Switzer calculated the average life of a sample of 30 black pro-ANC newspapers between 1912 and 1960 as only 27 months. He argued: ‘The ANC never had a truly national newspaper’; ‘even the militant African-owned protest press remained provincial in its audience if not in its outlook’, while ‘the quality of Abantu-Batho … cannot be assessed because virtually no issues have survived’.234 Over three decades later we can analyse a rather wider sample of the paper and draw on greater knowledge of regional ANC history. In the 1910s it had some presence in rural towns of the Transvaal, holding mass meetings to discuss the Land Act and passes, and developing branches in places such as Phokeng, Lydenburg, Spelonken, Volksrust, Heidelberg, Bethal and Waterberg.235 Government officials observed in 1919 that Africans in the southern Waterberg ‘read the newspapers and the discussions amongst Europeans, in and out of parliament, in which constant reference to the rights and opinions of the native population is heard’, and this ‘is making an impression on them’.236 Dan Motuba in 1917 commented that in Rustenburg district many African ‘men who receive news papers … are simply raging mad at’ the imposition of pass laws on African women.237 Abantu-Batho editors such as Seme, Mabaso and Mvabaza addressed meetings in such places, intimating that the paper probably made it there, or at least was read out; a detailed report on a meeting in the Waterberg between chiefs and the Secretary of Native Affairs was printed in 1917.238 An instance of impact comes from Barney Ngakane, a teacher whose parents were Congress members. He recalls that teaching in a village in Piet Retief in 1921 he became aware, by reading Abantu-Batho – ‘the one newspaper we had’ – of harsh new taxes and through the paper he was able to follow the course of protests and mobilise local opposition.239
In general, and especially in its first decade, then, we can assume that the paper exercised an influence that exceeded its official circulation for four reasons: the passing of issues from hand to hand or oral transmission of some of its content, its role as a catalyst of protest actions, its status as Congress organ and scrutiny by the state.
The paper’s structure had very specific features. Its symbol (until 1929) was a circle enclosing a shield backed by spears and knobkerries with two hands shaking in the centre.240
The masthead in 1914 carried the sub-title ‘The Voice of the Native Races of South Africa’. There were sections in isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho and English. Frequency was fairly regular: it was published each week on a Thursday. The weekly edition may have continued at the same time that a bi-monthly special English-only edition appeared for February–March 1920, and perhaps the month before.241
There were ancillary publications – pamphlets and an Abantu-Batho Almanac that appeared in several editions, first in 1916, when it sold for 6d,242 and again in 1917/18 and 1922. The 1917 edition, favourably reviewed (a ‘pleasant surprise’) by Ilanga in February 1918, featured numerous fine photographs, including portraits of Seme, Mangena, R. W. Msimang, Mvabaza, Grendon, H. V. Msane, solicitors George Montsioa and Ngcuou Poswayo, the wives of Dube and of Plaatje, musician Reuben Davies, and Africans in the Orange Free State (perhaps at the ANC conference). Also featured were Abantu-Batho workers, the SANNC delegation, Rubusana, Jabavu, and Mapikela and the premises of the African Club.243 In 1916 Seme took D. D. T. Jabavu to a photographic studio to have his portrait taken for the Almanac.244 The iAlmanaka lika Bantu-Batho of 1922 featured presidents Marcus Garvey and Makgatho, W. E. B. Du Bois, J. E. K. Aggrey, Duse Mohamed of Egypt, and Shaka – names that may have suggested to a young Mweli Skota their inclusion in his African Yearly Register nine years later.245 Lacking the anti-ANC phobia of his father, a few years later Jabavu sent the requisite postcard-size letter to The Christian Express commending Abantu-Batho (along with Ilanga, Naledi ea Lesotho and Mochochonono) as a fine example of African success that had ‘stood for many years’.246
We know little of actual press operations such as design/layout, the daily work day, and how editorial decisions were made, although we have one (meagre) ‘subscription list’ from Natal, a list of shareholders, a few photographs of the press and staff (see the cover and illustrations), and details of distribution outlets and estimated circulation. The first editors had to invent and then maintain routines of production; plans for distribution; and relations with readers, backers, rivals and the state. The paper did use sellers or ‘paper boys’ – in 14 August 1930, it advertised for ‘[m]en, women, boys and girls of the African race’ to sell the paper, offering a ‘liberal commission’ of one penny on each paper sold – each copy cost 3d (this price never changed). And standing as a huge obstacle to the smooth operation of Abantu-Batho (and the entire black press) was the absence of access to news agencies. Either through lack of money to afford the pricey news feeds of professional agencies such as Reuters (see chapter 11 in this volume) or by the reluctance of such white companies to share data, black journalists had to find stories on their own or were forced to reprint what was in other papers.
There were campaigns to boost circulation. In 1915 Kunene organised a concert and touring ‘Native Choir’, aiming to build a ’10,000 subscriber’ base. It was ‘almost impossible to get our people to come to meetings in large numbers in order that we may be enabled to talk to them on the importance of reading newspapers and thereby know exactly what is going on’. So he added to the entertainment some lectures on the need to read papers and take out subscriptions.247 Letanka also organised concerts and choirs.248 A poster ‘Kufuneka 10,000 abafundi’ publicising a concert at Ebenezer Hall (see Figure 4) reveals Abantu-Batho Ltd as printers, publishers, booksellers and newsagents; it was incorporated in Natal with £3,000 capital; directors were Seme (Court Chambers), Chief M. Moloi (Amersfort), Rev. G. W. Nkosi249 (Waterval), D. S. Letanka (Court Chambers) and the late Prince Malunge; and founders were the Queen of Swaziland and Seme. At the concert, R. W. Msimang would be chairperson (and perhaps lecturer), with performances by the West Minstrel Troup of Johannesburg, Mick Mike Makgate (‘Baritone Profundo in the Rand’) and J. K. Maphison, ‘well-known comedian on the Rand’.
Such concerts were part of a burgeoning Johannesburg associational life including clubs and debating societies of which Abantu-Batho was a central part (see chapter 11). The paper’s managing company also was involved in other activities. Abantu-Batho Ltd printed a pamphlet by R. W. Msimang.250 Moffat Caluza, Congress stalwart and uncle to composer Reuben Caluza, was a printer on whom it could rely; his press at 137 Albert Street printed Msimang’s exposé of the effects of the Land Act.251
The location, staffing and structures of the newspaper were determined by Seme’s decision to base it on the Rand and the resources available to him. Abantu-Batho was edited in Johannesburg and had its own press in Sophiatown. Kunene wrote from there in 1915 that he was ‘too busy at our printing works here to come to town’.252 Personnel included printers, compositors and distribution staff, the last mentioned including the then ubiquitous ‘paper boys’ and newsagents. Serasengoe Philip Merafe from Thaba’ Nchu had worked as a journeyman printer at Lovedale, then on Mochochonono in Maseru. He accepted Seme’s invitation to work as Abantu-Batho’s ‘foreman machineminder’. Based in Sophiatown, he probably worked there between 1912 and 1914 before moving to Kimberley.253 Another compositor employed in 1916 had been trained at Lovedale the previous year, but by 1917 was in Cathcart.254 Grendon and Kunene, with printing experience, may have assisted, as might Mvabaza and Letanka with their press background.
The editorial premises were in Court Chambers, corner of Rissik and Marshall Streets. By 1922 they had moved to 75a Auret St, Jeppestown, dubbed the ‘Abantu-Batho Buildings’. Skota recalled a Congress ‘Office off Joubert Street, corrugated iron like little hut’, perhaps also the Abantu-Batho premises.255 We know little of the editorial floor, how it operated or whether there was intervention from the managing director.256