Excerpts From 2011 Paper About South African Protest Songs: "Mini And The Song: The Place Of Protest Song In History" by Vuyisile Msila

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides excerpts from a 2011 paper about South African struggle songs entitled "Mini And The Song: The Place Of Protest Song In History" by Vuyisile Msila.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and educational purposes.

Pancocojams Editor's Note: Vuyisile Msila, the author of this paper, wrote "(First draft - please do not cite. Work in progress - to be presented at the ANC 100th anniversary Conference. September 20-24, 2011. Johannesburg. South Africa)".

With all due respect to that author, and in spite of that note, I've chosen to quote portions of this paper, because of its historical value, because of the number of years that has passed since it was written, and because it appears to me that this paper's availability online in a copy able format presupposes that the intent was that it be read and shared.

As a reminder, pancocojams is a non-commercial cultural blog that I curate on a volunteer basis. I publish excerpts of articles and book excerpts, many of which are obscure and difficult to find, with the hope that this blog's visitors will read the entire articles or books that are quoted.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who were active in South Africa's struggle for freedom, equality, and justice.

Thanks also to Vuyisile Msila for writing this paper and sharing it online.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/08/two-examples-of-south-african-anti.html for this companion pancocojams post entitled "Two Examples Of The South African Anti-Apartheid Protest Song - "Ndodemnyama (Beware, Verwoerd!)" by Miriam Makeba & by Mzansi Ensemble". This is Vuyisile Mini's song that is referred to in the excerpt below as Naants’indod’emnyama Verwoerd! (Here is the black folk Verwoerd!).

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ONLINE EXCERPT: "MINI AND THE SONG: THE PLACE OF PROTEST SONG IN HISTORY" by Vuyisile Msila
From http://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/Vuyisile%20Mini%20paper.pdf Mini and the song: The place of protest song in history by Vuyisile Msila [total number of pages: 21]

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Abstract
Ben Turok gives a very heart rending account of Vuyisile Mini’s execution day in November 1964: “murmuring voices reached my straining ears and then the three martyrs broke into a final poignant melody which seemed to fill the whole prison with sound and then gradually faded away into the distant depths of the condemned section.” Mini and his two comrades Diliza Khayinga and Zinakile Mkhaba sang to the gallows one of Mini’s own compositions.

Mini had composed many such songs during his life time as a SACTU organiser and ANC volunteer. This includes the struggle’s evergreen; Naants’indod’emnyama Verwoerd! (Here is the black folk Verwoerd!), the one he is said to have sung to the dreadful gallows. This article explores the role of the struggle songs during those protest years and beyond. It scrutinises the role of the composer in a time of political repression. Currently, debates are brewing whether or not these liberation songs have a role in the “new” South African society post-1994. Some aver that protest songs have a huge place in African heritage, that they are part of public memory and need to be cherished. Others contend that these songs have become obsolete and do more harm to reconciliation. This article explores how protest songs composers’ such as Mini need to be remembered, and investigates whether their songs belonged to only a certain time in history. The pertinent question then is; do the liberation songs have any role in South African history?

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The genesis of the liberation song: Mini and the freedom song
The freedom song was among the most potent weapons against colonialism and oppression. The song was adopted by the Xhosa warriors as early as the 17th century as they resisted the colonialisation against British forces in frontier wars. However, one person that would always be remembered in the history of the 20th century and history of the African National Congress (ANC) will be Vuyisile Mini who composed many freedom songs against apartheid. He became one of the great martyrs in South African politics and was defiant to the end. His poignant last minutes on earth show his unyielding spirit; he went to the gallows singing his composition of a freedom song. Truly, he did not only become Port Elizabeth’s son, he was adopted by the entire world as one of the stalwarts of the liberation struggle.

He was born in 1920 in the Eastern Cape where he was to be a selfless leader of the union movement. In 1951 he joined the ANC and was among the Defiance campaign volunteers who were incarcerated in 1953. He became a South African Congress of Trade union’s secretary in 1960. In 1963 Mini was charged with 17 counts of sabotage and murder of a police informer. Together with two of his comrades, Zinakile Mkhaba and Diliza Khayinga they were convicted and hanged in Pretoria Central Prison in November 1964. Vuyisile who was also a member of the Eastern Cape High Command of the MK was offered his life in exchange for giving information about underground political activity in Port Elizabeth. He refused.

This paper explores the legacy of Mini, the so called “father of liberation song” in South Africa. Whilst this paper will focus specifically on Mini as a composer of many Congress songs, it will also try and interrogate the general use of other compositions through history.

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Liberation songs have become part of memory in public life and many people still sing them even today; these have become part of a rich history against political and cultural domination.

Liberation songs had been part of the struggle since the black people first faced colonialism. Long before the formation of the Congress in 1912, warriors sang as colonial bullets riddled their armies. In April 23 1819, 10,000 Xhosa warriors led by Nxele or Makana sang as they
approached Grahamstown to reclaim about 23 000 cattle that had been captured by the British soldiers. Of course the might of the gun was more as thousand warriors sprawled lifeless at the base of the hill at Rini’s Egazini. They died with prodigious song in their hearts, their fists
hugging the impotent spears.

The “new” song: Mini and the Congress
Mini sang in a number of choirs in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth notably Port Elizabeth Male Voice Choir as well as the Port Elizabeth United Artists Choir which was conducted by the composer and writer, Fikile Gwashu. He loved choral music as well as classical music. Among his many compositions, was the famous Naants’indod’emnyama Verwoerd. (Here comes the black folk Verwoerd!). This is the song he is said to have sung before the hangman’s noose ended his life in 1964. In this song he was warning Verwoerd about the might of the black people. This was a time when the black people had no weapons. The song was the weapon; it was an important factor that reassured the people that despite the bannings, the killings and detentions, victory was certain. The songs were important weapons of history; they were part of the struggle culture and memory. In the absence of leaders when they were incarcerated, the songs kept the fires burning; informing the people that freedom was certain despite the obstacles. Many of Mini’s songs were poignant but even betwixt this sadness one got the sense that the black Africans were fighting for a just cause. When Mini

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appeared in the political scene in the townships, he became very instrumental in organising people who were scattered. There was no better thing than to use his artistic talents to organise the people.

[...]

Mini inspired the people with his artistic talents and oratory. As a liberation fighter he was ahead of his times by realising that the song can organise and intensify the resistance against unjust laws. For decades after the banning of the ANC and other liberation movements such as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) people listened and sang songs hoping even in the might of apartheid that victory is certain. The ANC radio station, Radio Freedom used to play songs that made many listeners aware that the freedom dream was still alive. Among the moving songs that one would hear sung by MK soldiers was an Nguni song, Sobashiy’abazali bethu which is a very sad but uplifting and nostalgic. Its lyrics are:

Sobashiy’abazal’ekhaya (Our parents we will leave behind)
Siphuma sangena kwamany’amazwe (We will tread in foreign lands)
Lapho kungazi khon’ubaba nomama (Where our fathers and mothers never stepped)
Silwel’inkululeko (Chasing the freedom dream.)
Sithi salani, (We bid you well),
Salan’ekhaya (We bid you well)
Salan’ekhaya (At home stay well.)

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All these were sounds of hope in squalor and uncertainty. This essay will explore why such weapons of history have become cultural threats. Some people contend that some of these songs are shaking the post-apartheid hopes for reconciliation. Debates continue to fill the public platform as to whether these songs are necessary in the current South Africa. The important question though is whether we should forget the legacy of song left by struggle composers such as Mini. We need to explore to what extent can we disregard some memory
as we search ways of enhancing the reconciliation.

[...]

Arguably, there is a need for South Africans to use memory in places such as the museums, understand and bring resolve to the trauma before moving towards the future as matured citizens. Many political activists in South Africa, although they were scarred by political repression, they have insisted on the productiveness of their years in detention and necessity of working toward a constructive future (Coombes, 2003). The traumatic memory and experience that can be ignited by some of the songs can actually result to a positive consequence; it can show

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the singer what freedom means. It can sensitize them in some way; that many people sacrificed, became martyrs for the freedom. These can be both empowering and emancipatory memories. Coming to terms with the past is one crucial aspect when it comes to dealing with history and memory in South Africa. Moving away from concentrating on oppression and atrocities of the past will never lead to liberatory minds and wounds will not be healed. The new cultural institutions such as museums have to deal with these facts. Liberation songs that highlight pain should remain in history as reminders of where the society is coming from. In the absence of leaders who had gone to exile, the struggle continued through song. Even after Mini’s execution in apartheid’s gallows, his songs continued to live uniting the nation, creating a political culture that pervaded.

The protest song was a form of political communication; to say we want justice, we want peace. Just after the death of the Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko. I remember seeing a group of students singing:

Amabhulu azizinja (The Boers are dogs)
Ambulele uSteve Biko. (They have killed Steve Biko.)
Senzeni na? Senzeni na? (What have we done? What have we done?)

When the police appeared, they continued singing with their arms in the air showing that they were not fighting. It was a powerful show of solidarity and the sharing of sadness. The song was giving the singers hope to say, let us not despair. For a long time the liberation songs
were a personification of leadership. The liberation songs’ became pivotal in liberation politics. Forgetting this role would be like a betrayal of history.

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As part of the collective memory, the protest songs played a number of roles:
 Cultural role
 Political role
 Mobilising role
 Narrative role

Cultural role - these songs were reflected the culture of the oppressed. They usually showed where the people were and why they needed to fight the domination. Many songs infused culture, they had a cultural aspect. The dance and rhythm also reflected the culture.

Political role – all liberation songs had a political message. They were didactic and showed the oppressed why they needed to shirk off the chains of bondage.

Mobilising role-linked to the political role of the song, there was the mobilising role. The songs’ message wanted to reach as many people as possible- calling them to join the liberation struggle.

Narrative role-many songs bore history; they recounted what happened in history. The narrative was contained in the political and the mobilising role of the song.

Vuyisile Mini had compositions that fitted under these categories although many of his songs played mobilising and political roles. The song, Izakunyathel’iAfrika was one of the songs where he was addressing the apartheid apartheid [sic] Hendrik Verwoerd, the most famous being
Naants’indod’emnyama Verwoerd cited above. The song Izakunyathela... (Loosely translated, Africa will trample on you), was composed in prison during the 1956 Treason Trial.

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Izakunyathel’iAfrica, Verwoerd (Africa is going to trample on you, Verwoerd)
Verwoerd shuu! (Verwoerd careful!)
Uzakwenzakala (You are going to get hurt.)

Many songs were composed about Verwoerd and this clearly shows how this apartheid mastermind was regarded by the oppressed. In another composition the Congress Volunteers in the 1950s tell Verwoerd in song to open prisons and free the political detainees. The song
Sikhalel’izwe lakithi went like this:

Sikhalel’izwe lakithi (We mourn for our land)
Elathathwa ngabamhlophe (Which was grabbed by the whites)
MZulu MXhosa MSuthu Hlanganani! (Zulus, Xhosas Sothos unite!)
Verwoerd, vula la majele (Verwoerd open these prisons)
SingamaVoluntiya sizongena (Else the volunteers will storm them)

[...]

The

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songs were mighty in that even those people who were initially doubtful about their participation would see the spirit of a song and would go and confront the enemy; with song.

In the 1980s, one of the protest songs powerful for mobilisation was:

Siyaya, siyaya (We will go, we will)
Siyaya noba kubi. (We will, even in dreariness)
Emabhulwini siyaya, (To the Boers, we will go)
Siyaya noba kubi, (We will, even in misery,)
Noba besidubula (Even when they shoot us),
Siyaya... (We will go...)

[...]

One of the oldest songs is Thina sizwe esimnyama.... (We the black nation)
Thina sizwe (We the nation)
Thina sizwe esimnyama. (The black nation),
Sikhalela, (We weep),

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Sikhalela izwe lethu. (For our land).
Elarojwa, (Which was robbed),
Elarojwa ngamabhulu, (Robbed by the Boers.)
Mabawuyeke, (They should leave)
Mabawuyek’umhlaba wethu. (They should leave our land alone...)

[...]

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Many liberation songs as evident above contained the word, Boer. However, many activists would explain that the use of this word in the songs has nothing to do with the white race; that it should not be interpreted literally. Many contend that in liberation songs this refers to
the system; the white system that dominated and oppressed the black African people. Derik Hanekom an MP and a long standing ANC member was asked about his interpretation of the Boer in the song, Dubul’ibhunu, ayasab’amagwala- (Shoot the Boer, the cowards are fleeing). Hanekom pointed out that “this song “was a reference to a period or a system where people took up arms; that the song bore no reference to an ethnic group but referred to a system of racial oppression” (Mail and Guardian, 2011).

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There are many from [sic] former liberation movements who argue that the struggle songs today should not be perceived as symbols of hatred and incitement but part of a rich memory and struggle heritage.

[...]

The song enables us to trace the journey of the struggle. Mini, as a poet and composer recorded history through his music. His music is memory and the freedom fighters were to sing his compositions long after he was gone. A point made earlier, without any arms, the songs were
a potent form of defiance. Yet looking back at the development of the song one also perceives the development of history. In 1952 Mini with Raymond Mhlaba and other ANC volunteers were among a group of defiers through the New Brighton Railway Station. It was the wintry morning of 26 June 1952 when Mhlaba led 30 volunteers through the “Europeans Only” entrance of New Brighton Station. The volunteers were accompanied by a crowd singing the song, ‘What have we done, we African people?’ the twenty five men and three women were all wearing Congress armbands and shouting, “Mayibuye iAfrica!” (Benson, 1985). The defiers had all intended to refuse to pay fines and go to prison. Roux (1964)

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writes that a newspaper report on 25 July stated that 32 defiance women had been sentenced for using the Europeans Only entrance at the New Brighton station near the Red Location.
The report went on to declare:

Non European defiers of unjust laws are being turned out of gaol against their will by the prison authorities. Money found on them at the time of their conviction has been seized and is being used to pay their fines, although they refused the option of a fine when sentenced.

They went to jail and as they traversed the road they defiantly sang,

Imithetho kaMalan (Malan’s laws),
Isiphethe nzima (Are oppressive).
Mayibuy’iAfrika! (Africa must come)

Many of Mini’s songs were short, repetitive and melodious. When women marched to the Union Buildings in 1956, they were singing;

Wee Strydom! (Hey Strydom!)
Wathint’abafazi, wathint’imbokotho, (You touch the women, you have shaken a rock,)
Uzakufa ! (You will die!)

[...]

In the discussion above we also see his famous, Naants’indod’emnyama Verwoerd, which was also telling the government that despite the strengthening of apartheid the Africans were organizing. This is history; this is memory that portrays events of the day. Today Mini,
Khayinga and Mkhaba’s graves stand in the original Emlotheni Place in New Brighton where the Congress used to gather and Mini would sing his compositions. One composition that was sung in the townships from the 1950s to the 1990s and beyond was

Sizakubadubula ngeembayi-mbayi- (we will shoot them with cannons), which went like this:
Sizakubadubula ngembayi-mbayi (We’ll shoot them with cannons),
Bazobaleka, (They will flee),
Dubula ngembayi-mbayi (Shoot with cannons).

This is all history told in song.

These songs are part of collective memory that must be protected as Serote above highlights. Today we need cultural institutions such as museums to cherish the liberation songs. Memory is one crucial aspect utilised in museums to ignite experiences that will affect the users.
During apartheid years, especially from 1960 to the 1980s, many cultural museums were established essentially to celebrate the triumphs of white South Africans (Dominy, 2004).

However, memory in the current alternative museums is meant to such as the Apartheid Museum and Freedom Park are supposed to ensure that users reflect a more liberating and meaningful history of the marginalised as well. Memory is used by those who strive for democracy to come to terms with the past as they build a future. The idea of embracing community museums leads to collective memory. Deegan (2001) argues that a process needs to be found through which collective memory of the country could engage in recognising the tragedy of the past. She adds that it is only by looking back that a nation would be able to move towards

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normalised multiracial co-existence. The museums can play a crucial role while starting off the memories there would be debates raised about issues as well. Community museums should promote healthy discussions as people embrace democracy and a new future.

[...]

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There are people (black and white) who contend that there is no place for the liberation songs in the current post-apartheid society. This group avers that the singing of these songs will only create schisms between races and remind the society of past atrocities. These songs have
become weapons of destruction to a society that is trying to heal from past wounds. The paradox though is that these were songs that were sung by people who believed in non-racial society; combatants who were fighting for a free and democratic society. Even with the most pungent of lyrics, the ANC collective yearned for a united South Africa. Gilbert (2007) cites an example of a song sung by Amandla Cultural Ensemble in exile, it is a song that has an unexpected ending:

Kulo nyaka sizimisele (This year we are prepared)
Ukugwaza lamabhunu, (To stab the Boers),
NgoMkhonto weSizwe., (With the Spear of the Nation (MK).)
Asikhathali noma sibulawa (We do not care even if we are killed,)
Sizolilwela ilizwe loMzantsi. (We will fight for South Africa).
Hlanganani nina ma-Afrika (You Africans unite)
Sowanqoba simunye wona lamabhunu. (We’ll be victorious over the Boers, when we are one.)

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The song’s conclusion alludes to unity that will be achieved after “stabbing the Boers”. Of course, the stabbing of the Boers refers to the killing of an unjust system. The ANC which sung many of these songs had always been a non-racial movement whose struggle was never
to literally exclude the Afrikaners, the English and so on. These songs were used on the way to a unified South Africa. It is then an unfortunate interpretation currently, to interpret these songs as alluding that the white farmers have to be killed. There is no proof that farm robberies and killings happen as a result of the liberation songs. The liberation songs continued to be sung after 1994’s installation of the democratic government. They have not translated into the murder of farmers and white people.

The happenings in history need to be told time and again; not all South Africans witnessed the history because of the apartheid boundaries of the past. The liberation songs carry history; listening to the lyrics, one will understand the journey of a particular group of people. The liberation songs carry history; listening to the lyrics, one will understand the journey of a particular group of people. Achebe has highlighted the Igbo proverb, “until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter”. Vuyisile Mini and many other composers were historians who chronicled the struggle of the oppressed people in South Africa. Denying people to sing these songs is to kill such historical voices. Mini was a loyal member of the African National Congress who fought for a free South Africa. Even when he was facing the hangman’s noose he was determined to tell his story to future generations in song."...

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