James Sebe Moroka, OLG (16 March 1891 – 10 November 1985) was a medical doctor and a politician, who was the president of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

1949–1952.Biography of Dr James Sebe Moroka
South African History Online Moroka was elected as the president of the ANC by the support of the

African National Congress Youth League The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC). As set out in its constitution, the ANC Youth League is led by a National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (NW ...

and its leaders

Walter Sisulu Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu (18 May 1912 – 5 May 2003) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), h ...

and

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

in December 1949. During Moroka's presidency, the ANC started to implement more militant tactics in fighting the country's

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

regime. In 1952 Moroka was convicted of "statutory

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

" according to the

Suppression of Communism Act The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribe ...

with 20 other defendants. During the trial Moroka realised the limitations he would have during apartheid while acting as President. He decided he could do more for his community practicing medicine and pleaded for mitigation and rejected ANC's principles of racial equality and was soon expelled from the party. The district hospital in Thaba Nchu is named in his memory where he continued to practice medicine. He was a family-oriented Christian.

References

1891 births 1985 deaths People from Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality South African Tswana people Presidents of the African National Congress Anti-apartheid activists Members of the Order of Luthuli {{AntiApartheid-activist-stub