ZACHARIAH KEODIRELANG MATTHEWS

Zachariah Keodirelang Matthews 

by

Jordan Ngubane

Some men change the course of history by deign, others are destined to influence it. To the latter class belongs quietly-spoken and handsome Professor Z.K. Matthews, head of the department of African Studies at the Fort Hare University College who recently completed a lectureship tour of the United States .

Born in the Barkley West district of the Cape Province on October 20, 1901, Zachariah Keodirelang Matthews has spent his fifty-one years quietly bringing up to nationhood a whole community—both in the classroom and on the political front. If we men wield as great an influence on the life of the Union 's eight million Africans it is because Professor Matthews has and for no personal gain whatsoever, used his truly remarkable talents for the good of his own people and of his countrymen of all races.

He comes of Bamangwato stock—Seretse Khama's people. His family went into voluntary exile early in the nineteenth century as a result of the periodic dynastic quarrels which are so marked a feature of Bamangwato national life. The family attached itself to the Barolong tribe and settled down in Kimberley where young Zachariah had his early schooling.

From there he went to Lovedale and thence to Fort Hare where he obtained his Arts degree in 1923. At the time a few white people in high places still clung to one or two silly notions about the educability of the African. One was that the African student did not have the capacity to absorb a high school education. A growing number argued that given the opportunity the African would acquit himself as creditably as anybody else. One of the latter was an American missionary—Mr. A.E. Leroy, then Principal of Amanzimtoti Institute, which later became Adams College .

When at last the Natal Education Department allowed Mr. Leroy to prove that the African student could cross the pons asinorum like everybody else, he selected young Matthews to do the job. The results opened everybody's eyes. In due course, Mr. Matthews was appointed headmaster of the high school—the first African to hold this post in Natal .

The innovation was received with mixed feelings on both sides of the colour line. This shook neither Mr. Leroy nor Mr. Matthews. The pupils mastered their algebra, geometry and trigonometry and before many years were over Amanzimtoti High School was mentioned with respect on either side of the colour line. It has been respected ever since. What is more, the success of the Adams experiment emboldened the Natal Education Department to introduce the high school curriculum in the day schools as well.

But for Mr. Matthews, his success at Adams merely opened up wider horizons of service to his people. With this in mind, he accepted a scholarship which took him to London and Yale. A short while after his return, he accepted an appointment on the staff of the department of African Studies at Fort Hare under the renowned Professor D.D.T. Jabavu. Here again he applied himself with the same tenacity of purpose, industry and loyalty which had always been his most outstanding qualities. When Professor Jabavu retired on superannuation, Mr. Matthews was invited to take over the chair of African Studies. This was in every sense a deserved recognition of distinguished scholarship.

Although Professor Matthews has both his hands full administering the department of African Studies at Fort Hare, he has at all times taken an active and unflagging interest in the political and social life of his people.

While at Adams he played an active role in the affairs of the teachers' association and for many years held responsible positions in it. When the spirit of national solidarity made itself felt, he worked as hard as anybody else to bring into being the African Teachers' Federation linking up the associations of the four provinces.

But, apparently, this did not absorb all his energies for he still found the time to do important research work on African tribes in Bechuanaland, write scientific papers, serve on the Royal Commission on African Education which toured the greater part of Africa during the 30s and, on top of it all, still remain a familiar and respected figure at the political gatherings of his people.

An interesting incident took place at a political gathering while he was at Adams . As headmaster of the high school and, of course, an outstanding scholar, the Zulus in Natal held him in high esteem. One afternoon he attended the conference of the African National Congress then in session in Durban . He tip-toed into a seat and made himself comfortable among the ordinary people at the rear of the hall.

The presence of a university graduate in a political meeting caused quite a stir. It was the fashion at the time for university men and teachers generally to keep aloof from the political struggle of their people. The older Congress leaders saw in his entry an omen of unqualified evil. A man of his stature coming into their conference, they felt, could very easily play the role of a bull in a glass shop! The President-general of Congress took precautions promptly. He tip-toed quickly down the dais during the interval and made his way to the side of the young headmaster.

“Tel me, Mr. Matthews,” he gasped not too discreetly between pangs of thinly disguised anxiety, “which position do you want in the executive? We shall soon be having elections.”

“None,” replied Mr. Matthews characteristically. “I came only to witness for Africa 's freedom.” The elderly gentleman beamed with unconcealed relief.

I mention this incident because it brings out one of his most outstanding qualities in the political field—the desire to serve, not for vain, but for the good of his people, his country and, one might add, for the betterment of mankind.

He has the mind, the stature, the power, the self-confidence and the capacity to become the President-General of Congress—a position of tremendous power, influence and importance in this country at the moment. But he has been satisfied with serving in humbler capacities for purposes of giving strength to Congress. Perhaps he was not yet too sure of himself and his political standing during the Adams days, it might be said. Another incident, more recent, shows up his selfless devotion to the ideal of service.

It was election year and the Congress Youth League had made up its mind that Dr. A.B. Xuma, then President-General of Congress, should go. Very many Youth Leaguers did not like Professor Matthews as an alternative. But they respected his views and judgment. All this he knew very well because for very many years there had been a very active branch of the League at Fort Hare . And even if he new he was not popular, it is pretty certain that it would not have affected his attitude to the League one way or the other. When he was formally approached with the request to stand he declined politely on the score that he wanted to stabilize affairs in the Cape Province first, over which he was president, before he accepted national responsibilities.

Some Congressmen outside the League attributed this to his fear of Dr. Xuma. But they were badly in the wrong. No political leader inside Congress barring Mr. A.J. Luthuli, is more sure of his grip on the minds of all sections of Congress than Professor Matthews never throws his weight about and very rarely speaks. Nor does he ever lose his temper nor resort to theatricalisms on the platform. But when Professor Matthews speaks, all the wings of Congress listen—and so does South Africa too—both black and white, for that matter.

Nor could he have been scared of the League. Its rapid growth ignited a series of violent political explosions in all the provinces where the Congress conservatives were firmly established, barring the Cape where Professor Matthews was at the head. Although he had under him some of the stormiest Youth Leaguers, there never were fireworks in his Congress. Congress older leaders blundered to his right and left and fell down equally rapidly to his left and right under the League's political axe, but Professor Matthews sailed through it all without even as much as an angry word! He was not and could not have been afraid of the League. His point was as simple as he put it—Congress needed to be strong in the provinces before the central body could become a power to reckon with. He went down to the Cape and set himself to work, putting his own house in order.

Anybody placed by history in the position of guardian or tutor to a young and rapidly growing community of 10,000,000 souls requires plenty of foresight—and something more. That “something more Professor Matthews has in the precious heritage bestowed on the world by the universities. He has that sense of honour, that depth of human understanding; that breadth of knowledge and that tolerant understanding of Man's infirmities which alone are the firmest foundation for a true love of one's fellowmen.

When the Congress Youth League was formed, towards the end of World War II, the older Congress leaders saw in it the beginning of the end of their political lives. They made every effort to crush the League. Others, equally apprehensive, went to the opposite extreme of embracing it blindly in the hope that they would use it for their own purposes inside Congress. Professor Matthews took up a characteristic attitude and warned that the League's emergence was a well-known historical phenomenon which deserved to be received sympathetically, rather than smothered up or dictated to.

The Old Guard in Congress was full of decision. “Professor Matthews has stayed so long with the young people at Fort Hare ,” they said, “that he has lost the capacity to see things from anything but the standpoint of the young people.”

A man who sets himself the task of bringing up a nation is bound to be misunderstood and Professor Matthews has known moments when his people misunderstood him. Perhaps at no stage in his life was this so sharply done during the last ten years of the now defunct Natives Representative Council. Throughout that period he remained the target for concentrated fire from all sides. From one extreme the All African Convention proclaimed its appreciation of the man's role in influencing national thinking by pouring forth an incalculable volume of logic and venom in efforts to persuade him to resign from NRC.

For the opposite extreme came General Smuts and some of his white liberal supporters who worked day and night to convince Professor Matthews that if he stayed on the NRC, he would have rendered his people the greatest service.

Even inside his own Congress, he was not treated with much understanding. The Congress Youth League, in particular, cajoled, threatened, and reasoned with him in rapid succession to bring nearer the collapse of the NRC.

From the very beginning the political debate took on the form and dimensions of a theological controversy—with Professor Matthews always the central figure. Perhaps in no other way could all the people of South Africa unite in paying tribute to one who works untiringly behind the scenes for a better, happier and greater South Africa .

In spite of the strains and stresses he has had to bear, he retains his charm. A life which has been through political bitterness shows no marks of what he has been through. In the African community the shortest route to political fame is to be blindly partisan in one's approach to the racial question. Today, Professor Z.K. Matthews, M.A., L.L.B., is an institution inside Congress as well as in the country as a whole, but he still adheres to the readiness to meet the other man half-way as long as there is the possibility of achieving an honourable and reasonable compromise for the greater good of South Africa .

“African Viewpoint: Prof. Z. K. Matthews”, Indian Opinion , June 20, 1953.