A. P. Mda
*Ashby Solomzi Peter Mda was born on this date in 1916. He was a Black African teacher, lawyer, and political activist.
Also known as A. P. Mda, Peter Mda was born in the Herschel District of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. He was given the name "Ashby" as he was born on Ash Wednesday. He took the name "Peter" after joining the Catholic church. His mother, Mildred Mei, was a schoolteacher, and his father, Gxumekelani Charles Mda, was a peasant farmer, headman, and local shoemaker. He and his siblings attended the local Catholic schools. Mda pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
As a teacher, Mda was unable to secure employment in the Eastern Cape and was a gardener and cook in East London. He moved to the Witwatersrand to secure a teaching job, but ended up being a gardener, cook, and then a steel foundry worker. He eventually found a teaching post at Germiston Catholic Primary. He also worked at St John Berchman, a primary school in Orlando, Soweto, from 1938. He continued to study through correspondence to become a lawyer eventually. Young Mda began his political career at the All-African Convention (AAC) meeting in 1936. He covered the proceedings for Umlindi we Nyanga, an East London newspaper.
Mda then became a supporter of Dr A. B. Xuma and the African National Congress (ANC). Mda participated in the African Teachers Campaign advocating for higher wages in 1940. He later played a pivotal role in the formation of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). Mda formed a strong intellectual and political relationship with Anton Lembede, who created the manifesto of the ANCYL. Lembede died suddenly, and Mda was named the acting president of the ANCYL and was formally elected into the position in 1948.
Mda set up a committee to manage the activities of the ANCYL. Mda selected Fort Hare to expand their influence as the institution had a strong Black student community. The ANCYL also established branches in Natal and the Cape Province. The Fort Hare branch was officially launched in November 1948. The ANCYL, under Mda, started the Program of Action (PA) at the ANC's Cape provincial office in Port Elizabeth in June 1949. The ANCYL adopted the PA. Xuma's term at the helm of the ANC was coming to an end, and Mda and other members of the ANCYL started seeking a replacement who would endorse the PA at the following national ANC conference in 1949.
Oliver Tambo visited James Moroka's home in the Bantu location to encourage him to run as a candidate for president. Moroka was elected as president, and the PA was adopted in 1949 as the ANC's guiding document. Mda then stepped down from the ANCYL after Moroka's appointment. He continued to work behind the scenes, committed to its nationalist ideals. Mandela later grew weary of Moroka's leadership and noticed a "watering down" of African Nationalism by Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, and Walter Sisulu as the new leadership began forming multi-racial alliances, including Coloured, Indian, and White anti-apartheid organizations.
Mda supported a form of African Nationalism to justify segregation and separate development. He was the "founding spirit" of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), which broke away from the ANC in 1959. Mda also developed the motto 'Serve, Sacrifice and Suffering.' In the early 1990s, Mda, along with the rest of the PAC, was reluctant to join the Convention for a Democratic South Africa. He migrated with his family to Lesotho when he was sent into exile, charging his clients very little for his services throughout his career. His family suffered due to this. They later lived in a township in a house with a rusty corrugated roof, no ceiling, and no electricity. A.P. Mda died on August 7, 1993, due to heart failure.
