Zachariah Keodirelang Matthews OLG (20 October 1901 – 11 May 1968) was a prominent black academic in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, lecturing at South African Native College (renamed

University of Fort Hare The University of Fort Hare () is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to ...

in 1955). Many future leaders of the African continent were among his students.

Life

Early years

Z.K. Matthews was born in Winter's Rush near

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

in 1901, the son of a

Bamangwato The Bamangwato (more correctly BagammaNgwato, and also referred to as the BaNgwato or Ngwato) is one of the eight "principal" Tswana chieftaincies of Botswana. The modern Bamangwato formed in the Central Serowe, Palapye & Mahalapye District, wit ...

mineworker. Z.K. grew up in urban Kimberley, but maintained close connections with his mother's rural

Barolong The Rolong (pronounced ) are a Tswana ethnic group native to Botswana and South Africa. Etymology The Rolong people's name originated from the clan's first ''kgosi'' (king, chief) Morolong, who lived around 1270–1280. The ancient word '' ...

relatives. He went to Mission high school in the eastern Cape where he attended Lovedale. After Lovedale he studied at South African Native College in

Fort Hare Fort Hare is an 1835 British-built fort on a rocky outcrop at the foothills of the Amatola Mountains, near the present-day town of Alice, Eastern Cape in South Africa. History Fort Hare was originally constructed by the British during the wars ...

. In 1923 he wrote the external examination of the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

. In 1924, he was appointed head of the high school at

Adams College Adams College is a historic Christian mission school in South Africa, associated with the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA). It was founded in 1853 at Amanzimtoti a settlement just over south of Durban by an American miss ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

Albert Luthuli Albert John Luthuli ( – 21 July 1967) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, traditional leader, and politician who served as the President-General of the African National Congress from 1952 until his death in 1967. Luthuli was bor ...

was also a teacher here. The two men attended meetings of the Durban Joint Council and held office in the Natal Teacher's Association, of which Matthews eventually was elected president. While in Natal, in 1928, he married Frieda Bokwe, daughter of

John Knox Bokwe John Knox Bokwe (15 March 1855 – 22 February 1922) was a South African journalist, Presbyterian minister and one of the most celebrated Xhosa hymn writers and musician. He is best known for his compositions ''Vuka Deborah'', ''Plea for Africa'' ...

and his wife. He had met her as a student at Fort Hare. Their son, Joe, was born in 1929 in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. He later became a prominent politician. In 1930, after private study, Matthews earned an

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree in South Africa, awarded by the University of South Africa. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney and practiced for a short time in

Alice, Eastern Cape Alice, officially Dikeni, is a small town in Eastern Cape, South Africa that is named after Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Princess Alice, the daughter of the British Queen Victoria. It was settled in 1824 by British colonists. It is a ...

. In 1933, he was invited to study at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. There in the following year he completed an MA. He then studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, pursuing anthropology under

Bronisław Malinowski Bronisław Kasper Malinowski (; 7 April 1884 – 16 May 1942) was a Polish anthropologist and ethnologist whose writings on ethnography, social theory, and field research have exerted a lasting influence on the discipline of anthropology. ...

. He returned to South Africa in 1935. In 1936 he was appointed Lecturer in

Social Anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

and Native Law and Administration at University of Fort Hare. After

Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu (20 October 1885 – 3 August 1959) was a Xhosa educationist and politician, and a founder of the All African Convention (AAC), which sought to unite all non-European opposition to the segregationist measure of the South ...

’s retirement in 1944, Matthews was promoted to Professor and became head of Fort Hare’s Department of

African Studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

Political activism

Matthews did not confine himself to an academic career. He combined his study of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and the law with an active political involvement. He found his true political home in the ANC. He had attended meetings as a boy in the company of

Sol Plaatje Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (9 October 1876 – 19 June 1932) was a South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator and writer. Plaatje was a founding member and first General Secretary of the South African Native Natio ...

, a senior relative. He did not become a member until 1940. In 1943, he was elected to the National Executive Committee. At the time he also became a member of the Native Representative Council, a purely advisory body that has been condemned as a “toy telephone”. Matthews found his participation on it to be frustrating, although he found dealing with the Native Education Act of 1945 to be a “valuable experience” for the people he met. In June 1949, Matthews succeeded

James Calata James Arthur Calata OLG (1895 – 1983) was a South African priest and politician. He was the Secretary-General of the African National Congress from 1936 to 1949. He was appointed a canon of the Grahamstown Cathedral making him the first Bl ...

as ANC provincial president in the Cape. In June 1952, on the eve of the

Defiance Campaign The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in December 1951 in South Africa, 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conferenc ...

, he left South Africa for a position as visiting professor at New York's

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

. He returned home in May 1953. Although he did not attend the Congress of the People in 1955, he assisted Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein in drawing up the

Freedom Charter The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats ...

that was adopted there.

Denis Goldberg Denis Theodore Goldberg (11 April 1933 – 29 April 2020) was a South African social campaigner who was active in the struggle against apartheid. He was accused No. 3 of 11 defendants in the Rivonia Trial of 1964, alongside the better-known Ne ...

credits Matthews with having been one of the driving forces behind the proposal for gathering and documenting the wishes of the people for the Charter. Matthews was arrested in December 1956, and was one of the accused in the

Treason Trial The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956. The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not g ...

. On his release from the trial in late 1958, he returned to Fort Hare. He resigned his post in protest against the passage of legislation that reduced the university to a status of an ethnic college for the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

community only. In 1961, Matthews moved to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland after being selected as secretary of the Africa division of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

. In 1966, he accepted the post of

ambassador to the United States The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, , sorted by the representative country or organization. See also *Ambassadors of the United States Notes {{reflist, 30em External linksCurrent and former Ambassadors to the United Sta ...

for the newly independent nation of

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. He died in the capital

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

on 11 May 1968.

Selected publications

*''A New Native Teachers' Course'', Ilanga lase Natal, November 4, 11, 1927 *''Bantu Law and Western Civilisation in South Africa: A Study in the Clash of Cultures '' Yale University, 1934. Master of Arts thesis. *''A Short History of the Tshidi Barolong'', Fort Hare Papers, vol. 1 no. 1, June 1945 *Foreword, in ''Responsible Government in a Revolutionary Age'', d.Z. K. Matthews, Association Press, New York, 1966. *''Freedom For My People'', Cape Town: Collings, 1981. (Published posthumously in 1981) *''Africa holds her own''. An appreciation of Bantu tribal and national culture in the Imperial Protectorates and in the Union of South Africa. By W. Bryant Mumford. in co-operation with Hugh Ashton . ndZ.K. Matthews. *''African awakening and the universities'',

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, 1961.

References

External links

Zachariah Keodirelang Matthews
at South African History Online * The African Activist Archive Project include
Interview with Professor Z. K. Matthews
by George M. Houser in South Africa in September 1954. {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Z.K. 1901 births 1968 deaths People from Dikgatlong Local Municipality Cape Colony people South African Tswana people African National Congress politicians Alumni of the London School of Economics South African anti-apartheid activists People acquitted of treason South African prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of South Africa Ambassadors of Botswana to the United States Academic staff of the University of Fort Hare Recipients of the Order of Luthuli 20th-century South African anthropologists Alumni of Lovedale South African lecturers