At College Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #30)

of the Non European Unity Movement. Though we have not met for thirty six years I sometimes think of him. Even at Clarkebury I considered Vabaza to be a man who was carved uot for the highest honours, an impression which has been fully confirmed by his activities as a student at Fort Hare, his contributions as a teacher and as a member of the Cape African Teachers Association and as a lawyer. But I have always thought of him more as a community leader than a successful professional man, a people's prophet working full time and systematically for heaven on this earth. A man with his abilities would have been an asset to the struggle for national emancipation no matter which wing of the liberation movement he belongs to. There are many South Africans who as individuals are better known than Mfecane. But the special importance of men like him lies in the fact that they have pledged themselves to fight against the greatest evil in life man's inhumanity to man. They proclaim that love of all human beings, equality of all people and the need to live in harmony are the highest principles of social life, and believe that one's total commitment to the struggle against social evil is the true mark of one's progress. They seek solutions through team work, and as members af a mass political organisation which is countrywide and which serves as a vehicle for the African opinion as a whole. They are front liners who have renounced personal comfort and placed themselves at the service of the people. They pay particular regard to both principles and method and have consistently sought peaceful solutions because peace is the mother of all nations. But they are realists, and where peaceful solutions have failed they do not hesitate to use violence. Above all, throughout their political career, they have been inspired by the knowledge and belief that where a people are divided, victory is impossible. Soon after leaving school Mfecane settled in Port Elizabeth where he became a trade unionist, and member of the African National