PIONEER
Rev John Langalibabele Dube
Journalist | Religious leader | Community activist
Born: 1871 Died: 1946
“My main desire is to bring about such a relationship between Europeans and Natives of Natal as to ensure the peace of the country and the progress and welfare of both races ... in bringing forward these bills which you honestly believe will benefit the Natives, you are really calling into existence measures which, I think, will cause discontent and probably further trouble with a section of the Native population … Ungangifulateli ‘Pambana noMkandlu.’ Yini inceku yako etobekileyo (Don’t turn your back on me. I don’t want to be at odds with the government. Your humble servant.)”
Who is
Rev John Langalibabele Dube?
Leading political thinker and African rights’ activist in the early 20th century.
Professions
and Roles
Spiritual leader, journalist, editor of Ilanga Lase Natal, educationalist, and outspoken political activist.
Best Known For
Being the first President of the South African Native National Congress.
Life highlights
- Dube schooled at Oberlin College in Ohio, United States, and later went to university to study theology in Brooklyn, New York.
- In 1900, Dube set up the Natal Natives Congress which advocated for black parliamentary representation, free land ownership laws, improved education for black children and the end of enforced labour in Natal.
- Dube raised funds for the legal defence of the participants in the Bambatha Rebellion, who were arrested for protesting new poll taxes and land dispossession.
- Dube also travelled to London in 1909 as part of a deputation of black and coloured leaders who were protesting the imminent formation of Union between the British and Boer forces. He went to London again in 1914 to protest the 1913 Natives Land Act.
- In 1912, Dube was elected the first President of the South African National Natives’ Congress, what would later become the African National Congress (ANC).
- Dube started a school called Ohlange Institute with his first wife, Nokutela Dube. It was modelled on Booker T Washington’s Tuskegee University in the United States. It is still operational today.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“My main desire is to bring about such a relationship between Europeans and Natives of Natal as to ensure the peace of the country and the progress and welfare of both races … in bringing forward these bills which you honestly believe will benefit the Natives, you are really calling into existence measures which, I think, will cause discontent and probably further trouble with a section of the Native population … Ungangifulateli ‘Pambana noMkandlu.’ Yini inceku yako etobekileyo (Don’t turn your back on me. I don’t want to be at odds with the government. Your humble servant.)”
– John Dube
IN THE WORDS OF OTHERS
“John Dube fought all his life for the unity and liberation of all Africans.”
-The Presidency
“Dube’s pre-eminence as a leader came from his ability to speak to (or, more importantly, for) so many different constituents – chiefs, commoners, workers, the educated but squeezed and struggling middle classes … he was animated by a powerful vision of redemption and representation …”
-Heather Hughes, biographer, 2011
