Mandela Reports to Luthuli on his Trip Abroad
On 1 August 1962, Nelson Mandela met with the President of the African National Congress (ANC), Inkosi Albert Luthuli, in a house in Tongaat, to tell him about his trip abroad. He was first taken to Groutville, where Inkosi Luthuli resided, but they then decided to meet at a house of an Indian lady in Tongaat. Mandela briefed Luthuli about his trip and explained the situation to a full extent.
When Mandela was done, Luthuli informed Mandela that he didn’t like the idea of foreign politicians dictating ANC policy, mainly relating to Mandela’s proposal of reshaping the Congress Alliance to ensure that the ANC was clearly seen to be the leader on issues affecting Africans directly. This was in response to the Zambian and other African leaders’ concerns that they understood the PAC’s (the Pan-Africanist Congress) pure African nationalism, but were bewildered by the ANC’s non-racialism and cooperation with communists. For Luthuli, the ANC had developed its policy of non-racialism for good reasons, and that should not be changed because it didn’t suit a few foreign leaders.
According to Luthuli, “How easy it would have been in South Africa for the natural feelings of resentment at white domination to have been turned into feelings of hatred and a desire for revenge against the white community … It is because, deliberately and advisedly, African leadership for the past 50 years, with the inspiration of the Africa
