Southern Rhodesia African National Congress
Encyclopedia
The Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) was a multiracial political party in what is now Zimbabwe
(formerly Southern Rhodesia
) committed to the nonviolent promotion of Native African welfare. SRANC was the first fully fledged nationalist organization active between 1957 and 1959 before it was banned by the oppressive white minority government. While short lived, it marks the beginning of political action towards self government by the Native African majority, and gave rise to organizations such as the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), and the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), which is the current ruling party of Zimbabwe. Many political figures such as current president Robert Mugabe
and former vice president Joshua Nkomo
were members of SRANC.
Strict apartheid in urban areas segregated the black and white populations in hospitals, hotels, schools, and even prevented Africans from drinking alcoholic beverages. The Land Apportionment Act of 1930 implemented rigid policy about traveling within the country, requiring Native Africans to present papers when passing between areas. The Land Tenure Act of the same year reallocated Africans’ land, pushing families out of their homes, and giving better areas to the white settlers. Despite being a minority, white settlers were allocated 49100000 acres (198,700.8 km²), while the black majority received a disproportionally small 21.1 acres (85,388.7 m²). Moreover, Native Africans were relocated to areas with bad soil, endemic malaria
, and Tsetse Fly
infestations. In cities workers had little control over conditions, because Trade Unions had limited power due to heavy government restrictions. Despite having established only 12 public schools for black children by 1950, a growing educated elite of wealthy Africans was developing in the cities. Extreme racism, however, prevented the black bourgeois from identifying with their white economic counterparts, and they sympathized instead with the plighted rural farmers on reserves.
and at the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work
in Johannesburg
. After working on the Rhodesian Railways African Employees' Association, and establishing it as the nation’s first organized labor union, he was elected president of the Bulawayo based Southern Rhodesian chapter of the ANC
in 1952. At the time ANC membership included Knight TT Maripe, Jason Ziyapapa Moyo, Edward Ndlovu, and Francis Nehwati. In September 1956 the United Transport Company scheduled to increase fares to such a level that workers would be spending between 18% and 30% of their income on transportation alone. In response to the price hike, James Chikerema
, George Nyandoro
, Dudziye Chisiza and Edson Sithole founded the Harare
based City Youth League
(later the African Youth League), and organized a mass boycott that was successful in preventing the price change.
On September 12, 1957 the largely dormant ANC and the City Youth League merged to found the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress. The date was significant, being the 67th Anniversary of Occupation Day, a holiday celebrated by the white settler
population. Having proved himself a strong organizer and powerful negotiator, Joshua Nkomo was inaugurated president. James Chikerema came on as Vice President, George Nyandaro as secretary, Ziyapapa Moyo as vice secretary, Joseph Msika
as treasurer, and Paul Mushonga as vice treasurer. SRANC took on a multiethnic executive membership from across the country, which made for a unified national organization, and included white members such as Guy Clutton-Brock
, an anti-apartheid agriculturalist.
, Anti-Discrimination, increased standards of living for African peoples, the eradication of racism
, expanding and de-racializing the education system, free travel for all Rhodesians within the country, the inauguration of democratic systems, and direct participation in the government.
By adopting a constitution, they established themselves as the first mass resistance movement in Southern Rhodesia.
SRANC was unique in that they rallied support largely from the rural
population, and addressed the grievances of farmers on the reserves. They engaged in house to house, village to village recruiting, and called upon grassroots
organizing and Churches. They held rallies, direct confrontation demonstrations, and canvassed for support internationally. Nkomo successfully suspended the Land Husbandry Act and openly condemned the bill in a public statement saying:
The Congress was successful preventing government interference in traditional marriage customs, and was instrumental in the banning of Depo Provera (a birth control compound), and expressed “deep suspicion … that there is a political motive behind the scheme of birth control.”
Commitment to nonviolence, utilization of Civil Disobedience
, and Pan-Africanism
created a likeness between SRANC and the Civil Rights Movement
happening at the same time in the United States
. Said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Congress:
Until 1958 SRANC found an ally in Prime Minister Garfield Todd
, who met with them regularly and attempted to introduce reforms to “advance gradually the rights of the 7,000,000 blacks without upsetting the rule of the 250,000 whites.” Under his administration the minimum wage for Native African workers was raised, restaurants and similar establishments were given the option of being multi-racial, and restrictions on alcohol consumption were relaxed. In the Summer of 1957 Todd pushed through a reform that would increase the number of voting Africans from 2% to 16%, much to the dismay of his party. Despite changing international opinion about colonialism, the emergence of independent African states, and the increasing momentum of Civil Rights movements around the globe in the 1950s and 60's, the settler government of Southern Rhodesia remained stubbornly resistant to imperial
reform. White settlers in Southern Rhodesia were threatened by the idea of advancing the Native African majority; the country being reliant largely on exports of Cotton and Tobacco, their livelihood necessitated access to cheap labor. English settlers to Rhodesia had found a much improved standard of living and great wealth, and they viewed improving conditions for the native majority as a threat to their new found luxury.
.
On February 29, 1959 the Whitehead Administration declared a state of emergency, and introduced the Unlawful Organizations Act, which banned several organizations including SRANC and allowed government seizure of property. The bill was defended by the claim that SRANC had incited violence, government defiance, and “undermined [the] prestige of Native Commissioners and the loyalty of African Police,” said a security intelligence report. Between 1960 and 1965, 1,610 Africans were prosecuted and 1,002 convicted under this law. The Preventative Detention Act allowed the government to detain several hundred members of SRANC without trial; some members were detained for four years in “shockingly insulting” conditions, while white member Clutton-Brock was released in under a month. Nkomo, who was attending a conference in Cairo
on his way to London
, was not detained; he remained in London organizing or on speaking tours to rally support until returning home on October 1, 1960. The Native Affairs Amendment Act went even further to prevent nationalist activities by illegalizing any meeting of 12 or more natives that would “undermine the authority” of the government. This prevented rural organizing, severely limited freedom of speech, and marked the end of nonviolent resistance in Southern Rhodesia. In order to appease the black elite, Whitehead conceded a few liberal reforms to benefit wealthy, educated, urban Africans.
Despite the Whitehead and subsequent Administration's attempts to prevent nationalism and resist anti-discrimination reform, the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress reemerged several times with the same leadership and ideology under different names. Constant repression by the white minority government contributed to the increasing militarization of these splinter organizations, which culminated in a 15 year long war resulting in the independence of Native Africans in Zimbabwe from colonial rule.
On January 1, 1960 the National Democratic Party replaced the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress, Chikerema and Nyandoro became members while still detained, and Nkomo came on as president on November 28, 1960. The NDP was an ideologically identical organization to SRANC, although rural organizing was nearly impossible after the Native Affairs Amendment Act. After a few years the NDP was banned, only to be replaced shortly thereafter by ZAPU, which was led by Nkomo, and then ZANU, which was led by Ndabaningi Sithole
, and later Robert Mugabe. In 1963 both organizations were banned, but in July 1964 the Second Chimurenga (aka the "Zimbabwe War of Liberation" or "the Rhodesian Bush War"
) began, and both organizations reemerged with armed chapters, ZANLA and ZIPRA
. These groups were provided weaponry from communist nations like China
and the Soviet Union
, and utilized both guerrilla
and traditional warfare. The war waged until 1979, and Mugabe became President of the newly liberated nation of Zimbabwe in 1980. In 1990 Nkomo was appointed Vice President, an office he held for 6 years. Mugabe’s administration proved controversial, and as a leader he has met serious opposition and criticism on the grounds of human rights abuses.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
(formerly Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
) committed to the nonviolent promotion of Native African welfare. SRANC was the first fully fledged nationalist organization active between 1957 and 1959 before it was banned by the oppressive white minority government. While short lived, it marks the beginning of political action towards self government by the Native African majority, and gave rise to organizations such as the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), and the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), which is the current ruling party of Zimbabwe. Many political figures such as current president Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
and former vice president Joshua Nkomo
Joshua Nkomo
Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was the leader and founder of the Zimbabwe African People's Union and a member of the Kalanga tribe...
were members of SRANC.
Beginnings
By the 1950s the native peoples of Southern Rhodesia were increasingly dissatisfied with their treatment by the white minority government. In rural areas the Native Reserves Land were overstocked and in deteriorating condition. In a response to increasing soil erosion, the government introduced the Land Husbandry Act of 1951. The bill was a failure, and did not take into consideration the ecological diversity of the land it reallocated. Problems with the Land Husbandry Act could have been rectified to better suit the native population, but it was in the best interests of the settler population to keep people on the reserves poor, thereby maintaining the unequal wealth distribution the settlers so enjoyed. The Bill saw heavy opposition by both rural farmers, and urban workers.Strict apartheid in urban areas segregated the black and white populations in hospitals, hotels, schools, and even prevented Africans from drinking alcoholic beverages. The Land Apportionment Act of 1930 implemented rigid policy about traveling within the country, requiring Native Africans to present papers when passing between areas. The Land Tenure Act of the same year reallocated Africans’ land, pushing families out of their homes, and giving better areas to the white settlers. Despite being a minority, white settlers were allocated 49100000 acres (198,700.8 km²), while the black majority received a disproportionally small 21.1 acres (85,388.7 m²). Moreover, Native Africans were relocated to areas with bad soil, endemic malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, and Tsetse Fly
Tsetse fly
Tsetse , sometimes spelled tzetze and also known as tik-tik flies, are large biting flies that inhabit much of mid-continental Africa between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts. They live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals and are the primary biological vectors of trypanosomes, which...
infestations. In cities workers had little control over conditions, because Trade Unions had limited power due to heavy government restrictions. Despite having established only 12 public schools for black children by 1950, a growing educated elite of wealthy Africans was developing in the cities. Extreme racism, however, prevented the black bourgeois from identifying with their white economic counterparts, and they sympathized instead with the plighted rural farmers on reserves.
Formation of the Congress
Joshua Nkomo was a graduate of Adams College in NatalNatal Province
Natal, meaning "Christmas" in Portuguese, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...
and at the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work
Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work
The Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work was the first institution to train black social workers in South Africa.- History :The Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work started operating on January 15, 1941 in Eloff Street, Johannesburg, under directorship of Congregational minister Rev. Ray Phillips...
in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. After working on the Rhodesian Railways African Employees' Association, and establishing it as the nation’s first organized labor union, he was elected president of the Bulawayo based Southern Rhodesian chapter of the ANC
ANC
ANC commonly refers to the African National Congress, a revolutionary movement which became the ruling political party in South Africa in the 1994 election.ANC may also refer to:-Organizations:...
in 1952. At the time ANC membership included Knight TT Maripe, Jason Ziyapapa Moyo, Edward Ndlovu, and Francis Nehwati. In September 1956 the United Transport Company scheduled to increase fares to such a level that workers would be spending between 18% and 30% of their income on transportation alone. In response to the price hike, James Chikerema
James Chikerema
James Robert Dambaza Chikerema served as the President of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe. He changed his views on militant struggle in the late 1970s and supported the 'internal settlement', serving in the attempted power-sharing governments.-Early life:Chikerema was born at Kutama...
, George Nyandoro
George Nyandoro
George Nyandoro served as the General Secretary of Zimbabwe African People's Union. An ethnic Shona, Nyandoro was one of the founders of the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress. The late National Hero Cde...
, Dudziye Chisiza and Edson Sithole founded the Harare
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
based City Youth League
City Youth League
The City Youth League, later known as the African Youth League, is a defunct organization that participated in nonviolent resistance against British rule in Rhodesia from its founding in August 1955 until it merged with the old SRANC on September 12, 1957, becoming the new Southern Rhodesia African...
(later the African Youth League), and organized a mass boycott that was successful in preventing the price change.
On September 12, 1957 the largely dormant ANC and the City Youth League merged to found the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress. The date was significant, being the 67th Anniversary of Occupation Day, a holiday celebrated by the white settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
population. Having proved himself a strong organizer and powerful negotiator, Joshua Nkomo was inaugurated president. James Chikerema came on as Vice President, George Nyandaro as secretary, Ziyapapa Moyo as vice secretary, Joseph Msika
Joseph Msika
Joseph Wilfred Msika was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Vice President of Zimbabwe from 1999 to 2009.-Early life:...
as treasurer, and Paul Mushonga as vice treasurer. SRANC took on a multiethnic executive membership from across the country, which made for a unified national organization, and included white members such as Guy Clutton-Brock
Guy Clutton-Brock
Arthur Guy Clutton-Brock was an English social worker, who became a Zimbabwean nationalist and co-founder of Cold Comfort Farm....
, an anti-apartheid agriculturalist.
Ideology and Organizing
The Southern Rhodesia Africa National Congress established itself as a nonviolent reform group, acting on platforms of Universal SuffrageSuffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
, Anti-Discrimination, increased standards of living for African peoples, the eradication of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, expanding and de-racializing the education system, free travel for all Rhodesians within the country, the inauguration of democratic systems, and direct participation in the government.
By adopting a constitution, they established themselves as the first mass resistance movement in Southern Rhodesia.
SRANC was unique in that they rallied support largely from the rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
population, and addressed the grievances of farmers on the reserves. They engaged in house to house, village to village recruiting, and called upon grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
organizing and Churches. They held rallies, direct confrontation demonstrations, and canvassed for support internationally. Nkomo successfully suspended the Land Husbandry Act and openly condemned the bill in a public statement saying:
- Any act whose effects undermine the security of our small land rights, dispossess us of our little wealth in the form of cattle, disperse us from our ancestral homes in the reserves and reduce us to the status of vagabonds and as a source of cheap labour for the farmers, miners, and industrialists – such and Act will turn the African People against society to the detriment of the peace and progress of this country.
The Congress was successful preventing government interference in traditional marriage customs, and was instrumental in the banning of Depo Provera (a birth control compound), and expressed “deep suspicion … that there is a political motive behind the scheme of birth control.”
Commitment to nonviolence, utilization of Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
, and Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism is a movement that seeks to unify African people or people living in Africa, into a "one African community". Differing types of Pan-Africanism seek different levels of economic, racial, social, or political unity...
created a likeness between SRANC and the Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
happening at the same time in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Congress:
- Although we are separated by miles, we are closer together in mutual struggle for freedom and human brotherhood… there is no basic difference between colonialism and segregation… our struggles are not only similar; they are in a real sense one.
Until 1958 SRANC found an ally in Prime Minister Garfield Todd
Garfield Todd
Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd was a reformist Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958 and later became an opponent of white minority rule in Rhodesia. He was born in Invercargill, New Zealand.-Background:...
, who met with them regularly and attempted to introduce reforms to “advance gradually the rights of the 7,000,000 blacks without upsetting the rule of the 250,000 whites.” Under his administration the minimum wage for Native African workers was raised, restaurants and similar establishments were given the option of being multi-racial, and restrictions on alcohol consumption were relaxed. In the Summer of 1957 Todd pushed through a reform that would increase the number of voting Africans from 2% to 16%, much to the dismay of his party. Despite changing international opinion about colonialism, the emergence of independent African states, and the increasing momentum of Civil Rights movements around the globe in the 1950s and 60's, the settler government of Southern Rhodesia remained stubbornly resistant to imperial
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
reform. White settlers in Southern Rhodesia were threatened by the idea of advancing the Native African majority; the country being reliant largely on exports of Cotton and Tobacco, their livelihood necessitated access to cheap labor. English settlers to Rhodesia had found a much improved standard of living and great wealth, and they viewed improving conditions for the native majority as a threat to their new found luxury.
Todd's Fall and the Banning of SRANC
In 1958 after a 1 month Holiday in South African, Prime Minister Garfield Todd returned to Southern Rhodesia to discover his cabinet had resigned in protest of his liberal racial policies, and only 14 of the 24 legislators in his party supported his remaining in office. Todd refused to resign, but on February 8 he was voted out at a UFP Party congress, and replaced by Edgar WhiteheadEdgar Whitehead
Sir Edgar Cuthbert Fremantle Whitehead, OBE, was a Rhodesian politician. He was a longstanding member of the Southern Rhodesia Legislative Assembly, although his career was interrupted by other posts and by illness. In particular he had poor eyesight, and wore very thick glasses, and later...
.
On February 29, 1959 the Whitehead Administration declared a state of emergency, and introduced the Unlawful Organizations Act, which banned several organizations including SRANC and allowed government seizure of property. The bill was defended by the claim that SRANC had incited violence, government defiance, and “undermined [the] prestige of Native Commissioners and the loyalty of African Police,” said a security intelligence report. Between 1960 and 1965, 1,610 Africans were prosecuted and 1,002 convicted under this law. The Preventative Detention Act allowed the government to detain several hundred members of SRANC without trial; some members were detained for four years in “shockingly insulting” conditions, while white member Clutton-Brock was released in under a month. Nkomo, who was attending a conference in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
on his way to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, was not detained; he remained in London organizing or on speaking tours to rally support until returning home on October 1, 1960. The Native Affairs Amendment Act went even further to prevent nationalist activities by illegalizing any meeting of 12 or more natives that would “undermine the authority” of the government. This prevented rural organizing, severely limited freedom of speech, and marked the end of nonviolent resistance in Southern Rhodesia. In order to appease the black elite, Whitehead conceded a few liberal reforms to benefit wealthy, educated, urban Africans.
Later History and Zimbabwean Independence
Despite the Whitehead and subsequent Administration's attempts to prevent nationalism and resist anti-discrimination reform, the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress reemerged several times with the same leadership and ideology under different names. Constant repression by the white minority government contributed to the increasing militarization of these splinter organizations, which culminated in a 15 year long war resulting in the independence of Native Africans in Zimbabwe from colonial rule.
The DNC, ZANU and ZAPU
- Main Articles: ZANU, ZAPU
On January 1, 1960 the National Democratic Party replaced the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress, Chikerema and Nyandoro became members while still detained, and Nkomo came on as president on November 28, 1960. The NDP was an ideologically identical organization to SRANC, although rural organizing was nearly impossible after the Native Affairs Amendment Act. After a few years the NDP was banned, only to be replaced shortly thereafter by ZAPU, which was led by Nkomo, and then ZANU, which was led by Ndabaningi Sithole
Ndabaningi Sithole
Ndabaningi Sithole founded the Zimbabwe African National Union, a militant organization that opposed the government of Rhodesia, in July 1963. A member of the Ndau ethnic group, he also worked as a Methodist minister. He spent 10 years in prison after the government banned ZANU...
, and later Robert Mugabe. In 1963 both organizations were banned, but in July 1964 the Second Chimurenga (aka the "Zimbabwe War of Liberation" or "the Rhodesian Bush War"
Rhodesian Bush War
The Rhodesian Bush War – also known as the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation – was a civil war which took place between July 1964 and December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia...
) began, and both organizations reemerged with armed chapters, ZANLA and ZIPRA
ZIPRA
Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army was the armed wing of the Zimbabwe African People's Union, a political party in Rhodesia. It participated in the Second Chimurenga against white minority rule in the former Rhodesia....
. These groups were provided weaponry from communist nations like China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and utilized both guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
and traditional warfare. The war waged until 1979, and Mugabe became President of the newly liberated nation of Zimbabwe in 1980. In 1990 Nkomo was appointed Vice President, an office he held for 6 years. Mugabe’s administration proved controversial, and as a leader he has met serious opposition and criticism on the grounds of human rights abuses.