Cape mission liberalism and the South African liberation struggle

ABSTRACT To help us better understand the impact of European colonisation on South African political thought, it is important to recognise the role played by both race and religion. Given the outsized role that Christian mission schools have had on South African political history, this article seeks to identify how the Cape mission liberal tradition, specifically, influenced twentieth-century South African political thought. By examining the lives and ideas of Z.K. Matthews and Govan Mbeki, this article shows how both liberal and communist strains of African nationalism present in the liberation struggle were influenced by the mission liberal tradition.