The Backroom Boy

Andrew Malengeni'S Story

Mandla Mathebula

• Publisher: Wits University Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781776140893
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The Backroom Boy opens dramatically in China, 1962. Andrew Mlangeni was one of a small select group undergoing military training there. The unannounced visitor is Mao Tse-Tung or Chairman Mao as he was known, Chairman of the Communist Party of China.
Mlangeni was selected as one of the first-ever six members who received military training in China before the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe. He seems to have been chosen because he was a dedicated, intelligent and dependable operative, rather than a leader. Even after his release after 25 years on Robben Island, Mlangeni was not given a senior position in the post-apartheid democratic government. 'I was always the backroom boy, ' says Andrew Mlangeni about himself.
Andrew Mlangeni, is a struggle stalwart, Rivonia Trialist, and Robben Island prisoner 467/64 who was next door inmate to Nelson Mandela's acclaimed 466/64 prison number. Released after 26 years of incarceration, he served as Member of Parliament, and is Chairman of the ANC's Integrity Commission and Founder of the June and Andrew Mlangeni Foundation. With the passing of Ahmed Kathrada (March 2017), Mlangeni (91) is one of only two Rivonia Trialist still alive with Denis Goldberg.
While still at school, Andrew Mlangeni joined the Communist Party of South Africa and also the ANC Youth League. These were the organisations that shaped his values. Decades of resourceful activism were to lead to his arrest and life sentence in the Rivonia trial. Mlangeni's lifelong commitment to the struggle for liberation reverberates with other biographies and memoirs of leading figures, such as Rusty Bernstein's Memory Against Forgetting and Albie Sachs' We, the People: Insights of an Activist Judge. This story of an ANC elder is a well-researched historical record overlaid with intensely personal refl ections which intersect with the political narrative. Above all, it is one man's story, set in the maelstrom of the liberation struggle.
This biographical project has been developed for, and published in conjunction with, the June and Andrew Mlangeni Foundation.

1

1962, China

It probably took less than a second from the knock – a single bang – to the opening of the door and the entry of an unexpected visitor into the room.

The hosts had just finished their lunch. The unannounced visitor must have realised that he had disrupted the occupants, but there he stood – unconcerned, unfazed and somehow gigantic in his presence. The room had been invaded. The invader was a man who was to be a landmark in the lives of the military trainees, and a major milestone in the programme they had been in for almost a year. Seeing him was like a vision, or a dream in broad daylight.

From the first he was calm, charming and with a humility that contrasted with the reverence bestowed on him by his countrymen and the fear in which he was held abroad. He seemed to be approachable and accommodating – yet dignified and commanding of respect.

Andrew Mlangeni, one of the trainees, nearly jumped off his chair, but hesitated to reveal to the others how excited he was. They, too, he thought, seemed spellbound by what they had hardly expected. They all watched the invader in amazement, each suppressing his excitement in seeing the great man – Mao Tse-Tung – as their guest. Never in their dreams had they thought of getting an opportunity to meet him, let alone play host to him. None of them had thought their stay in that country, far away from their motherland, was appreciated by the highest office in the land.

‘He stood there and gazed at us. He seemed amused. We looked at each other, not knowing if we should greet him first or wait for him to initiate the gesture. Personally, I felt like a military graduate and a liberator of serious note. I felt energised and radicalised and I was ready for any kind of war,’ recalled Andrew Mlangeni.

The guest was in his trademark plain grey suit – a shirt-like jacket buttoned to the neck, with matching trousers. He was a man of about 70, but still strong. ‘He was taller than most Chinese people. He had a big face, with broad cheeks and large eyes that constantly roved around.’

Mao was flanked by six companions including his deputy in the Chinese Communist Party, Deng Xiaoping, and two other heavyweights, Premier Zhou Enlai and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Yi. ‘Deng and Zhou were Mao’s trusted diplomats at the time. Chen was one of the most experienced military and political leaders in Mao’s inner circle.’ One of the other three turned out to be his permanent interpreter, although Mao spoke without his assistance. Andrew Mlangeni was sure that the other two were not bodyguards. ‘There were no guards among the entourage – and none in the vicinity, for that matter,’ he recalled.

Evidently in a celebratory mood, Mao took the initiative. He greeted each one of them with a handshake, starting with the trainers. By the time Mao finally reached him, Andrew Mlangeni’s hidden tension had eased slightly. He had observed how the other hosts had responded to the great man’s gesture. ‘He had a firm handshake. He looked me straight in the face and I did the same, trying to be as great a soldier as I could.’ But he couldn’t help noticing, when Mao smiled slightly, how brown his teeth were. He was known to be a heavy smoker. ‘He carried the fresh smell of a cigarette probably finished a few minutes earlier, and by the time he left he had finished countless more,’ said Andrew, who later learned that Mao smoked over 50 cigarettes a day.

It was Wednesday the first of August 1962. The trainees learned that to Mao they were as important as the all-important day on which he had chosen to visit them. The day was highly significant to the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party, the ‘Army Day’ or ‘Soldiers’ Day’ on which the Chinese celebrated the standing of a soldier in the life of a Chinese citizen. It also commemorated the day in 1927 on which the People’s Liberation Army of China was founded. For Andrew Mlangeni and the other South African trainees in China, it was a day to acknowledge the critical role their programme was destined to play in the liberation of their own people back home. It was the beginning of the end of the struggle, they would say, and the beginning of the end of the suffering their people had endured all those years under colonial rule and apartheid administration. It was the realisation of what the Chinese had already achieved, had tested and were defending.

The day was to remain a notable one in the lives of Andrew and his comrades. Mao’s visit was a sign that their training was valued highly by the Chinese and an indication that, as fighters for freedom, they were important not only to their trainers but to the bosses of their trainers and especially to the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army. They had all read and been inspired by Mao Tse-Tung’s books – On Guerrilla War, On Practice, On Contradiction, On Protracted War, On New Democracy, Serving the People and The Art of War – during their stay in China and as part of their military training, and they regarded Mao not only as a liberator and gallant leader but also as a prolific writer of political, military and philosophical literature. ‘He was an inspirational philosopher, a symbol of patriotism and one of the greatest freedom fighters in the world,’ Andrew Mlangeni was to say later.

Mao did not say as much about himself as hero of his people as the trainees had expected to hear, but the few words he uttered would echo in their thoughts. Speaking in shaky English but in an impressively loud voice, he bemoaned the fact that the ANC had sent only six cadres for training, especially as they had travelled so far. ‘He spoke of the significance of commemorating the life of a soldier and reminded us of our own value to society,’ recalled Andrew, adding that Mao had briefly told them about the People’s Liberation Army and its special unit, the People’s Volunteer Army. ‘He mentioned the wars in which he had participated, all of which we had already read about.’ Mao touched on Sino-Soviet issues and the struggle for liberation in Algeria, challenging the South Africans to learn from the Algerians, who were fighting their French colonisers. ‘He advised us to consider using Algeria as another training ground, as his army had already trained the Algerians – he spoke highly of the Algerians.’ He gave them a short lecture about the value of studying terrain for the purpose of guerilla warfare, and to their surprise he spoke knowledgeably about South African landscape features, naming rivers and mountains. ‘We soon realised he knew the subject better than we did. He had obviously read extensively about South Africa and its government.’

Mao boasted to the trainees that just as foreign invaders had actually speeded up the Chinese revolution, so the brutality of the apartheid regime could accelerate the people’s struggle in South Africa. He also impressed Andrew by stating that he was mindful of the cost of the revolution to family and friends, having himself lost family members during the revolution. ‘He urged us not to regret such losses and never to blame ourselves in this regard,’ said Andrew, who would later learn that everyone surrounding Mao was a staunch supporter of the Chinese Communist Party. ‘It became evident to me that to be around Mao one had to have unquestioned ideological loyalty and perhaps even to have proven oneself as beyond reproach within the Communist Party.’

By the time he left, a mere few moments later, Mao Tse-Tung had made such an impression that it felt to the trainees as if he had been there the whole day. The impact on their lives – not only as freedom fighters but also as leaders in their own right – was huge, and in their minds he would always appear as the revolutionary and founding father of the People’s Republic of China.

Andrew Mlangeni’s lasting impression of Mao was of his striking force and dignity, his intelligence and his wit. The few moments of the meeting confirmed the Chinese leader as a firm disciplinarian. ‘The Chinese leadership generally exercised the highest level of discipline and this could be attributed to their leader’s intelligence.’ Andrew also found Mao reasonable and considerate, especially to the situation the South Africans were in at the time.

Above all, Mao was a great military strategist and political visionary with a proud nationalist and anti-imperialist outlook and deep loyalty to his country and people, whom he had served in an exceptional way. ‘He modernised China and built it into a world power, promoted the status of women, and improved the quality of education and healthcare, which almost doubled the population of his country during his rule. He was not extravagent. He lived with his family in a humble residence in Beijing … a true socialist who forsook luxuries.’

The trainees could see that the Chinese were a business-minded people with a global mission and a strategy. They had made it clear to the South Africans from the start that there was going to be a full training programme and that they, the Chinese, were dedicated to the programme as well. They had also made it clear that they expected their trainees to take the course seriously, to be disciplined and to show unlimited commitment to the training and its aim – the liberation of their country. From the first day of training, 2 November 1961, until the end of December, the trainees had studied in detail the history of the Chinese revolution, from morning till dusk, breaking only for lunch and supper. ‘We learned about the roles played by Mao, Li Ta-chao, Sun Yat-sen, Wu Yu-Chang and other figures of the Chinese revolution. The stories of these Chinese heroes were inspiring.’ Li Ta-chao, a scholar of great moral courage, had been arrested together with many other revolutionaries by Chang Tso- lin, a Fengtien warlord, who had then seized Peking. Although he was horribly tortured in prison, he had continued to spread the ideas of communism. His courage won over some of the prison guards, who carried secret messages for him. ‘His capture aroused public indignation. Students, writers, teachers and others made strong demands for his immediate release.’ Andrew was impressed by the visionary leadership he exercised from within prison walls. ‘When his supporters on the ground threatened to storm the prison to free him he restrained them, telling them the revolutionary forces must be preserved at all costs.’ A year later, Li Ta-chao and 19 other revolutionaries were secretly executed. ‘He is said to have walked to the gallows smiling, with a clenched fist, and defiantly addressed his executioners before they murdered him – sheer bravery.’ The message for the trainees was simply that the death of individuals could never kill a revolution.

Sun Yat-sen was another of the early leaders of the Chinese revolution. ‘He is credited for having turned the likes of Li Ta-chao into anti-imperialist and anti-feudal idealists.’ Wu Yu-Chang, from the northern town of Chongging, had greatly inspired many Chinese leaders such as Deng Xiaoping in their youth. ‘He had a vision of a united and prosperous China,’ said Andrew.

It was intensive and rigorous study. The trainees soon recognised that any study of the Chinese revolution would not be complete without reading Mao’s books on military tactics, philosophy, politics and history. ‘He was a frank writer, exploring controversial subjects such as communism and dictatorship, anti-imperialism and ethnological history, and describing the League of Nations as the League of Robbers.’ The trainees were specifically taught that in the massive country that was China there were large swathes of fertile land which provided the people with food and clothing; mountain ranges across its length and breadth with extensive forests and rich mineral deposits which provided the people with wealth; rivers and lakes which provided the people with water, transport and irrigation; and a long coastline which facilitated communication with nations beyond the seas. ‘We learned that, from ancient times, the fore-fathers of the living Chinese people had laboured, lived and multiplied on this vast territory.’

Of particular interest to the trainees was the fact that China bordered on the Soviet Union in the north-east – another communist friend of the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). The instructors frequently reminded them that it was an advantage to be adjacent to the Soviet Union and fairly distant from the major imperialist countries in Europe and America. They bemoaned Japanese imperialism which, making use of its geographical proximity, was constantly threatening the very existence of the Chinese people’s revolution.

The trainees began to understand the Chinese nation and its industriousness and stamina, and they absorbed its ardent love of freedom and its rich revolutionary traditions. ‘The history of the Han people, for instance, demonstrated that the Chinese had never submitted to tyrannical rule but had invariably used revolutionary means to overthrow or change it,’ stated Andrew Mlangeni. ‘We learned that in the thousands of years of Han history there had been hundreds of peasant uprisings, great and small, against the dark rule of the landlords and the nobility.’ All the nationalities of China had resisted foreign oppression and had resorted to rebellion to shake it off. Throughout recorded history the Chinese had given birth to many national heroes and revolutionary leaders. To Andrew and his comrades the Chinese nation had a glorious revolutionary tradition and a splendid historical heritage. ‘It reminded us of our own history back in South Africa, and the wars of resistance against colonialism and, later, apartheid. It also reminded us of struggles waged by worker unions, of protests and pickets.’ But Andrew also conceded that China’s economic, political and cultural development had been sluggish for a long time after the transition from slave to feudal society, and he detected a belief among the Chinese elite that it was not the purpose of the imperialist powers to transform feudal China into capitalist China. ‘On the contrary, the Chinese believed the purpose of their colonisers was to make China into their own colony.’

The instructors constantly reminded the trainees about the way the imperialist powers had waged wars of aggression against China: the Opium War launched by Britain in 1839; the war launched by the Anglo-French allied forces in 1857; the Sino-French War of 1884; the Sino-Japanese War of 1894; and the war launched by the allied forces of the eight powers in 1900. They were taught that the history of China’s transformation into a colony by imperialism, in collusion with Chinese feudalism, was at the same time a history of unrelenting and heroic struggle by the Chinese people. Andrew would later learn that the national revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people had a history of over a hundred years if one counted from the Opium War of 1839, or 50 years counting from the revolution of 1911, but he thought it had not yet run its full course or performed its tasks with any signal success. ‘The Chinese people, and above all the ruling Communist Party, had to shoulder the responsibility of resolutely fighting on. Freedom, therefore, would not mean the end of the struggle in South Africa,’ deduced Andrew.

The trainees were made to understand that the enemies of the Chinese revolution were very powerful and included not only imperialists and feudal forces but also, at times, the bourgeois reactionaries who collaborated with them. It was wrong, they were told, to underestimate the strength of the enemies of the revolutionary Chinese people, and it would similarly be wrong for the people of South Africa to underestimate their enemies or to misdirect their enmity to people with whom they should align. In the face of such enemies, the instructors would emphasise, the Chinese revolution could not be other than protracted and ruthless. Only over time could the revolutionary forces be built up and tempered into a power steeled and tenacious, and capable of crushing its enemies. It was therefore put to the trainees that it was wrong to think that the forces of the Chinese revolution could have been built up in the blink of an eye, or that China’s revolutionary struggle could have triumphed overnight. Nor could the Chinese revolution have been achieved through peaceful means. It had to be armed struggle. Enemies had made peaceful activity impossible for the Chinese people and deprived them of all political freedom and democratic rights. ‘By implication, it was the same for South Africa, and to succeed in our struggle we had to follow the Chinese approach. The armed revolution was aimed at fighting the armed counter-revolutionary.’

The training made it clear, however, that placing the emphasis on armed struggle in a revolution did not mean abandoning other forms of struggle. On the contrary, armed struggle could not succeed unless it was coordinated with other forms of struggle. The trainees were made to understand the specific conditions in China; how the methods the Chinese employed were essential to solving its revolutionary problems; and how the Chinese learned to be clear about the targets, the tasks and the motive forces of the Chinese revolution – something, the instructors said, that the South Africans should emulate. Andrew would later admit that Mao’s agrarian socialism and cultural revolution could have been the aspects of Maoism most strongly entrenched in his own ideology. China’s post-liberation programmes, the ‘Five-Year Plan’ of 1953-1958 and the ‘Great Leap Forward’, which were still fresh in Chinese people’s minds at the time, would also play a role in shaping the minds of the trainees in thinking through their own programmes for a liberated South Africa.

By the end of December 1961, when the trainers considered that their charges were ready for the practical skills of guerrilla warfare, they divided them in preparation for the next step of the training that lasted from January to August 1962. First, they were separated according to their level of education, especially in mathematics. Andrew and Nandha Steve Naidoo, the only ones with mathematical skills, were sent to Liaoning Province in the north of China (Naidoo, a member of the Natal Indian Congress and a former student at the University of Natal, was then a student at the London School of Economics). Bordering North Korea, and the last zone to be liberated from imperialist Japan in 1945, Liaoning Province was regarded as the coldest place in China in winter, where everyone wore padded clothes all the time. Here, they were placed at the Shen-Yon military academy, given army uniforms and treated as military personnel in training. The 41-year old Raymond Mhlaba, the 42-year old Abel Patrick Mthembu, the 34-year old Joe Gqabi and the 38-year old Wilton Mkwayi, the other trainees, were sent south, to Nanjing, placed at the headquarters of the Chinese army and trained primarily on guerrilla warfare, footpath traps and the building of bombs sophisticated and rudimentary. For more than nine months they learned guerrilla warfare, its discipline and its ethics. Deep guerrilla warfare became their speciality.

The Shen-Yon military academy, where Andrew Mlangeni and Steve Naidoo were placed, was located at a military base with high-level security. Everyone associated with the base was vetted thoroughly and all – including general workers, chefs and laundry handlers – were ardent members of the Communist Party of China. ‘There was to be no doubt of the loyalty of the person who was employed there – even those who were only delivering supplies,’ said Andrew. He found the Chinese to be very disciplined and tactful in providing assistance to foreign military organisations. He observed that no two movements from different countries could be in one training at any given time. For example, he and Steve Naidoo were at the Liaoning military base for almost a year with the members of the New Zealand Communist Party without knowing this – until their last breakfast, when they were introduced to each other. They had also only become aware in the middle of their training of the exact assistance the Chinese had given to Algeria’s Liberation de Nationale forces; and only once they had completed their training did they hear about the backing of Guinea-Bissau rebels against Portuguese rule. They were, however, aware of attempts made earlier, between 1953 and 1960, by Walter Sisulu, Moses Kotane and Dr Yusuf Dadoo to gain assistance from the Chinese.

Later in their training, Andrew Mlangeni and Steve Naidoo rejoined their fellow South African combatants in mastering the art of underground communication. This included the manufacturing of transmitters, resistors and anything to do with transmitting voices and transforming them from waves to voices and connecting them to receivers such as radios. They were also taught Morse code. ‘The Chinese emphasised the importance of this kind of communication in guerrilla warfare and how it operated in China, in particular in the communes organised under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.’ The art of guerrilla warfare was largely based on Mao’s own philosophy. It emphasised the need for guerrillas to earn the support of their population, especially in distributing propaganda and attacking the organs of state, so that the citizens could provide cover for the guerrillas and other necessary support. It also promoted the launch of escalating attacks on government forces and institutions to paraly...