Dr James Sebe Moroka had this house built for him and his family in 1922. The historical background of the house known as the Moroka House is closely associated with it's owner, Dr James Sebe Moroka. He was a great-grandson of Chief Moroka of the Ba-Rolong people of Thaba'Nchu, a prominent landholding Rolong family. Moroka attended the village school and completed his primary education in 1909. Thereafter he went to Lovedale Missionary Institute in Alice in the Eastern Cape for secondary education. Subsequently he went to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1911 to study medicine where he qualified in 1918.On finishing at the medical school he established a flourishing medical practice in Thaba'Nchu. It was here that he helped provide the land where the Moroka Missionary Hospital was built. This institution became the only training hospital for Africans in the Orange Free State then. In 1930 he went to Vienna, Austria to study surgery, but upon his return he was prevented by the colour bar from using the only available facilities in Bloemfontein.His political career started in the 1930's when he became involved with the widespread black resistance against the Hertzog Bills, namely the Natives Trust Bill, Land Bill and Natives Representation Bill which dealt with the removal of the Cape blacks from the common voters roll.When the All African Convention (AAC) was formed in Bloemfontein in 1935 Moroka was elected the treasurer. He went on to become part of a delegation in 1936 which was to convey to the government the attitude of the Africans regarding the draft Bills. In spite of his unyielding criticism to the Hertzog Bills he became involved with the Native Representative Council (NRC).The NRC which was a result of the Native Representative Bill, and he served on it in 1942 and 1948. In 1946 he played a leading role in the NRC's confrontation with the government. This brought the Council's activities to an end although he only resigned his seat in 1950.In 1942 he became involved with the African National Congress (ANC), and the following year he was appointed as a member of the Atlantic Charter Committee of the ANC. The foregoing Committee had as it's mandate to study and discuss problems arising out of the Atlantic Charter in so far as it related to Africa. The Charter was drawn up in 1941 before the conclusion of the Second World War as a "blue print for future peace and security" .In a surprising move Dr Moroka was chosen as the president-general of the ANC in December 1949. This was despite the fact that he was not a registered member of the ANC. He was the candidate of the ANC Youth League (CYL), a force to be reckoned with inside the ANC then. Amongst it's members then were people like Nelson Mandela , Walter Sisulu and the late president of the ANC, Oliver Tambo who hoped that Moroka would be more effective than his predecessor Dr A.B. Xuma.In March 1950 Moroka presided over the Communist Party's Free Speech Convention which was in reaction to the banning of some of it's members. In February 1951 Moroka represented the ANC at the founding of the Franchise Action Council which was chiefly a coloured organisation that was formed to prevent the removal of the coloureds from the Cape common voter's roll.Moroka was closely involved with preparations for the Defiance Campaign which was organised by the ANC and South African Indian Congress in 1951. During the campaign he was convicted for the contravention of the Suppression of Communism Act. He put in a plea of mitigation against the sentence and dissociated himself from his· co-accused. This was against explicit instructions of the organizers of the Defiance Campaign that offenders should serve their prison sentences. This led to his ousting as leader of the ANC and organisation congress in December 1952 he was not re-elected as president-general of the ANC. With this his links with the ANC and his political career came to an unceremonious end.
