ISAIAH BUD-M'BELLE, the life of Isaiah Budlwana M’belle, 1870–1947

223pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Jacana Media, Johannesburg, 2026

ISBN: 9781431437122

Drawing on extensive archival research, Brian Willan and Brown Maabe restore Isaiah Bud-M’belle to his rightful place in South African history, uncovering his triumphs and failures as well as the complexities and contradictions of his position as both a senior civil servant in the Native Affairs Department and a spokesman for his people.

Through M’belle, readers are introduced to the broader landscape of Black intellectual and political culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the networks, institutions, ambitions and constraints that shaped an era.

Born in the Cape Colony in 1870 of Mfengu origin and educated at the Wesleyan Healdtown Institution, Bud-M’belle was the first African to pass the Cape civil service entry examinations and became a highly regarded High Court interpreter. After Union in 1910, he went on to work as a senior official in the Native Affairs Department in Pretoria, and was by some margin the best-paid Black civil servant in the country. He also played a leading role in organising non-racial cricket and rugby, was deeply committed to the cause of education for his people and was General Secretary of the South African Native National Congress. Later, he was involved in the Joint Councils and the All African Convention and stood for election to the Natives Representative Council in 1937.

"A splendid biography which brings out both the humaneness and remarkable achievements of Bud-M’belle" Peter Limb, Emeritus Professor of History, Michigan State University

"Willan and Maaba have given South Africa back a man it should never have been permitted to forget" Lesley Mofokeng, author of The Man Who Shook Mountains

Brian Willan holds a doctorate from SOAS, London, and is currently Senior Research Associate at Rhodes University and Extraordinary Professor at Sol Plaatje University. He has written extensively on Sol Plaatje and is the author of Sol Plaatje: A life of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, 1876–1932 and co-editor of Sol Plaatje's Native Life in South Africa, past and present, Revisiting Sol Plaatje’s Mafeking Diary: Reconsideration and Restoration (winner of the 2024 National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences award for Best Non-fiction Edited Volume) and Sol Plaatje’s Mhudi: History, Criticism, Celebration.

Brown Maaba holds a PhD from the University of Cape Town, and is currently a Research Associate at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, University of Johannesburg. He has served as speechwriter for the former Minister of Higher Education and Training and for the former Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Parks Tau.