1893 - 1962

PRESIDENT-GENERAL OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC) (1940–1949), Teacher, Medical Doctor

Alfred Bitini Xuma is credited with reorganising the ANC during a difficult period and broadening its membership and support, paving the way for fuller cooperation in the Decade of Defiance of the 1950s.

After fighting great odds to study medicine in America and Europe, he returned to South Africa in 1927, the first African doctor to qualify overseas. After 1940, when he was elected ANC president, the organisation attracted a far wider following than it had previously enjoyed. He skillfully managed provincial rivalries and promoted revision of the ANCs constitution, thereby strengthening its central structures. Women gained membership to the ANC in 1943, and a year later the ANC Youth League was founded by, among others, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and first president Anton Lembede.

In 1947 Xuma signed the Doctors Pact with Dr Yusuf Dadoo, leader of the South African Communist Party, and Dr Monty Naicker, leader of the South African Indian Congress, creating a strong alliance to sustain the 1952 Defiance Campaign.

His politics were moderate and he became increasingly alienated from the ANCs radical Youth League and was ousted as president in 1949.

Did You Know?

Xumas house is one of three remaining structures in Sophiatown, a suburb of Johannesburg that survived the forced removals in 1956. It was opened to the public in 2015 as the Sophiatown Heritage and Cultural Centre, housing exhibitions on Trevor Huddleston and Dr A.B. Xuma.