The Defiance Campaign Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #120)

African premier. I believe I would have got what I wanted even if I had told him the truth. A few hours before the Transvaal batch went into action and in the presence of a large contingent of inquisitive pressmen and photographersI delivered a letter from the ANC to the Boksburg magistrate, advising him that volunteers would enter the African township in his area that same day without permits that are required by law and the actual handing over of the letter was a moment the pressmen did not want to miss, and publicity given to the matter and the click of the cameras annoyed the official. He invited Yusuf Cachalia and me into his office and warned that undue publicity on matters that ought to be discussed quietly and directly by South Africans alone was undesirable. His office he said would always be open to us and that we could always bring problems directly to him. He felt confident that in this way we could make greater progress in finding proper solutions. I had not expected anything so polished and gentle from a white official and momentarily caught off guard. But I fully appreciated the force of his arguement and expressly commended him for a sober approach, at the same time assuring him that I would always bear his remarks in mind. I nevertheless thought it my duty to tell him that our organisations had since their establishment tried to do exactly as he advised and that it was his government which had spurned our offers of co operation and forced us to act as we had done. This impromtu discussion ened on a friendly note. As an attorney I had appeared before the same official on several occasions. He was a capable man for whom I had developed much respect. His reaction to the manner in which we advised him