The Promise

For Donald Tsolo-Phae to most-it was infuriating to be young and black in apartheid South Africa. Early on, Phae’s father instilled the belief that South Africa’s survival rested on the next generation’s shoulders. With education, Phae and his cohorts could advance black equality. Believing oppression and suffering would stop, though, was optimistic. When Phae’s friend Nyakane is beaten by Afrikaner police for rescuing a drowning white boy and administering CPR, Phae and his friends are fundamentally altered. Goal-directed discussions replace informal conversations. Meetings become organized and planned. Talks on incendiary bombs, firearms, and the black struggle for freedom overtake their light-hearted banter.

Remedying apartheid in the early 1950s was unlikely, however. Phae thus committed himself to the anti-apartheid weapon with the highest likelihood of success-education. Making his way to Pius XII University College, he is elected chairman of the local branch of the outlawed Pan African Congress. American politicians working in-country quickly take note, and Phae’s future spirals toward activism. With cultural, historical, and political context, The Promise is an in-depth portrait of the barbarism fathered by apartheid and how both Phae and some good-hearted, God-fearing Americans devoted their lives to a democratic, non-racial South Africa.