MAKGATHO, SEFAKO MAKGATHO

Mapogo Sefako Makgatho (1861-1951) was one of the most articulate leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) and a dynamic advocate and defender of African political rights in South Africa.

PHOTO CAPTION: Mapogo Sefako Makgatho. SOURCE: sahistory.org

He was born at Mpahlele in the Pietersburg district of Northern Transvaal. His early school training began at the Kilnerton Training Institute, where he was among its first students after its establishment in Pretoria by the Methodist Church. Through the help of sponsors, he was sent to Britain in 1882, to continue his studies in education and religion at Ealing in Middlesex. Upon his return to South Africa, he joined the Kilnerton Institute, where he taught from 1887 to 1906. He later married Matjatje Priscilla Kekane.

Makgatho’s activities in African politics began with the founding of the African Native Political Union in 1906, which merged with the new South African Native National Congress to become the Transvaal Native Congress. He also founded the Transvaal African Teachers’ Association, and (in 1908) the Mpahlele Non-denominational School, and acted as local preacher and leader of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He was also editor of the Advocate. From 1906 to the mid-1940s, Makgatho was the undisputed leader of the Transvaal African National Congress and its most articulate advocate of African political rights.

During the 1912 conference of the South African Native National Congress, Makgatho represented the Transvaal Native Congress as its president. He was subsequently elected to the first executive of the new National Congress and represented it on many delegations throughout South Africa. In August 1913, along with Saul Msane, J.M. Nyokong, Sol Plaatje, Enoch Mamba, Chief Kekane, and the Rev. Twala, Makgatho interviewed the then minister of native affairs, Dr. F.S. Malan, on the question of hardships created by the Native Land Act of 1913.

In 1917 Makgatho was elected president-general of the African National Congress in the wake of a dispute that implicated the leadership of Dube and Selope Thema in their acceptance of the territorial segregation imposed by the South African government. In his term as president, the struggle for justice and political rights made great strides. Public demonstrations, mass campaigns, and legal action were successfully applied to gain African political rights.

Several notable court victories were gained, among these the prevention of the increase of the Transvaal poll tax, the right of the Africans to walk on street sidewalks in Pretoria, the extension of passes to women, and the improvement of train facilities for Africans. The first constitution of the African National Congress was also redrafted and adopted in 1919, during Makgatho’s term of office. In the same year, trading rights for Indians in the Pretoria market area were successfully negotiated by Makgatho.

When he died in Pretoria in 1951, the African National Congress had grown from infancy to maturity and international acceptance. Makgatho’s contribution to this development was demonstrated by more than half a century of dedicated and outstanding service in the struggle for African liberation in South Africa.

STEPHEN SHISIZWE HLOPHE