Firmly opposed to segregation, Phillips was involved in the founding of the South African Institute of Race Relations (1929), the Johannesburg Coordinating Council for Non-European Welfare Organization, and the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work (1941), of which he was the director.
[1] Political activists like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu (1912–2003) were members of the Bantu Men's Social Centre, and the African National Congress's Youth League was started on its premises in 1944.
[2] The Social Centre was located at 1 Eloff Street[3] at the edge of Johannesburg's central business district, among car dealerships and cheap food stores.
[4] From the 1920s Richard Victor Selope Thema[5] served as superintendent of the Social Centre, resigning in 1932 when he was appointed editor of The Bantu World.
Pim was also involved in the Institute of Race Relations, the Bantu Sports Club, the Bridgeman Memorial Hospital (now the Garden City Clinic, Mayfair), and the South African Native College (University of Fort Hare) in Alice, in the Eastern Cape.
Bunche was an African-American scholar and Nobel laureate (1950) who visited the Social Centre during his three-month journey through South Africa (1937–38).
[13] In 1944 the African National Congress' Youth League was formed at the Bantu Men's Social Centre, with Anton Lembede elected as president.
[17] When he was fired from Premier for organising a strike for higher wages in 1936, Sisulu worked as a distribution agent for The Bantu World, then under leadership of Social Centre alumnus Selope Thema.
Alumni of the Bantu Men's Social Centre Boxing Club included Theo Mthembu, who became a professional boxer in 1948.
[20] South Africa's first black African landscape painter, Moses Tladi, also frequented the Social Centre during the post-War period.
[21] The cast included Fugard, who also directed, and first-time actors Stephen Moloi, Connie Mabaso, Dan Poho, Ken Gampu, Zakes Mokae, Preddie Ramphele, Bloke Modisane, and Gladys Sibisi.
[23] On 8 June 1959 Fugard's Nongogo was performed by a cast comprising Cornelius Mabaso, David Phetoe, Solomon Rachilo, Thandi Khumalo and Zakes Mokae.
Apart from events for black South Africans, the Social Centre was also used for a while for meetings by Johannesburg's Quakers (Society of Friends), who were mostly a white expatriate group.
Members and workers include Peter Abrahams, Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo, Anton Lambede, Nelson Mandela, A.S Vil-Nkomo, J.R. Rathebe, Walter Sisulu, Richard Victor Selope Thema, Rev J.Mdelwa Hlongwane, Paul Mosaka, Merafe, and Musi.