19610630_Africartoons

CARTOON BY JOCK LEYDEN.

PMBHistory.co.za writes: "In 1961 the Natal Convention was held at the University. Initiated at another mass meeting in the City Hall, presided over by Archbishop Denis Hurley and chaired by Dr Edgar Brookes, it brought together as wide a variety of political views at one gathering - from United Party supporters to Congressites - as Natal had ever seen. They managed a surprising degree of agreement, even the unanimous acceptance of the aim of universal suffrage on a common role. One of the consequences of the Convention was the drawing for the first time of members of the Pietermaritzburg coloured community into the mainstream of South African anti-apartheid politics. Most of them were ex-servicemen active in the local branch of the British Ex-Servicemen's League, which eschewed political involvement. But led by Dempsey Noel, a local plasterer, they began to involve themselves in other organizations, notably the Liberal Party and the Coloured Convention Movement."

[more accurate date to be determined]