Nyasaland African Congress - Cooperation To Confrontation

Cooperation To Confrontation

By 1950, interest in the NAC was starting to revive. At an important meeting in August 1950 in Mzimba, James Chinyama was elected President, with Sangala Vice-President. Until the early 1950s, Sangala and other leaders such as Doctor Hastings Banda assumed that Nyasaland should evolve towards self-government while remaining under the authority of the British Colonial Office. However, in 1953 the Colonial Office established the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in which Europeans would retain a position of leadership, abandoning the earlier principles of partnership between the races. The NAC leaders saw this as a betrayal.

In January 1954 Sangala was elected President of the Congress. Although he continued to advocate civil disobedience, he also accepted the decision of two NAC members to run for election for the two seats reserved for Nyasas in the Federal Parliament. This ambiguous position was rejected by some members of the party, who were against any participation in the government. Some resigned or were dismissed. Others who remained in the party attempted a coup towards the end of 1955, calling for resignation of the two MPs and for the NAC to work for immediate secession from the federation and self-rule. Although the leaders of a coup attempt were forced to resign, they remained politically influential.

Thamar Dillon Thomas Banda was elected Secretary-General of the Congress on 30 March 1956. Sangala and TDT Banda were arrested by the colonial authorities and tried for sedition in May 1956. Sangala was not an accomplished public speaker, while TDT was in his element at rallies. In January 1957, activists persuaded the veteran Sangala to step down and replaced him by the younger TDT. In September–October 1957, Congress leaders met government representative to discuss constitutional changes. Shortly after, the government withdrew recognition of Congress as the official representatives of Africans.

TDT Banda attended the celebrations in Ghana in March 1957, where he met Dr. Hastings Banda (not a relative) and asked him to return to Nyasaland to lead the nationalist movement. TDT failed to satisfy either the radicals or the conservative old guard in his party. In July 1958, Hastings Banda did return. TDT had been forced to resign on charges of misappropriating funds, and Hastings Banda was elected President of the NAC in his place.