lameck Koniwaka Kadali Muwamba, known by his adopted name, Clements Kadalie, was born in April 1896, near the Bandawe mission station in Nyasaland, now Malawi. After being educated at the Church of Scotland mission station, he was trained as a teacher. In 1915, he went to South African in search of work. Three years later, he had settled in Cape Town and had befriended Arthur F. Batty, who was a political activist and trade unionist. It was through Batty's encouragement that Kadalie established the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) in 1919. The purpose of this union was to protect the rights of workers, particularly those of black workers. In the same year, Kadalie led a dockworker's strike, in which all goods were prevented from being exported at Cape Town's harbor. The ICU went from strength to strength, and by 1927, it had around 100,000 members. Kadalie began to welcome cooperation with other organizations, such as the Communist Party of South Africa (now SACP). However, after their criticism of the ICU in 1927, communists were banned from the union.

Due to his activities, Kadalie was classified "prohibited immigrant" and was deported from South Africa in 1924. By 1928, the ICU was marked by internal strife, and in 1928, Kadalie was forced to resign. He then established his own branch of the ICU in East London and became a provincial African National Congress (ANC) Organiser. Kadalie's attempts to relaunch his trade unionist campaign nationally during the 1930s and 40s failed. On 28 November 1951, he passed away in East London.

Kadalie is credited with having uniting black wage earners in South Africa into an unparalleled force.

References

• Biography: Clements Kadalie [online] Available at: answers.com [Accessed 24 November 2009]
• Clements Kadalie [online] Available at: en.wikipedia.org [Accessed 24 November 2009]
• Kruger, D.W. (ed)(1972). South African Biography, Cape Town: Human Sciences Research Council, v. 4, p. 268.