Luthuli Museum

Two copies of statement by M B Yengwa pleading against removal to Mapumulo.

Oral history interview with Saro Naicker (wife of M P Naicker) and Barbara Wahlberg.

Naicker provides basic biographical information before giving details about her marriage to M P Naicker. She discusses her husband's role in the NIC and Communist Party and his commitment to Luthuli as his speech writer, which brought her into contact with the Chief and Nokukhanya on a few occassions.

She reveals details about her own arrests and imprisonments during the Defiance Campaign and how harrassment by the special branches eventually forced her and MP to seek refuge in London.

The Passive Resistance Campaign, Treason Trial and Rivonia Trial are also subjects raised during the interview. Naicker concludes the conversation by sharing her lasting impressions of Luthuli and Nokukhanya.

The 1952 Defiance Campaign was the largest scale non-violent resistance ever seen in South Africa and the first campaign pursued jointly by all racial groups under the leadership of the ANC and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC).

The Government complained about Luthuli’s participation in the ANC-led Defiance Campaign and in 1952 the authorities asked him to choose between his position as Chief of Groutville and leadership in the ANC.  Luthuli replied that he had no intention of resigning either from ANC leadership or from the chieftainship, as he saw no conflict between the two. 

Later that year, the Apartheid Government dismissed him from his position as Chief of the Umvoti Mission Reserve. The following year he was elected President-General of the ANC, a position he held until his death in 1967.

This painting depicts Chief Luthuli during the Defiance Campaign sitting on a bench in defiance of a sign that reads "whites only". Painted in brown and neutral paint tones.

The 1952 Defiance Campaign was the largest scale non-violent resistance ever seen in South Africa and the first campaign pursued jointly by all racial groups under the leadership of the ANC and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC).

The Government complained about Luthuli’s participation in the ANC-led Defiance Campaign and in 1952 the authorities asked him to choose between his position as Chief of Groutville and leadership in the ANC.  Luthuli replied that he had no intention of resigning either from ANC leadership or from the chieftainship, as he saw no conflict between the two. 

Later that year, the Apartheid Government dismissed him from his position as Chief of the Umvoti Mission Reserve. The following year he was elected President-General of the ANC, a position he held until his death in 1967.

In this image, Luthuli and two men sign up volunteers for the Definace Campaign.