Zacharias Richard Mahabane, OLG (15 August 1881 – September 1971) was a South African politician. He was the President of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

from 1924 to 1927 and again from 1937 to 1940. He was also a Methodist pastor.

Early life

Zacharias Richard Mahabane was born in the town of

Thaba Nchu Thaba 'Nchu, also known as Blesberg (''bald mountain'' in Afrikaans), is a town in Free State, South Africa, 63 km east of Bloemfontein and 17 km east of Botshabelo. The population is largely made up of Tswana and Sotho people. The to ...

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

and his parents were farmers. After his primary school education at a local

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Mission School A mission school or missionary school is a religious school originally developed and run by Christian missionaries. The mission school was commonly used in the colonial era for the purposes of Westernization of local people. These may be day s ...

, he attended the Morija Mission Institute in

Basutoland Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basot ...

now,

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

which was the homeland of his father, an establishment of the Paris Evangelical Mission. In 1901 at the age of twenty, he qualified as a teacher there, he then later gave up teaching to become a court interpreter in a career that lasted until 1908. Later during 1908 he began theological training at the Lessyton Theological School near Queenstown. He was ordained as a

minister in 1914. He was first sent to Bensonvale Parish and later

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 ...

Personal life

Mahabane was married to Harriet Mantoro, they went on to have three daughters and two sons. Harriet was President of the National Council of African Women of

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 1936. He died at

Kroonstad Kroonstad ( in Afrikaans) is a town in Free State, South Africa, consisting of the following suburbs: Brentpark, Constantia, Constantia Park, Dawid Malanville, Elandia, Gelukwaarts, Goedgedacht, Heuningspruit, Industria, Jordania, Koek ...

, Free State, in September 1971.

Political life

Reverend Mahabane went to

in 1916, where he joined the South African National Native Congress (Cape Branch), and was elected as local President in 1919 at age 38. Along with the Coloured leader Dr A. Abdurahman, he organised the Non-European Unity Conferences between 1927 and 1934 where

Africans The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each ethnicity generally having their own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Sahara ...

Coloureds Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

and Indians discussed their common grievances and ideals. He was elected the President of the

from 1924 to 1927, he was opposed to communism and hence opposed J.T. Gumede. In 1925 he was also elected as the Vice President of the Cape Native Voters’ Convention. He traveled to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in 1926 in connection with the ANC, and in 1927 and 1937 for missionary conferences. In the middle of 1927 the Church sent Reverend Mahabane and his wife to Kimberly where they remained until their departure in January 1937. While in

he had also been the Secretary of the African Christian Minister's Association of the Diamond Fields. In the year of 1937 when he was elected President of the ANC for his second term, he left Kimberley for

Winburg Winburg is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. It is the oldest proclaimed town (1837) in the Orange Free State, South Africa and along with Griekwastad, is one of the oldest settlements in South Africa loc ...

in the Free State. Mahabane was a member of the 1936 All-African Convention delegation that conferred with Prime Minister

J. B. M. Hertzog General James Barry Munnik Hertzog (3 April 1866 – 21 November 1942), better known as Barry Hertzog or J. B. M. Hertzog, was a South African politician and soldier. He was a Boer general during the Second Boer War who served a ...

prior to the submission of the separate-roll compromise to Parliament. Mahabane and ZK Matthews were elected to the executive, Mahabane becoming Vice president in 1937. Mahabane acted as vice-president of the AAC, and from 1940 to 1954 he served as the AAC's official vice-president. When his term as ANC President ended in 1940 he became the official Chaplain to the ANC and was elected as a Lifelong Honorary President of the ANC in 1943. During the 1940s he concentrated more on the AAC, and on the Non-European Unity Movement, of which he became President at its foundation in 1945, remaining in that position until 1956 when he resigned. In the 1940s he concentrated on religious organizations, this included the Inter-Denominational African Minister's Federation that was founded in 1945. He became its President in 1963.

Original Writings

*In 1923 he wrote his debut book entitled: “The Colour Bar in South Africa”. *Prior to his death, he wrote another which would be his last entitled: “The Good Fight: Selected Speeches of Rev. Zacchaeus R. Mahabane”, under his name, but edited by G. M. Carter and S. W. Johns, of Evanston: Northwestern University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahabane, Zacharias Richard 1881 births 1971 deaths African National Congress politicians Presidents of the African National Congress South African Methodists Recipients of the Order of Luthuli