When Kenya rejected plea to host the ANC

Former President Daniel arap Moi with South African

President Nelson Mandela in Nairobi

By Kwamchetsi Makokha

 In Summary

• Mphalele hoped that this ‘freedom movement’ based in Kenya would have Kenyan members organise protests and demonstrations against South Africa
• After Mandela became president, he travelled to Kenya more than once, but it never seemed to thaw relations much

In 1963, the ANC through Ezekiel Mphalele wrote to Mr Tom Mboya, then Minster for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, seeking permission to be allowed to have a ‘freedom movement’ in Kenya. Mboya forwarded the letter to Mr Joseph Murumbi, the Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Murumbi replied saying that for diplomatic reasons, the ANC would not be allowed to have its own base as its rival, the PAC, was already vibrant in Tanzania. The PAC had captured the imagination of most Africans as it was entirely black-led while the ANC had a mix of Whites, Indians, Coloureds and Communists. It is perhaps for this reason that Mandela had met Odinga, believed to be sympathetic to Communists, and not the Prime Minister.

Mphalele hoped that this ‘freedom movement’ based in Kenya would have Kenyan members organise protests and demonstrations against South Africa, tackle the refugee problem so that it did not become a burden for them and build a general anti-apartheid mood in relation to South Africa. In Murumbi’s reply to Mboya, he mentioned that the cash-strapped Kenya African National Union would not be able to assist financially but he would consult with Mzee [Jomo Kenyatta] to see if anything could be done. Nothing seems to have come of it.

BLOWING HOT AND COLD

The government was in correspondence with many heads of state but never the ANC. Murumbi, who served as minister and then Vice President between 1962 and 1966, chronicled most of these correspondences. Government officials seem not to have officially travelled to South Africa.

Despite the independence governments’ apathy to the South African cause, individuals and groups of Kenyans had tried to play a part in the struggle.

The Committee of African Organisations in London formed in 1958 planned a common line of attack on oppressive regimes on the continent. Among the members of the organisation were the Kenyan Students Association and the East and Central African Study Circle.

On June 26, 1958, they organised a meeting to draw the attention of the British public to the oppressive nature of the South African government. They held a vigil outside South Africa House in London, distributed copies of boycott leaflets and urged British citizens to boycott all South African imports.

During the deadlock between ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1994, a little known Kenyan was one of the people crucial to the talks: Prof Washington Jalang’o Okumu, a Kenyan mediator, influenced Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s decision to resume negotiations with Mandela’s side.

After Mandela became president, he travelled to Kenya more than once, but it never seemed to thaw relations much. From being snubbed at the airport to the sudden evacuation of the South African High Commissioner from his Nairobi residence in 2004, the subtleties of personal interaction that would have assuaged feelings injured over the years just were not there.

President Mwai Kibaki first visited South Africa in August 2003.

Mandela later visited Kenya as a retired president. During his October 2005 visit with wife Graca Machel, Mandela praised the Government for consolidating peace and opening up democratic space. He said Kenya was a good example of an emerging democracy which should be emulated by other countries in the region. He also praised President Kibaki’s leadership and the Government for speeding up development.

He cited the free primary education programme as key to empowering the Kenyan youth to cope with modern challenges. President Kibaki said he and other African leaders were inspired by Mandela’s wisdom and leadership, especially with regard to the liberation of South Africa and promotion of peace and freedom globally.

“You have done Africa proud. We are greatly inspired by your endless efforts to make the world a better place by spearheading peace and reconciliation as a way of restoring human dignity,” President Kibaki told Mandela.

Yet, as two independent nations, Kenya and South Africa have had uneasy relations cluttered by issues such as the lopsided trade imbalance between them, to competition for first-among-equals status in peace making and international relations.