The Land is Ours: Black Lawyers and the Birth of Constitutionalism in South Africa

by Tembeka Ngcukaitobi

The second goal was acceptance of the religion of the West – monotheism, as embodied in Christianity and its value system – by the local African population. These goals were all-encompassing, making it impossible to be both Christian and traditional. Nor could one be educated and traditional. Acceptance of colonial education and Christianity implied the negation of African values, beliefs and ways of life. Although the conversion of blacks into labourers had begun in the Cape Colony, it was in the Transvaal that capitalism as a system began.40

49 Though conditions in the notorious concentration camps for Boers were bad, it is clear that the situation was far worse in camps that held blacks. The total losses in the Boer camps amounted to some 26 000 women and children, while the camps for blacks held large numbers of men. By the end of the war, 21 000 black men, women and children had perished in camps established by the British. In addition to this number, the Boers conscripted, without pay, some 10 000 black men to assist their commandos in the war. For their part, the British employed about 100 000 blacks, with only 10 000 being issued with firearms. The actual number of blacks who died in battle was never recorded.50

Can the masses of the negro people be in any possible way more quickly raised than by the effort and example of the aristocracy of talent and character? Was there ever a nation on God’s fair earth civilised from the bottom upward? Never; it is, ever was and ever will be from the top downward that culture filters. The talented tenth rises and pulls all that are worth the saving up to their vantage ground. This is the history of human progress; and the true historical mistakes which have hindered that progress were the thinking first that no more could ever rise save the few already risen; or second, that it would be better the unreason to pull the reason down.

The legal is political

The land of the Africans had been taken by force. But the law, if justly applied, could create the conditions necessary for coexistence and a shared prosperity among the races. His vision of a non-racial society, based on equality and the rule of law, is now commonly accepted. But this was not always the case. Colonial military aggression, exploitation of black labour and European imperialism shaped his era. But for Mangena, injustice could only be fought with justice; illegality with legality; and colonialism with constitutionalism.

The regeneration of Africa means that a new and unique civilization is soon to be added to the world. The African is not a proletarian in the world of science and art. He has precious creations of his own, of ivory, of copper and of gold, fine, plaited willow-ware, and weapons of superior workmanship. Civilization resembles an organic being in its development – it is born, it perishes, and it can propagate itself. More particularly it resembles a plant, it takes root in the teeming earth, and when the seeds fall in other soils, new varieties sprout up. The most thoroughly spiritual and humanistic – indeed a regeneration moral and eternal.

We reject the power-based society of the Westerner that seems to be ever concerned with perfecting their technological know-how while losing out on their spiritual dimension. We believe that in the long run the special contribution to the world by Africa will be in this field of human relationships. The great powers of the world have done wonders in giving the world an industrial and military look, but the great gift still has to come from Africa – giving the world a more human face.