Reverend Stephen Kumalo is the protagonist of Cry, the Beloved Country. He is a married Zulu (Black) man in his sixties who lives in the village of Ndotsheni. He is a dynamic, round character who changes upon learning of his son Absalom’s arrest and crimes—specifically, the theft and murder of a white man named Arthur Jarvis in the city of Johannesburg. Despite being a reverend, Kumalo’s faith in goodness wavers, as he constantly shifts between hope and despair throughout the novel. As an older man, he finds the world around him is constantly and quickly changing—especially in regard to young people leaving Ndotsheni for Johannesburg—and finds solace in the Bible and God. His conflict comprises his devotion to maintaining and restoring the tribe, the community of Ndotsheni. The physical and spiritual dissolution of family (i.e., Kumalo’s son Absalom, his sister Getrude, his brother John, and to an extent, his nephews) makes Kumalo feel uncertain because he closely ties his identity to the concept of a tribe.

At the beginning of the novel, Kumalo believes his tribe will be restored once his sister Gertrude agrees to return to Ndotsheni—as this would mark a return to the past, to tradition.