1950–1951

May Day had been celebrated in Johannesburg for as long as I could remember. It was the ‘workers’ day of unity’, celebrated in a uniquely South African way, with rigid black-white separation.

On May Day mornings white trade unionists would parade through the city with union banners and slogan-decorated trucks. In the afternoon they would adjourn with their families to a sports meeting, with beer and speeches, before going home. Then, after working hours, black workers would gather in thousands for their May Day at the Bantu Sports Ground.

The white event was regularly organised by a so-called ‘United May Day Committee’ composed of representatives of all the supporting bodies – mainly white trade unions. For some years I represented the Labour League of Youth on the committee, and then later the Communist Party.

Between summers the committee would hibernate until summoned back to life by its perennial honorary secretary, Cissy Grootewal. If she had a life beyond the committee I heard and saw no sign of it. She would vanish like the cuckoo on a Swiss clock as soon as the day was past and reappear only when the next one was coming close. She was a gaunt, schoolmistressy lady, who nurtured and managed the committee and annual celebrations almost singlehandedly. She was tireless, and meticulous over detail. Without her white May Day would probably have vanished into dust.

My own part on the committee was slightly schizophrenic. For weeks beforehand I would take active part in the design and construction of the decorated motorised ‘floats’ for the parade. There my involvement with the ‘United’ May Day ended and the excitement of the black rally at the Bantu Sports Ground at the bottom of Eloff Street took over.

The starting time was flexible and waited for enough men and women to arrive after a full working day. Singing started in the great open-air stadium while the tiers filled slowly with thousands of people. By the time the master of ceremonies, Gana Makabeni, opened the formalities the sun would be down and the audience in total darkness under an amazing canopy of stars. A flat-bed truck parked in the centre of the arena served as the speakers’ rostrum, with speakers and master of ceremonies spot-lit by the headlights of two cars.