Mail & Guardian

Charlotte Maxeke: A woman of firsts

In 1902, she fought for emancipati­on, including that of women, and was the first black South African to graduate with a BSC

- Zubeida Jaffer Zubeida Jaffer is an award-winning journalist, activist and author of three books: zubeidajaf­fer.co.za

Charlotte Mannya Maxeke took the unusual step in 1902 to insist on the participat­ion of women in church and political meetings. She had graduated with a BSC degree in 1901, becoming the first indigenous South African woman to achieve this. When she returned home from Ohio in the United States, she found herself stuck in the Cape as the country was plunged into the South African War.

Her plan was to travel to Ramokgopa village in what is now the province of Limpopo to join her father and start her dream of educating the local people. Nearly eight years had passed since she had last seen her family in 1894 and in that time her mother had died. The details of her life’s trajectory are recorded in my book, Beauty of the Heart: The Life and Times of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke.

At last, in mid-1902, Maxeke could make the journey north. En route she took her first active steps in organised politics at home when she attended the annual meeting of the South African Native Convention or Ingqungqut­ela in Queenstown. This Cape-based organisati­on, formed in 1890, was the early manifestat­ion of efforts to establish the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) 20 years later.

She must have had some inkling that arriving at this meeting would cause controvers­y. In October that year she joined the gathering of delegates who came from King William’s Town, Queenstown, Engcobo, All Saints, Herschel, St Marks, Macibini, Mkubiso, Peelton, Somerset East, Kobonqala, Bedford, Emncontsho, Sihobothin­i, Glen Grey, Oxkrall, Cala and the Transvaal.

The convenor and chairperso­n was Thomas Mqanda, the secretary was Jonathan Tunyiswa and the assistant secretary was Reverend Stephen Mdliva. The place where they gathered was 10km north of Queenstown known as Lesseyton at the base of the Hengklip Mountain where the Tembu lived.

Church members at the Lesseyton Methodist Church of South Africa are now gearing up to prepare the site as part of the Charlotte Mannya Maxeke Heritage Trail. The church has initiated a heritage project to restore the site and record the history of the Lesseyton Methodist Mission Station. This was a place where Maxeke subsequent­ly attended several meetings.

On that day, she was the only woman present and said she needed clarity on the purpose of the congress and its objectives. She also asked if it was possible to have women forming part of the congress. As a result, a committee was nominated to respond to her. She had firmly placed the matter on the agenda and must have waited eagerly for the outcome.

The committee tabled the matter and replied by saying the time was not yet ripe for women to lead delegation­s let alone take part in civil movements. It further said it was advisable for women to form their own movements.

There is no record that tells us how she reacted to this decision. What is interestin­g is at least one man publicly expressed his point of view on the matter. Journalist Sol Plaatje was outraged and put pen to paper. In an article in Koranta ea Becoana, he said that this decision reflected an imitation of whites that exclude women from their public forums.

“What was the state of affairs at the convention? Out of a gathering of 40 robust masculine men not one could boast of even a Kaffrarian degree, while Miss Charlotte, who was refused admittance on account of her sex, is, besides other attainment­s, a BSC of an American university and in a report covering more than nine columns of the Izwi, hers was the neatest and most sensible little speech …

“We are great believers in classifica­tion, you know, but classifica­tions of the right kind, not discrimina­tion and just as strongly as we object to the line of demarcatio­n being drawn on the basis of a person’s colour, so we abhor disqualifi­cation founded on a person’s sex.

“The convention would surely have benefited by the experience of one, who though a woman, is not only their intellectu­al superior, but is besides leading an adventurou­s missionary life among the heathens of the Zoutpansbe­rg, while they demonstrat­e their manliness by leisurely enjoying the sea breeze at the coast.”

Not only do these words indicate the high esteem with which he held Maxeke, but they also show how advanced Plaatje, the first general secretary of the SANNC, and others were in their social analyses. He rejected discrimina­tion on the basis of colour and sex, accepting Maxeke as his equal. In this, they both stood head and shoulders above other progressiv­es. The movement for women’s equality was stumbling along and struggling to gain momentum locally and internatio­nally. It was still a long way from 1994 when all South Africans got the vote. These ideas had been fully embraced by some of the early intellectu­als. These were ideas and rights that are now in the constituti­on of our democracy.

And who was one of the trailblaze­rs? Charlotte Mannya Maxeke, whose 150th birthday celebratio­n took place on 7 April. Her stand in 1902 paved the way for her becoming the only woman present at the formation of the ANC in 1912 — she was not excluded from the meeting.

Despite her boldness, she was written out of history and her name largely erased from collective memory as a colonial and apartheid narrative gained ascendency holding all of us in its pincer-like grip.

Our Generation; Love In the Time of Treason; and Beauty of the Heart: The Life and Times of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke is available at select bookstores and online at

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 ??  ?? Campaigner: Charlotte Mannya Maxeke, in a Christmas card (left) sent to Bishop William Tecumseh Vernon, and a photograph of her when she was older (right). Sources: Bishop William Tecumseh Vernon Collection, Kansas Collection, RH MS 529, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries and an image from Historical papers AB Zuma
Campaigner: Charlotte Mannya Maxeke, in a Christmas card (left) sent to Bishop William Tecumseh Vernon, and a photograph of her when she was older (right). Sources: Bishop William Tecumseh Vernon Collection, Kansas Collection, RH MS 529, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries and an image from Historical papers AB Zuma

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