1. Umteto we Land Act
The imposition of the Natives Land Act of 1913 was the first problem that the SANNC had to deal with. This Act laid down the basic guidelines for land division in South Africa, and the blacks were left with about approximately thirteen percent of the country's total area. Caluza's direct response to the Land Act was "Umteto we Land Act," which was adopted as the official anthem of the SANNC. Excerpts from the song which had Zulu lyrics, read as follows:
We are mad over the Land Act
A terrible law that allows sojourners
To deny us our land
Crying that we the people
Should pay to get our land back
We cry for the children of our fathers
Who roam around the world without a home
Even in the land of our forefathers.
2. Nkosi Sikele iAfrica
The hymn "Nikosi Sikele iAfrica" ("God Bless Africa"), composed in Xhosa by Enoch Sontonga, was also in iMusic style. It replaced the Land Act anthem of the SANNC in 1919. It had the additional symbolic meaning of the struggle for democracy in South Africa and was often sung with a clenched fist with the thumb pointing over the shoulder. It thus moved away from being sung as a prayer to being a liberation song with more militant connotations. Whites, not understanding Xhosa, were often afraid when they heard the song, and many blacks were arrested during apartheid for singing it. Today this hymn forms part of the South African National Anthem. The Ohlange Choir played an important role in popularizing the hymn.
3. Rickshaw Song
A typical iMusic song is "Ixegwana" or "Rickshaw Song." It was a topical song about one of the strongest and most militant sectors in the working class. There was also mention of the fact that this song was sung as a protest song during one of the strikes of black rickshaw men in Durban. The lyrics ridicule rickshaws who only carry white passengers, have their legs painted white, and try and speak English to please passengers:
I saw an old grey-bearded man,
Who had covered himself with a blanket,
And his feet were white, too.
My rickshaw with big horns
And white legs,
Jumping around and looking for passengers.
"Oh rickshaw sir, boss, miss.
I you take round the town."
4. Izakunyathel'I Africa
After 1950 it became easier to trace the history of apartheid through the songs which became shorter and more numerous. The composers of the songs are mostly unknown as they were spontaneously articulated in response to a situation. The name of Vuyisile Mini, secretary of the Dock Workers Union of Port Elizabeth, is mentioned although it is not clear which songs he composed. Considered an activist, he was executed in 1964 and thrown into a pauper's grave amidst an avalanche of worldwide protest. A song definitely attributed to Mini was "Izakunyathel'I Africa," composed in prison in 1956 while awaiting trial on charges of high treason (Hooper 1965: Record cover). It was aimed at Hendrik Verwoerd, Minister of Native Affairs in the early 1950s and already the brain behind the government's Grand Apartheid Policy. Excerpts from the translation read as follows:
Africa is going to trample on you, Verwoerd.
Verwoerd! Shoot...
You are going to get hurt.
Verwoerd, watch out.
5. Tshotsholoza Mandela
In 1963 the police arrested prominent members of MK, the military wing of the ANC. The police claimed they had evidence that this organization was implementing a large-scale military operation codenamed Mayibuye (restoring, giving back). Nelson Mandela conducted his own defense, in which he pointed out that the ANC needed to take more drastic action because fifty years of nonviolent resistance had merely resulted in more oppressive laws and fewer rights for blacks (Motlhabi 1985: 68). Five of the ten accused, including Mandela, were sentenced to life imprisonment and eventually sent to Robben Island. The song "Tshotsholoza Mandela" mirrors political developments during this time and also sums up the mood of black South Africans at Mandela's arrest:
In went the leaders all over the country.
Bundled into jails without a just cause.
Verwoerd cautioned his people in Pretoria
And said things were hot
The reason?
Mandela.
6. Mayibuye iAfrika
MK, the military wing of the ANC, took its name from the South African Communist Party (SACP) anthem, "Mayibuye iAfrica" ("Let Africa Return"). It was sung to the tune of "Clementine," an American traditional song copyrighted in 1884. On 20 February 1930, there was an incident where SACP members were burning passes while singing "Mayibuye." Fourteen members of the SACP were arrested and as they marched through the streets they sang "Mayibuye" and gave three cheers for the Communist Party (Roux 1966:250). During apartheid, this song became very popular and was even sung in Africaans by coloured farm workers. The translation of this song reads as follows:
Come back Africa
Let there be no more pass laws
Let us get freedom.
7. Koos Kombuis
This is an example of music sung and composed by one of the alternative Afrikaans musicians, Koos Kombuis. He asks the audience in Afrikaans whether he may sing in English and when they cheer him he sings the song with lyrics lampooning the then South African president, P.W. Botha. The crowd cheer him as he sings, showing their support for what he expresses in the lyrics.
The rock 'n roll rebellion translated into Afrikaans with remarkable success. By 1990 these musicians had arranged the first South African rock festival, "Houtstock" (Woodstock), which was attended by 20,000 people. The national "Voëlvry" tour was attended by 85,000 people. These performers were banned at traditional Afrikaans universities. At Stellenbosch University, however, thousands of sudents mobilized to protest the banning of the performance on their campus by musicians of the "Voëlvry" tour.
About the picture... On 4 July 1913, a strike was organized by predominantly Afrikaans white workers, and a demonstration was held in Johannesburg. Masses of workers marched onto the square and a German workers band played the "Marseillaise," the song of the French Revolution. After the meeting had started, the police pronounced the prohibition of the demonstration and in the subsequent clash between workers and police many protestors were killed.
Notes
This feature is a companion piece to Chapter 5: "Music as a Tool of Reconciliation in South Africa", by Anne-Marie Gray (pages 63-77 in Music and Conflict Transformation). Music, photos, and text were provided by Anne-Marie Gray. The section text fragments correspond to the following chapter pages:
- Umteto we Land Act: 66-7
- Nkosi Sikele iAfrica: 67
- Rickshaw Song: unpublished excerpt
- Izakunyathel'I Africa: 69-70
- Tshotsholoza Mandela: 70
- Mayibuye iAfrika: unpublished excerpt
- Koos Kombuis: unpublished excerpt; 75; 72