Press Release 

The Miriam Tlali Reading and book Club to look at the man who founded ANC

It is well known that the African National Congress (ANC) was formed in 1912 and is considered the oldest political organisation on the African continent. What is often not widely known is that the person who founded it was one Pixley ka Isaka Seme, a thirty-year-old black South African from Inanda outside the city of Durban.

The Miriam Tlali Reading and Book Club will therefore host a book reading and discussion on the 26 October 2019 at 74 Mimosa Road, Randpark Ridge, Johannesburg, to delve deeper into this man’s life looking into the book, “The Man Who Founded the ANC”

Penned by author Dr. Bongani Ngqulunga– The Man Who Founded the ANC- A Biography of Pixley Ka Isaka Seme – tells the remarkable story of the man’s life.

Seme founded the ANC in 1912 when he was 30 years old, but many believe that his story and contribution is not celebrated enough.

What is remarkable about Seme’s achievement in founding the ANC is not only that he succeeded where most had failed at forging black political unity. It is also the speed at which he did it.

This book discusses in detail Seme’s extraordinary life, from his humble beginnings at Inanda Mission to his triumphs and disappointments across the continents, in his public and private life. When Seme died in 1951 he was bankrupt, and his political standing had suffered greatly. And yet he was praised as one of the greatest South Africans ever to have lived. For all this, he has largely been forgotten. This biography brings the remarkable life of this extraordinary South African back to public consciousness.

Human Rights activist Leonardo Mulaja will facilitate this event. The Miriam Tlali Reading and Book Club’s primary goal has always been to cultivate the reading and writing culture in the country and they define themselves as a place for those who read for pleasure, knowledge, enlightenment and fulfilment, while also celebrating the social aspects of reading.

The Miriam Tlali Reading & Book Club (MTR&BC), founded by the wRite associates, in 2009, is named after the veteran author and activist, Ms Miriam Masoli Tlali, who is was the first black woman to publish a book in English and has contributed to the literary landscape of South Africa extensively.