There had been bigger political meetings in South Africa, but the Kliptown gathering was and still is unique in our history. There were, according to the official figures announced at the Congress itself, 2 884 delegates present. We are speaking of delegates, not just spectators, as many of our informants insisted on reminding us.

Vandeyar: With a meeting like that, there were delegates in their thousands. I’m not talking about the masses coming to hear speakers. Every delegate there was a speaker. You know, if any one was called upon to say something he would be able to articulate his grievances, and say something about his plight in South Africa. That is the most inspiring thing of all.

Seven thousand spectators watched the proceedings. This was certainly the most representative gathering there has ever been in South Africa. It was a real people's parliament, with one difference. It was not, of course, sovereign. The first demand of the Charter that was to be adopted that weekend read:

“The people shall govern.” But in June 1955 the people did not (as they still do not) govern. The Congress of the People had to meet under the hostile shadow of the apartheid government's guns. The Congress of the People was due to start soon after lunch, on Saturday the 25th of June. Ellen Lambert (in 1955 she was Ellen Goss) secretary of the South African Coloured People's Organisation in the Transvaal, remembers:

Lambert: I woke up at four o’clock that morning. We were filled with excitement. Do you know what I wore that day? I wore khaki pants and a black, green and gold sweater. Those days it was unheard of for girls to wear pants!

Chetty: The crowds were coming in. We got there about 11 o’clock. The conference itself was going to start at three o’clock, half past two, something like that. And the crowds were pouring in, and pouring in, God, I tell you, by the time we were ready at three o’clock it was just a sea of heads.