NGAZANA LUTHULI

Ngazana Luthuli 

by

Jordan Ngubane

The subject of this article is one of the most interesting personalities in African journalism not so much for what he wrote, but for his very unique character. He was the embodiment of loyalty in one man the late Dr. John L. Dube, whatever, he wrote and there was a time when he wrote profusely, was a manifestation of this loyalty.

Ngazana Luthuli came of an old and respected family at Groutville, the small Mission Station between Stanger and Durban , founded by the Reverend Mr. Grout of the American Board Mission. Mr. Luthuli lost his parents at an early age and came under the care of the American Missionaries who helped him with his early studies until he went to Amanzimtoti Institute (the modern Adams College) in the latter half of last century where he devoted himself to his studies with such energy that his guardians feared his health might be endangered. When he grew up, he was a frail child and many believed that his weak constitution would not stand the rigours of college life in those days. But young Ngazana determined and industrious was bent on acquiring as much of the wisdom of the whiteman as possible.

After a few years at Amanzimtoti he left school having passed Standard IV, therefore qualified to be a teacher. The best part of his teaching life was spent at Amanzimtoti where he taught, among others, such colorful personalities as Dr. Allison W.G. Champion. He had been teaching for 15 years when the Reverend John Dube, the Principal of Ohlange and Editor in Chief of the Ilanga lase Natal , invited him to come over to Ohlange and edit the Ilanga lase Natal .

Mr. Luthuli, who was a fiend for hard work, seized the offer with enthusiasm. His friends were puzzled. His enemies predicted the coming of the end of the Ilanga lase Natal . His friends simply cold not understand how a man like Mr. Luthuli, to whom controversy of any type was anathema, could suddenly take a leading role in directing the thinking of Natal at a time when the Dutch people were preaching rebellion and when the whole African population and Natal in particular was seething with discontent as a result of the Land Act. His friends felt that both by temperament and inclination, Mr. Luthuli was not the man to edit the “Ilanga lase Natal .”

Besides the Ilanga lase Natal had just then emerged from a serious libel case in which the Reverend John L. Dube had had to pay about 600# in damages which money had come largely from donations and contributions by the African people because the Ilanga lase Natal was then owned entirely by them.

Mr. Luthuli's enemies and Rev. J. L. Dube's, for that matter, rubbed their hands with glee, in collapse of the Dube regime in Natal as the result of the appointment of Mr. Luthuli. They pointed to the troubles given by the Dutch leaders and felt that inexperienced as he was in public affairs, Mr. Luthuli would fail to strike the safe mean between the warring factions on the white side.

But the new editor of the Ilanga lase Natal was undaunted. He went coolly to Ohlange, occupied the editorial chair with little pomp in 1915 and set about to do his work. He succeeded Mr. Skweleti Nyongwana, one of the finest writers in the Zulu language.

From the very beginning, Mr. Luthuli made it quite plain that he was out to be the voice of Dr. Dube. He played no personal part whatsoever in the active public life of the province right through the time he was editor of this paper. In his spare time, he conducted choirs, taught music, composed hymns and songs, some of his works can be found in the “Amagama Okuhlabelela,” of the American Board Mission, read widely, and enjoyed the company of his family.

Mr. Luthuli was a Zulu of the elder school to whom the 1899 disasters at Uhundi had left a profound impression. This could be clearly seen in his attitude to the White people. To the Missionaries, he was the incarnation of friendliness. He personally owed all he was worth to them. Towards the other Europeans, he nursed a deep but subdued suspicion. He did not have much faith in the ability of the African to try conclusions with the White man. Whenever people talked of organizing against oppression, he would fling his arms up, as if in horror, and exclaim that Zulu power had been destroyed at Ulundi and that had been the end of the Zulu and, therefore, the African people. He believed that the policy of conciliation towards the Whites was the safest. Though he never went out of his way to make friends with the White people, both in his writings and in his social dealings when approached by the White people, he received them with kindness.

In public life of Natal , he was the most colourless and self-effacing man. But his influence on Zulu life was tremendous. That guarded [?] of the Whiteman he disseminated so skillfully that his enemies and friends both agreed he was one of the shrewdest brains the Ilanga lase Natal had ever had. Among his own people, to this day, his name is a household word. The Zulus speak of Dr. Dube as a nation-builder—a man with whom they shared no immediate intimate feelings Mr. Luthuli, to this day, is spoken of with undiluted love. Even those who thought he was too subservient to the angular characteristics of the man had a most exemplary and inspiring character.

When it came to controversial subjects, he let Dr. Dube do all the talking. He personally preached incessantly, that his Zulus should seek education and economic power for their group at all costs. To these ideals he was devoted to the end of his journalistic career. And here, he himself set a personal example. He was a voracious reader and often sat right into the early hours of the morning, reading History, Science, Theology, Philosophy and Music. He also found time to set up a tearoom in town which he ran successfully until he established a grocery at Groutville and another in Durban .

Great controversy centers around Mr. Luthuli at the time when the White people gained a footing in the Ilanga lase Natal . Some change that that Mr. Luthuli encouraged Dr. Dube to allow the Whitemen to have a hand in the paper. Others say that he opposed this measure inwardly, but lacked courage to communicate this to Dr. Dube. I have lived with Mr. Luthuli for nearly ten years now, during seven of which we worked very closely together. Throughout that time, I never found cause to strengthen either of the allegations. Because Mr. Luthuli was completely loyal to Dr. Dube and regarded himself as the latter's instrument, the issue of whether or not it was right for the whitemen to acquire interest in the Ilanga lase Natal did not arise. Like a soldier, he stood, not to argue about the matter, but to take orders and “do or die.” If Dr. Dube thought the best thing to do was to admit Whitemen into partnership, Mr. Luthuli was determined to carry out faithfully the policy of his master. If Dr. Dube had decided to keep control of the paper, Mr. Luthuli would again have been only too ready to stand by Dr. Dube. With Mr. Luthuli, it was the case of “My friend and leader right or wrong!” In all of my public life, I have not seen two men more closely bound to one another.

As a man, Mr. Luthuli was a most lovable personality. He had an abundance of geniality, sincerity and humour which made it a pleasure to work and live with him. Like his friend and leader, Dr. Dube saw the African National growth through the Zulu people. When the Zulus spoke to him, Africa spoke. Thus he did not bother much about travailing in the country or meeting the most important personalities.

In his writings, he was a man of refined sensibilities. He eschewed the vulgar. Even his worst enemies never said he hit below the belt. He was the advocate of the pure and the beautiful and at all times seemed to study human activity from the vantage point where he appeared to understand the motivation of human conduct. Because he saw human actions from this broad standpoint, human beings were but mere units in a larger scheme of living things. Both Black and Whites were such units fundamentally. For this reason, though the Ulundi disaster had left an indelible mark on him, he was not a unit White like many of his time. The White people themselves were merely units moving at the direction of a maser mind which aimed at the rebirth of a new Africa via Christianity, Education, Economic Power and Peace. In these things, Mr. Luthuli believed implicitly. Controversies and political dissension were but a trifling with time; the sport of irresponsible people who wasted valuable time pulling things down instead of looking themselves up in their studies and building for eternity or working their fields to lay foundations of economic security for their children.

Mr. Luthuli always gave me the impression that he believed Dr. Dube could have done greater things than waste his time in political wrangles. At the same time he was not prepared to press this pint too far. In that final reckoning, he reasoned out our best friends are not those who tell us what we should do, or who lay down the law for us, but those who are always willing to help without laying conditions. This sums up the relationship between Dr. John L. Dube and Ngasane Luthuli.

There was another side to Mr. Luthuli's style of writing. He attached very great importance to the written word. Thus, when he wrote, he always avoided the use of violent impressions. He controlled his emotions so much so that when angry, he never poured his feelings into print. For this reason, his writings were always cool, practical and directive. He knew how to persuade, scold or cajole, but never abused and rarely threatened. He stands eminently out as the gentleman of African journalism.

Like most leaders of his time, he had little love for figures and in his articles quoted as few of them as possible. He did not like the style of the hairsplitter and the analytic debater. He dwelt on general principles, always being influenced in his approach by strong Christian beliefs.

Unlike Dr. Dube, Mr. Luthuli enjoyed a continuously happy life comparatively late in life. Death now and then visited his family and deprived him of his only son and later his partner. But by the time he settled down at Ohlange, he had met a companion with whom he has been compensated for almost all his previous losses.

Unlike Dr. Dube, he adored is children. In his house, that atmosphere of awe one noticed in Dr. Dube's house was conspicuously absent. All were friends in the Luthuli home: father, mother and children. People in difficulties and in need of help thought of Mr. Luthuli first and were disappointed only when he himself had no means to help at all.

The queerest thing about Mr. Luthuli is that though he occupied the editorial chair of the Ilanga lase Natal from 1915 to 1943, through the most trying times for every leader of African opinion, he emerged somewhat unaffected by it all; his greatest contributions to the advancement of his people, as a matter of fact, on the cultural field than on the political. The songs he wrote for the American Board Church Hymnal are of everlasting beauty. His editorials were more of beautiful literary essays in Zulu than political directives.

Mr. Luthuli to some people appears to have been very skillful at maintaining a delicate balance between the conflicting forces at work at the time when he edited the Ilanga lase Natal . I am inclined to accept this view if it means that Mr. Luthuli allowed his devotion to the ideals of beauty and parity to influence his relations with man from day to day. He viewed every human being as a work of the Creator, to injure whom was to injure God. It was not in his nature to incline towards hurting anybody. A story goes round that at one time Dr. A.W.G. Champion was lying in a sick bed in a critical condition. AT that time the perpetual differences of opinion Dr. Dube and Mr. Champion had assumed an unusually [**] form. Mr. Luthuli himself personally had noting against the ICU chief. So like Nicodemus of old, he went quietly by night into the house where Mr. Champion was and paid his respects in the old Zulu way. Dr. Dube or some of his supporters did not see Mr. Luthuli under cover of darkness. The event left a deep impression on the mind of the ICU leader and whenever he discusses Mr. Luthuli he refers to it, though up to now I have not been able to determine to what purpose.

Mr. Luthuli is a grand Zulu gentleman of the old school. He brought with him into the new civilization the most beautiful qualities from his background: personal integrity, absolute loyalty, self-respect, while serving a cause in the love of the pure and the beautiful and industry. He lived at a time when it was the fashion to disregard these virtues, but he insisted on seeing to it that they did not fade out of the Zulu character. In this regard he fought a lonely battle perhaps not without success. But how far actually is a question for history alone to determine. No survey of Mr. Luthuli's work for the Zulu people can be complete without reference to the very important part he played in the building up of Ohlange. While he was Editor, proofreader, circulation manager and business manager of the Ilanga lase Natal , he always acted as boarding master or even as head of the school during some of Dr. Dube's numerous trips overseas. He is one of the giants to whom we owe Ohlange.

He is now pending his days in retirement in Durban and though still in very good health and nearing eighty, shows signs that his has been a life of hard work. And I learn that after all the good work he did for African journalism, when he retired he was not given a pension.

“Three Famous African Journalists I Knew”, Ikundla ya Bantu , June, First Fortnight, 1946.