Pixley Ka Isaka Seme

Pixley ka Isaka Seme was a South African lawyer and a founder and President of the African National Congress, who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Africa. Seme was one of the first western-educated Africans to challenge the European colonialism then sweeping across the continent.

Pixley Ka Isaka Seme was born in 1881 at Inanda, a small community of the American Zulu Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Colony of Natal. He was the last-born son of his parents, Isaka Seme and Eliza Bhulose, who were inclusive members of the American missions.

The Seme family is known to have originated from the northern parts of what is today known as KwaZulu-Natal province in an area close to the St Lucia estuary. His grandfather was Sinono, the son of Mbuyazi of Njonjo of Khuwana of Mqumbela of Sokoti of Seme. The Semes were members of the Mthethwas, one of the prominent polities in 18th and early 19th century southern Africa.

Pixley Ka Isaka Seme was first known as Isaac until he went to Massachusetts in the late 1898. He changed his name Isaac to Pixley when he applied to study at Northfield Mount Hermon School, changing the name in honor of Rev. Stephen Pixley, one of the missionaries of American Zulu Mission who had been instrumental in getting him to study in the United States of America.

During college education at Columbia University in 1902, he added "ka Isaka" to his name, changing it once again. He was thereafter referred as Pixley ka Isaka Seme.

Pixley started his education from the local mission school in Inanda at his time. From then on, he went to study at Adams College, which is in the south of Durban. Adams College, named after the missionary Dr. Newton Adams, was also an institution of the American Zulu Mission.

In 1898, Pixley sailed to the United States to attend high school, which he did at Mount Hermon School, MA, where he graduated in 1902 (the school now the Northfield Mount Hermon School).

He continued with his undergraduate studies at Columbia University in New York City, from 1902 to 1906. While at Columbia, he was active in the university's debating society. In 1906, his senior year at the university, he was awarded the Curtis Medal, Columbia's highest oratorical honor.

It was this period that he gave an incredible address speech to the Royal African Society in London titled "The Regeneration of Africa". This speech later on in history inspired some African freedom fighters to liberate the continent from the clutches of colonialism.

Seme called to the Bar, 1910

After Columbia University, he applied to study law at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. In September 1906, Pixley was admitted to Jesus College in Oxford to study for a law degree. He was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1907 and was called to the Bar on June 8, 1910.

While a Law student in London, Seme followed a deliberations on the Union of South Africa Bill (1909), which proposes a framework for the establishment of the Union of South Africa.

Few months after joining the Bar and Middle Temple in 1910, Pixley Ka Isaka Seme returned home, South Africa and began to practice as a lawyer in Johannesburg.

In 1911, Seme established the South African Native Farmers Association to encourage farm workers to buy land in the Daggakraal area, and thus attain personal independence. As a result, the Natives Land Act of 1913, which prohibited "black" people from owning land in South Africa, was passed by the white government. This initiative and action marked the genesis of his political career.

Seme worked with some other young African leaders like himself who have also returned from universities abroad to form union towards independence, in response to the formation of the Union of South Africa, which he already started in London.

In January 1912, these efforts bore fruit with the founding meeting of the South African Native National Congress, later renamed the African National Congress.

The African National Congress (ANC), which was founded by Seme himself and other South African freedom fighters, John Langalinabele Dube, Sol Plaatje and Josiah Tshangaria Gumede, originated as a liberation movement to oppose apartheid and racial discrimination on the then South Africa.

The union was ligalised as political party in 1990 and has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election resulted in Nelson Mandela, ANC candidate being elected as president.

Seme was also the lawyer of Queen Regent Labotsibeni of Swaziland, through whom the first ANC newspaper Abantu-Batho was financed. In 1922, he accompanied King Sobhuza II as part of a delegation to London to meet British authorities and the King regarding the land proclamation in Swaziland.

Pixley Ka Isaka Seme was very close to the Zulu and Swazi royal families. As part of his nationalistic duties, he served as King advisor. He married a Zulu princess, Phikisele Harriet ka Dinizulu, the daughter of the then King Dinuzulu and Princess Lozinja, daughter of Swazi King Mbandzeni.

Seme died on June 1951 at the age of 70 in Johannesburg, Union of South Africa.

Honors and Achievements

Pixley Ka Isaka Seme was awarded the Curtis Medal, the highest oratorical honor at the Columbia University in 1906.

In 1911, he established the South African Native Farmers Association to encourage farm workers to buy land in the Daggakraal area, and thus attain personal independence.

In 1912, he co-foundered the South African Native National Congress, which later became African National Congress, his greatest legacy.