Around Mother Africa Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #450)

time to speak to him and to know a little more about the men who organised the country's agricultural workers union and who also made an important contribution in the Party that led the independence struggle. He and Julius Nyerere seemed to match each other in their humility and friendliness and he repeated the warm sentiments expressed to me earlier by the ex premier. I stayed with Nsilo (?) Swai, a cabinet minister and the warmth with which I was received made me feel perfectly at home and among life long friends, the same feeling that inspired me whenever I was in the company of Chief Luthuli, Professor Z.K. Matthews, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and other colleagues. Their government was non racial and the poppulation groups of the country were represented on it an inspiration to us who sought to build a South Africa on the same model. I visited the TANU offices and even before I reached them it was evident that I was about to enter the headquarters of a party which had triumphed because of its own strength and efficiency and its machinery and certainly not because of the generosity or weakness of the enemy. There were still visible symbols which showed unmistakably that TANU occupied a dominant position in the political life of the country. Prior to my arrival I had read reports to the effect that before independence it had a membership of about half a million out of a popuplation of 9 million. My compagnion pointed to the vehicles parked outside the building as belonging either to TANU or its officials and the party itself occupied 3 floors in its own building with a large number of full time officials. There were detailed maps from which you could see at a glance the branches throughout the country.