Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
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Alex lo C;l~lrziz k Po1itic.c. nnil Aesthetics<br />
Gurna was 'I~sted under the Suppress~on of Commun~s~n Act as a known commutlist'<br />
(Abrahams 1985.7)<br />
La Guma contrnued be~ng ~nvolved In pol~t~cs, however, even after the<br />
banning of the Party, partic~patlng Inore in local and iiatronalist ca~npaigns rather than<br />
work~ng class act~vlties.When a Coloured People's Convention was called in 1953 and<br />
the South African Coloured People's Organisation wac fonned, La Guma was one of<br />
the founder members. The South African Coloured People's Organisation (SACPO), a<br />
national coloured organisation, was formed to mobilise andunite all Coloureds to resist<br />
the Separate Representat~on of Voters Bill of 1951, which was aimed at removing the<br />
Coloureds from the coinmoll voters roll, and to align itself with the ANC's campaign<br />
against apartheid and for equal rights for all South Africans (see Lewis 1987:269). La<br />
Gutna became a member ofthe executive of SACPO in 1954 while he was still working<br />
at Caltex, but, after some time, he resigned from this company to become a full-time<br />
organiser for SACPO. In November the same year, La Gulna married Blanche Herman,<br />
who was to share his political and cultural activities. In 1955 La Guma became<br />
chairman of SACPO and was instnunental in organising SACPO for the historical<br />
Congress of the People held in Kliptown in June 1955. While La Gurna and several<br />
other SACPO delegates were on their way to Kliptown, they were arrested in Beaufort<br />
West and released without being charged only after the conference had ended. SACPO<br />
members, nevertheless, vowed to carry the Freedom Charter to every comer of the land<br />
in their capacity as members of the congress Alliance, which adopted the Charter in<br />
1955. After its 1959 December conference the South African Coloured People's<br />
Organisation changed its name to the South African Coloured People's Congress (or<br />
CPC) to fall in line with the Congress Movement under the auspices of the African<br />
National Congress.<br />
journalism, detention and exile<br />
The period from 1955 to 1962 was a significant phase in both La Guma's political<br />
career and his writing career. Firstly, in 1955 La Gurna was asked to join the staff ofNew<br />
Age, a newspaper that served as the mouthpiece for the ANC and the SACP, at its<br />
headquarters in Cape Town". It was afterjoining the staff of this progressive newspaper<br />
that La Guma 'really started to write seriously' (La Gurna 1991: 19). Secondly, as<br />
chairman of the South African Coloured People's Organisation, La Guma played a<br />
leading role in challenging the govemrnent's 1955 Race Classification Bill and the<br />
South Afrlcan Act Amendment Bill which effectively removed Coloureds from the<br />
colnluon voters roll. He was also in the forefront in the struggle against the decision of<br />
"<br />
Injoinii~g Lliis pi-ogressive ncwspapcr as a I-epor-ter, Ida Gums was oncc again lhlloiving the<br />
path ofiiis I'aiiicr-wllo, iir tllc 1930s. was an cditor ofllbel-otoi.. a monthlyjo~~rnal of tlieNatioria1<br />
I,ihcraiiori I,eague in \vliicii Alex la G~inia liirnsclfassisted as a,juvcirile ar-list.<br />
140<br />
lrultrrli ~Mkhizc~<br />
Cape 'lhwn City Council in April and May 1956 when the municipality decided to<br />
ate buses (sce Abralialns 1985:8). In December 1956 La Ciu~na and other leaders<br />
i'de were arrested and charged wit11 treason. Since the history of the I956<br />
rial is well documented, it suffices to point out here that the central argument<br />
te against the aectised revolved around suspicions of the existence of a<br />
spiracy to overthrow the existing government by force as well as the allegation that<br />
the Freedom Charter was a comtnunist inspired document, and that the trial dragged on<br />
until 1961 when, as aresult of insufficient evidence, the accused were acquitted.<br />
As one of the accused in the Treason Trial, La Guina wrote extensive reports<br />
for New Age. On May 2, 1957 La Gurna was assigned a regular colurnn entitled 'Up my<br />
Iley' by New Age (see Abrahams 1985: 12). It was La Gurna's work with New Age,<br />
cifically his new column, through which he established hiinself as a chronicler of<br />
ration, that paved the way for his literary career. As Andre Odendaal and Roger<br />
ndicate in a recently published collection of I,a Guma's articles and reports,<br />
of the themes in his short stories and novels are first encountered and developed<br />
early newspaper articles' (La Gurna 1993:xviii). It was largely as a result of his<br />
itical work and perllaps partly because of his biting jou~nalisln that people who<br />
led themselves 'the Patriots' made an attempt on his life on May 15, 1958.<br />
cording to Blanche La Guma's account of the incident:<br />
When the matter was reported. the police showed no interest. Only when he<br />
received an unsigned note reading 'Sorry we missed you, will call<br />
again-'The Patriots'-did they come to the house to inspect the Ilole<br />
made by the bullet into the wall. That was two days after the event (La<br />
Guma 199 1 : 10).<br />
mediately after the Sharpeville incident of March 1960 the South African<br />
ernment declared a State of Emergency and arrested many political activists all over<br />
country. La Guma was one of those detained and he spent five months firstly in<br />
eland Street prison and then at a special prison in Worcester in the Cape before he<br />
In the multi-racial, multi-national community of political detainees lay the<br />
guarantee of a future. free South Africa ... we have come out of the jails<br />
stronger. inore determined than before (LaGuina 1993: 1470.<br />
11 1961 whenNelsoi~ Mandela, the then leader of the African National Congress, called<br />
national general strike in protest against South Africa becoming a white republic, La<br />
a went underground and helped organise the Coloured people in Cape Town to<br />
around Mandela's call. He was detained for ten days for his involve~nent in the<br />
campaign. Following his release in June 196 1, in August the government imposed a<br />
five year banning order on La Gurna under the Suppression of Communism Act. In<br />
1962 La Gurna was, accorditig to his wife, 'the first person to be placed under twentyfour<br />
hour house arrest' (La Gu~na 199 1: 13). This restriction order prohibited him froin<br />
attending public gatherings and effectively forced him to resign from New Age. In