Thomas Mapikela

Thomas Mtobi Mapikela (* 1869 in the Cape Province ; † 1945 ; occasionally Thomas Mtobi Maphikela ) was a South African politician and member of the first committee of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), the predecessor organization of the African National Congress (ANC).

Life

Mapikela trained as a carpenter in Grahamstown and went to Bloemfontein in 1892 , where he became self-employed and bought two houses. One was near a Methodist church that he attended regularly. Due to the racial laws , which among other things restricted the possessions of the black population, he had to move to the township Batho in Bloemfontein. There he built a two-story house in 1926, in the basement of which the leaders of the black community met. It is known today as Mapikela House .

Mapikela was involved in two vigilante groups and was a member of the delegation to Great Britain in 1909 to protest against the constitution of the South African Union . In 1912 the ANC was founded as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) in Bloemfontein, the first executive committee included John Langalibalele Dube as president, Pixley ka Isaka Seme as treasurer , Sol Plaatje as secretary, Mapikela as spokesperson and George Montsioa as secretary . In 1914 he traveled to London again to protest against the Natives Land Act . In the 1920s he was elected treasurer of the South African Location Advisory Boards Congress and was also chairman of the ANC annual meetings; in the 1930s he served on both the executive committee of the ANC and the All African Convention .

Mapikela remained spokesman for the ANC until 1937, after which and until his death he was a representative of the urban areas of the Orange Free State and Transvaal in the Natives' Representative Council . In addition to Xhosa and English, he also spoke Setswana and Sesotho .

Web links

• Short biography of Mapikela at South African History Online (English)
• Famous Free Staters . In: Mail & Guardian of November 18, 2011 (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Getrude Makhafola: Batho revamp for big ANC party  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: The New Age, December 14, 2011, accessed May 30, 2012.  
2. ↑ Mapikela House birthplace of the ANC. ( Memento of the original from February 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. sabc.co.za from September 19, 2014 (English), accessed on February 6, 2016. 
3. ↑ Greetings ( memento of the original from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the ANC on the ANC website, accessed on May 30, 2012 (English).