The end of a Chapter Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #408)

presence of Jimmy Njongwe, one of the moving spirits in the Eastern Cape during the 1952 Defiance Campaign, led to considerable speculation. He had been inactive since 1953 and it was believed that he was now on the come back. Throughout the proceedings were punctuated by freedom songs and the most popular at that time was "Amandla Ngawethu Nobungcwalisa Bobethu" (Our case is invincible and just). A substantial number of delegates came from areas were there were serious disturbances and where the enemy had come out in full force and persecuting our people in the affected areas. Some of these men and women had been living in hiding for many months and came to listen not to militant speeches but to concrete solutions. Brave as they were, their families were living under a reign of terror, their livestock was being confiscated and their huts burned down. The main theme of my speech was of course the National Convention and the perennial question of united action. I praised those patriots who had already fallen in engagements with the enemy, those who were in custody and those who were still holding out. I pointed out that as long as we were still divided, fighting sporadically and in isolation from one another we would be easy victims. I stressed that what we urgently required was a disciplined struggle under an organisation which commanded the support of the masses of our people from every walk of life, that until we achieved this freedom would continue to elude us. (Image of a homeless cow?); that we could bring temporary and token relief here and there but no real solutions; that the demand for a National Convention was the best way to rally the whole country against apartheid. I finally appealed to all