Cedric Phatudi

Cedric Nameni (Namedi) Phatudi (born May 27, 1912 in Mphahlele , Pietersburg District , † October 7, 1987 in Lebowakgomo ) was a South African educator and politician in the role of head of government for the homeland Lebowa .

Life

Training and activities in the education system

Phatudi was born in a place in the former Transvaal Province . His father was Chief Kgoŝi Mmutle Phatudi III of the Bakgaga tribe. In 1929 he finished elementary school and began a professional teacher training course at the Kilnerton Training Institute , which he completed in 1932. Then Phatudi began his professional life as a substitute teacher and until 1935 developed to the headmaster at the Marishane Tribal School in Sekhukhuneland , which at that time was the first secondary school in this part of the country.

In the course of his business matriculated Phatudi based private training courses and then acquired at various higher education institutions more academic degrees; a Bachelor of Arts , Master of Arts and Bachelor of Education . He was also awarded a Doctor of Education as honoris causa . He studied at the University of Fort Hare , Witwatersrand University, and the University of the North .

In January 1943 Phatudi took over the function of the school inspector (school council) in the supervisory authority of the schools for blacks of Johannesburg . In 1955 he went to Krugersdorp in the West Rand region , where he was first sub-inspector and in 1965 school inspector of the region. During his tenure in the Department of Bantu Education , he served as Chairman of the Association of Inspectors of Schools in the Southern Transvaal Region (1947-1969) and President of the Federation of Inspectors of Schools in the Republic of South Africa .

Political activities

Phatudi's professional involvement in politics began in 1969. That year he was elected the first Executive Councilor for Education and Culture of the Lebowa Homeland Territorial Authority. When Lebowa received self-government status on October 2, 1972, Phatudi was promoted to Minister of Education and Culture.

For the first elections that took place in Lebowa on April 11, 1973, he successfully ran for a seat in the Thabamoopo constituency . As a result, the Legislative Assembly of the Homelands elected him on May 8th as Chief Minister of the Lebowa Government with the sole authority to appoint or dismiss the Cabinet. He won by 45 votes against 40 votes, ousting his rival Chief Maurice M. Matlala. The constitution of that time provided that only a successful petition addressed to the South African President from within the Legislative Assembly could remove the head of government of the homeland from office.

In a statement on the day following his takeover of government, he declared the land question and the fight against discrimination against the citizens of Lebowa, especially in the labor market of "white" South Africa, to be top priority. In this context, the “land question” meant the resettlement of black and white farms or settlers within the territorially fragmented homeland Lebowa, especially the Pedi population in and around Doornkop (near Middelburg ).
Opposition to his political views was the Lebowa National Party , founded by Chief Matlala in 1973 , which wanted to achieve the independence of the homeland in cooperation with the South African government in Pretoria. Since January 1975, political divergences developed between him and the leading Lebowa People's Party (LPP), as a result of which he stayed away from a three-day party conference in the royal kraal of Chief TJ Mothapo, who was also Minister of Works in Lebowa. In the course of this meeting, the 300 delegates deposed Phatudi as party chairman and replaced him with Collins Ramusi, who had left the government cabinet a few months earlier.

In March 1975, Phatudi gathered the remaining supporters for a congress in Marishane to develop political positions for the coming dispute. After a motion of censure against him in the Legislative Assembly of Homeland, he obtained a strong majority in a vote on April 1, 1976 with 70 votes in favor out of a total of 79 votes. As a result of this result, Chief Mothapo resigned his ministerial office. Since then, Phatudi has reigned unchallenged and was confirmed for a third term in 1983 with no opponent.

When in 1979 a Lebowa commission headed by LG Mathole investigated the further constitutional development of the homelands, an opinion was formed in this group to demand state independence from South Africa by forming a federation with other homelands. In 1981 Phatudi explained his own position to Pretoria on these issues, opposed this federation model and advocated a federal state with a central parliament and equivalent partner states in this association. In 1982 he repeated his view and advocated a federal organization of the Republic of South Africa with a Bill of Rights .

On numerous trips abroad, which mainly led to western-oriented countries in Europe and Asia, he tried to establish long-term contacts with representatives of education, industrialists and politicians, whom he tried to convince in support of the general development of Lebowa and especially in the areas of education and investment.

Personal

Phatudi was active in literature outside of his professional life. He wrote short stories and plays in North Sotho . He also translated the youth novel Robinson Crusoe and Shakespear's works Heinrich IV, Part 1 and Julius Caesar . These translations were temporarily required as teaching aids in Lebowa secondary schools .

Phatudi died of bone marrow cancer during his tenure as Chief Minister of diabetes. He found his final resting place on Heroes Acre in the complex of the government buildings of Lebowakgomo. Phatudi was married and had two sons and a daughter.

Honors

• CN Phatudi College of Education , formerly an independent educational institution for teachers.
• CN Phatudi Campus (in Praktiseer village, north of Burgersfort / Platinum City, today in Fetakgomo / Greater Tubatse Local Municipality ) of the Sekhukhune FET College , which was created in 2003 from the merger of two former educational institutions, the CS Barlow Technical College and the CN Phatudi College of Education (teacher training).

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} South African History Online: Dr Cedric Phatudi, Lebowa Chief Minister, dies . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Shelagh Gastrow: Who's Who in South African Politics . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1986, 2nd ed., Pp. 237-239
3. ^ South African History Online : Dr Cedric Namedi Phatudi, chief minister of Lebowa (1973), is born in the district of Pietersburg (now Polokwane) . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
4. ↑ ^{a b} Muriel Horrell: The African homelands of South Africa . SAIRR , Johannesburg 1973, p. 60
5. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1974 . Johannesburg 1975, pp. 200-202
6. ↑ Siyabona Africa: Pedi. The Pedi today . on www.krugerpark.co.za (English)
7. ^ Republic of South Africa. Department of Education: FET Colleges: Institutions of First Choice: National Certificate Vocational . Pretoria 2007. (English)