Thembile Ndabeni
Among many of history’s roles is to dispel myths and eradicate distortion and lies.
Whether one believes in having women in leadership or not, it happened in the past. Therefore, it is a misinformed, false presentation and impression that women were not involved in political leadership in their organisations/movements.
The Western Cape has a history of diversity in most if not in all respects, especially in politics. It excelled in politics. Without any fear or favour, let me categorically state there were four major political tendencies or ideologies in the Western Cape. Those are workerism (Trotskyites/Trotskyists), Pan Africanism, Black Consciousness (Zim-zim) and Chartists (ANC and aligned). That was a true reflection of the politics of the left in the country.
It is not surprising that Cape Town was the centre of political awareness, influence, understanding, debate, and discussion.
Except for the events of 1960 and 1976, the Western Cape was the home and the centre of workerism. That is reflected both by the numbers of parties it had and the quality of the leaders it (workerism) produced.
And one of those leaders of quality is Zainunissa Cissie Gool, the daughter of Dr Abdurahman.
She clearly represented the prevalent ideology in the Western Cape from the coloured community. Her father was the founding president of the African People’s Organisation. He was one of the educated members of the coloured community in the early days. Her mother Nellie resembled her father.
As a socialist she became a campaigner for the rights of the underprivileged people. Therefore, Cissie was an apple that did not fall far from the tree.
She belonged to one of the leading tendencies in the liberation Struggle at a time when people were not so informed politically either because of time, ignorance, and fear.
History is not meant or made by one or certain people. The other danger is that people are not reading and researching.
As a result, (they) are uninformed about other people but see and draw conclusions about them from a surface value. How many people know about the deep involvement of the coloured people especially the academics and intellectuals?
Some, if not most, think it was started by the likes of the late Dr Neville Alexander and Trevor Manuel. Yet there were many before they were born.
The saddest or one of the saddest things about Gool is that she obtained her law degree and was admitted as an advocate a year before her death.
Was it a coincidence or foul play? As much as she was honoured by the government, she is not part of the history curriculum as an individual and her party/parties.
She was naturally and voluntarily surrounded by politics. She was a daughter of a prominent politician. He (her father) was also the first South African of colour to be elected to the Cape Town City Council in 1904.
The mother as well was a political activist. Same applies with her in-laws, maybe on a slightly different note.
She was a human rights activist and campaigned for the rights of black and coloured people in 1930.
It is therefore not surprising that she was elected to the Cape Town City Council in 1938 unchanged until her death. She led the Cape Indians in a passive-resistance march against racial discrimination in 1946.
Her role in the Struggle does not match with her being not known. Of course, she was not in the contest to be known. But that she is not known means something is wrong especially with the recording and teaching of History. Within that wrong/failure is the deprivation resulting in the distortion of the role of the coloured people especially women in fighting for the marginalised and the oppressed.
She followed in the footsteps of her father and mother but walked slightly differently, in her own way. It is wrong that the government has not moved to ensure that the history curriculum is transformed so that people like her are part of it.
Ndabeni is a former history tutor at UWC and a former teacher at Bulumko Senior Secondary School in Khayelitsha
Cape Times