insisting that such leadership was in accordance with our own history and heritage.
Daliwonga's plain answer as to why he, as an individual, had accepted Bantu Authorities simplified the issue not only in regard to himself but also in relation to other chiefs. They regarded the new system as a formal recongnition of their position as traditional leaders in the rural areas, where the system applied, the machinery of government would be based on chieftaincy. From now on the chiefs would occupy a commanding position in the community and would enjoy a measure of prosperity quite beyond the reach of their won fellow men. Everything else, including the welfare of the entire African population, was to be subordinated to the interests of the chiefs as a group. They accepted this bait even though it was clear from the outset that its overall intention was to save white supremacy in South Africa by forestalling the emergence of a united African community and handing over less than 13% of the country to ethnic regimes dominated by chiefs.
I told my nephew that I understoon his personal position quite well and the logic of his attitudeas a chief. But I thought it my duty to draw his attention to the fact that I considered his personal interests to be definately in conflict with those of the community, that placed in a similar position I would try to subordinate my individual interests to those of the people at large. I deliberately did not wish to say more on this aspect and turned to more general isssues.
I welcomed his statement that his ultimate goal was the same as ours but told him that to realise that aim he would have to resolve first the contradiction to which I had already referred. I spent some
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