seriously before the Second World War. Nyasaland African Congress leader The Nyasaland African Congress was the first organization that attempted to work at a national level. At the inaugural meeting of the Congress held in Blantyre in October 1944, Mumba was elected President-General. James Sangala, the other main mover in creating the Congress, had recently been transferred to Dedza in the Central province and was unable to attend, but was elected to the central committee. As with most members of the Congress, Mumba was privileged to come from a respected family and to have mission education. The leaders of the Congress included pastors and teachers such as Mumba from the earlier Associations, but tended to now also include civil servants, clerks and businessmen. Soon after being elected, in January 1945 Mumba died. He was succeeded by Charles Matinga. Without the leadership of Mumba and of Isaac Lawrence, who also died around that time, the congress lost momentum. Views on religion and education In 1929, Mumba was associated with formation of the African National Church, which permitted polygamy. Although Christian, Mumba wrote an article titled "The Religion of my Fathers" that defended traditional beliefs from attack by ignorant and prejudiced people. The article appeared in the International Review of Missions in 1930, submitted by the missionary Cullen Young and attributed only to "a member of one of the Nyasaland tribes". In this essay he emphasized the importance of mediation in the Ngoni culture, where the spirits of ancestors mediated between living people and the deity. When the colonial government proposed making the Nyanja language the standard language of schools, on the basis that it was widely spoken in Nyasaland, Mumba opposed the idea as a representative of speakers of the Tumbuka language. He said that people wanted to first learn books in their native tongue, and then to learn English, which was more useful. He proposed that if an official language be adopted, it should be English. In 1932, Mumba prepared a memorandum advocating improved higher education for Africans, which was received without enthusiasm. In 1934, Mumba asked the government to pay part of his son's secondary schooling in South Africa in the absence of a local alternative. The government reluctantly provided £13-10-0. The Chief Secretary commented on the incident: "Such cases will continue to be rare for some time to come, fortunately I think, since the slower the progress -