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Oliver Tambo

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139-612: Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (27 October 1917 – 24 April 1993) was a South African anti- apartheid politician and activist who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991. Oliver Tambo was born on 27 October 1917 in the village of Nkantolo in Bizana ; eastern Pondoland in what is now the Eastern Cape . Most of the people in the village were farmers. His father, Mzimeni Tambo,

278-523: A 1969 law abolished those seats and stripped Coloureds of their right to vote. Since Indians had never been allowed to vote, this resulted in whites being the sole enfranchised group. Separate representatives for coloured voters were first elected in the general election of 1958 . Even this limited representation did not last, being ended from 1970 by the Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, 1968 . Instead, all coloured adults were given

417-574: A Communist. Since the law specifically stated that Communism aimed to disrupt racial harmony, it was frequently used to gag opposition to apartheid. Disorderly gatherings were banned, as were certain organisations that were deemed threatening to the government. It also empowered the Ministry of Justice to impose banning orders . After the Defiance Campaign , the government used the act for the mass arrests and banning of leaders of dissent groups such as

556-399: A South Africa in which there will be peace and harmony and equal rights for all people. We are not racialists, as the white oppressors are. The African National Congress has a message of freedom for all who live in our country. The aim was to act only against hard targets such as power pylons and avoid any injury or loss of life. In the six or so months between making the decision to form

695-444: A campaign of sabotage would be launched unless the government agreed to call for a national constitutional convention. Six months later, on 16 December 1961, Mandela led uMkhonto weSizwe in launching its campaign. The first target sabotaged was an electrical substation . This was followed by many more acts of sabotage over a year and a half, including attacks on government posts, machines and power facilities, and crop burning. At

834-627: A century. The National Party's election platform stressed that apartheid would preserve a market for white employment in which non-whites could not compete. On the issues of black urbanisation, the regulation of non-white labour, influx control, social security, farm tariffs and non-white taxation, the United Party's policy remained contradictory and confused. Its traditional bases of support not only took mutually exclusive positions, but found themselves increasingly at odds with each other. Smuts' reluctance to consider South African foreign policy against

973-492: A conclusion on those people whose race was unclear. This caused difficulty, especially for Coloured people , separating their families when members were allocated different races. The second pillar of grand apartheid was the Group Areas Act of 1950. Until then, most settlements had people of different races living side by side. This Act put an end to diverse areas and determined where one lived according to race. Each race

1112-664: A conventional battle, and apparent willingness to directly confront a South African military force. During the Rhodesian Bush War , MK was closely allied with the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the armed wing of ZAPU. MK became interested in using ZIPRA's infiltration routes to smuggle supplies to its fighters in South Africa, and organised a joint expedition with the latter in August 1967. A combined MK-ZIPRA force

1251-576: A different and independent legislative path from the rest of the British Empire. The United Kingdom's Slavery Abolition Act 1833 abolished slavery throughout the British Empire and overrode the Cape Articles of Capitulation. To comply with the act, the South African legislation was expanded to include Ordinance 1 in 1835, which effectively changed the status of slaves to indentured labourers . This

1390-517: A lawyer, used South African Communist Party funds to buy Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia in 1961 for use as a secret meeting place. The secret life of the revolutionaries at Liliesleaf had a very brief flowering – the key years were 1961 to mid-1963. Arthur Goldreich lived as the tenant of Liliesleaf with his then wife Hazel and his two sons, Nicholas and Paul. They were white, the 'right colour' to belong in Rivonia, so their presence did not attract attention; this

1529-403: A legitimate military target. Ten MK operatives, including Ismail, applied for amnesty for this and other bombings. The applications were opposed on various grounds, including that it was a terrorist attack disproportionate to the political motive. The TRC found that the number of civilians versus military personnel killed was unclear. South African Police statistics indicated that seven members of

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1668-461: A lesser extent, to those of Indian and Coloured people. Further laws had the aim of suppressing resistance, especially armed resistance, to apartheid. The Suppression of Communism Act of 1950 banned the Communist Party of South Africa and any party subscribing to Communism . The act defined Communism and its aims so sweepingly that anyone who opposed government policy risked being labelled as

1807-627: A majority "no" vote in Natal . Later, some of them recognised the perceived need for white unity, convinced by the growing trend of decolonisation elsewhere in Africa, which concerned them. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's " Wind of Change " speech left the British faction feeling that the United Kingdom had abandoned them. The more conservative English speakers supported Verwoerd; others were troubled by

1946-520: A pass from their master or a local official. Ordinance No. 49 of 1828 decreed that prospective Black immigrants were to be granted passes for the sole purpose of seeking work. These passes were to be issued for Coloureds and Khoikhoi but not for other Africans, who were still forced to carry passes. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , the British Empire captured and annexed

2085-730: A permit. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 prohibited marriage between persons of different races, and the Immorality Act of 1950 made sexual relations between whites and other races a criminal offence . Under the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953, municipal grounds could be reserved for a particular race, creating, among other things, separate beaches, buses, hospitals, schools and universities. Signboards such as "whites only" applied to public areas, even including park benches. Black South Africans were provided with services greatly inferior to those of whites, and, to

2224-605: A rubbish bin at a shopping centre shortly before Christmas. In a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the ANC stated that Zondo's act, though "understandable" as a response to a recent South African Defence Force raid in Lesotho, was not in line with ANC policy. Zondo was executed in 1986. In the 1986 Durban beach-front bombing , a bomb was detonated in a bar, killing three civilians and injuring 69. Robert McBride received

2363-681: A rural police station and temporary South African Army garrison at Tonga . In 1983, the Church Street bomb was detonated in Pretoria near the Air Force headquarters, resulting in 19 deaths and 217 injuries. In the 1985 the Amanzimtoti bombing on the Natal South Coast, five civilians were killed and 40 were injured when uMkhonto weSizwe cadre Andrew Sibusiso Zondo detonated an explosive in

2502-562: A series of soft targets, including a bank in Roodepoort in 1988, in which four civilians were killed and 18 injured. Also in 1988, a bomb outside a magistrate's court killed three. At the Ellis Park rugby stadium in Johannesburg, a car bomb killed two and injured 37 civilians. A multitude of bombs at restaurants and fast food outlets, including Wimpy Bars , and supermarkets occurred during

2641-535: A single nation, but was made up of four distinct racial groups: white, black, Coloured and Indian. Such groups were split into 13 nations or racial federations. White people encompassed the English and Afrikaans language groups; the black populace was divided into ten such groups. The state passed laws that paved the way for "grand apartheid", which was centred on separating races on a large scale, by compelling people to live in separate places defined by race. This strategy

2780-433: A time when the government met our peaceful demands with force. This conclusion was not easily arrived at. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form uMkhonto weSizwe. We did so not because we desired such a course, but solely because the government had left us with no other choice. In

2919-643: A toll on him not seeing his wife and three children, but his wife Adelaide supported the ANC at home by taking in ANC members arriving from the UK . In 1967, Tambo became Acting President of the ANC, following the death of Chief Albert Lutuli . He sought to keep the ANC together even after he was exiled from South Africa. Due to his skillful lobbying, he was able to attract talented South African exiles, one of them being Thabo Mbeki . On 30 December 1979 in Lusaka , Zambia, Tambo as president and Alfred Nzo , then secretary-general of

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3058-470: A training camp held at Mamre , outside Cape Town, later recognised as the first MK training centre inside South Africa; however it had to be abandoned early due to Security Police interest. A lack of familiarity with the necessities of covert military work, and the reliance on high-profile leaders like Nelson Mandela, contributed to the South African state's ability to capture the organisation's leadership at their Rivonia headquarters outside Johannesburg at

3197-612: A two-thirds majority in a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament was needed to change the entrenched clauses of the Constitution . The government then introduced the High Court of Parliament Bill (1952), which gave Parliament the power to overrule decisions of the court. The Cape Supreme Court and the Appeal Court declared this invalid too. In 1955 the Strijdom government increased

3336-500: A veneer of intellectual respectability to the controversial policy of so-called baasskap . In total, 20 homelands were allocated to ethnic groups, ten in South Africa proper and ten in South West Africa. Of these 20 homelands, 19 were classified as black, while one, Basterland , was set aside for a sub-group of Coloureds known as Basters , who are closely related to Afrikaners. Four of the homelands were declared independent by

3475-578: The Landdrost and Heemraden , local officials, of Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet extended pass laws beyond slaves and ordained that all Khoikhoi (designated as Hottentots ) moving about the country for any purpose should carry passes. This was confirmed by the British Colonial government in 1809 by the Hottentot Proclamation , which decreed that if a Khoikhoi were to move they would need

3614-452: The 1994 general election in which Nelson Mandela became President . Mandela, Thabo Mbeki , Walter Sisulu and other prominent politicians attended the funeral. Tambo was buried in Benoni, Gauteng . Tambo was a devout Anglican . The strong fight against apartheid brought Tambo to form a series of intense international relationships. In 1977, Tambo signed the first solidarity agreement between

3753-776: The African National Congress (ANC), the South African Indian Congress (SAIC), and the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). After the release of the Freedom Charter, 156 leaders of these groups were charged in the 1956 Treason Trial . It established censorship of film, literature, and the media under the Customs and Excise Act 1955 and the Official Secrets Act 1956. The same year,

3892-595: The African National Congress , and the Council of Non-European Trade Unions began demanding political rights, land reform, and the right to unionise. Whites reacted negatively to the changes, allowing the Herenigde Nasionale Party (or simply the National Party) to convince a large segment of the voting bloc that the impotence of the United Party in curtailing the evolving position of nonwhites indicated that

4031-693: The Asiatic Registration Act of the Transvaal Colony required all Indians to register and carry passes. Beginning in 1906 the South African Native Affairs Commission under Godfrey Lagden began implementing a more openly segregationist policy towards non-Whites. The latter was repealed by the British government but re-enacted in 1908. In 1910, the Union of South Africa was created as a self-governing dominion , which continued

4170-575: The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale , fighting against a joint South African and UNITA expeditionary force during Operation Hooper and Operation Packer . At least 100 MK cadres were killed during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, making that engagement of enormous symbolic importance, as it was the largest single loss of life in MK's history. Furthermore, MK's prestige inside South Africa was greatly enhanced by its participation in

4309-651: The Cape Colony , which previously had a liberal and multi-racial constitution and a system of Cape Qualified Franchise open to men of all races, the Franchise and Ballot Act of 1892 raised the property franchise qualification and added an educational element, disenfranchising a disproportionate number of the Cape's non-White voters, and the Glen Grey Act of 1894 instigated by the government of Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes limited

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4448-744: The Dutch East India Company 's establishment of a trading post in the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, which eventually expanded into the Dutch Cape Colony . The company began the Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars in which it displaced the local Khoikhoi people , replaced them with farms worked by White settlers , and imported Black slaves from across the Dutch Empire . In the days of slavery , slaves required passes to travel away from their masters. In 1797,

4587-619: The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN). PLAN and MK frequently shared facilities in Angola and coordinated the transportation of supplies and war materiel. In 1984, there was a series of mutinies in MK's Angolan camps that were suppressed by the Mbokodo , the ANC's internal security service. During this time, the ANC detained and executed a number of MK dissidents suspected of subversion or disloyalty. In one case mutineers killed ANC members and after

4726-639: The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and pursued close military relations with that party, then involved in the Angolan War of Independence . Both movements were drawn into a practical and ideological friendship because of their shared links with the Soviet Union through the communist parties of their respective nations. At the First International Conference of Solidarity with

4865-572: The Rivonia Trial , the government accused them of committing 193 acts of sabotage in total. Opinions in the ANC were divided on the viability of launching a military campaign. For this reason, MK did not publicly associate itself with the ANC at first. Its initial attacks were "characterised by their simplicity": reflecting the Africans' lack of military training, and the fact that although many whites had military training, most had not seen service since

5004-533: The South African Defense Forces (SADF), which was destroyed by a rocket and grenade attack. Days later, attacks against substations in Pretoria are attributed, between 12 and 14 October. On 7 January 1982, MK tried to attack the West Rand Board of Administration, Soweto . Explosive attacks on administrative offices followed in the following weeks. On 28 May, MK claimed responsibility for

5143-468: The 'Architect of Apartheid'. In addition, "petty apartheid" laws were passed. The principal apartheid laws were as follows. The first grand apartheid law was the Population Registration Act of 1950, which formalised racial classification and introduced an identity card for all persons over the age of 18, specifying their racial group. Official teams or boards were established to come to

5282-747: The 20th century. It was the target of frequent condemnation in the United Nations and brought about extensive international sanctions , including arms embargoes and economic sanctions on South Africa. During the 1970s and 1980s, internal resistance to apartheid became increasingly militant, prompting brutal crackdowns by the National Party ruling government and protracted sectarian violence that left thousands dead or in detention. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that there were 21,000 deaths from political violence, with 7,000 deaths between 1948 and 1989, and 14,000 deaths and 22,000 injuries in

5421-538: The ANC after Sisulu was banned by the South African government under the Suppression of Communism Act . In 1958, he became Deputy President of the ANC and in 1959 was served with a five-year banning order by the government. In response, Tambo was sent abroad by the ANC to mobilize opposition to apartheid on 21 March 1960. He settled with his family in Muswell Hill , north London , where he lived until 1990. His exile took

5560-486: The ANC and a municipality: the Italian town of Reggio Emilia was the first city in the world to sign such a pact of solidarity. This was the beginning of a long understanding which brought Italy to put an effort into concrete actions to support the right of southern African people's self-determination ; one of these actions was the organization of solidarity ships. The first one, called "Amanda", departed from Genova in 1980. It

5699-427: The ANC, met Tim Jenkin , Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris , ANC members and escapees from incarceration at Phillip Kgosi Prison as political prisoners. Their presence was officially announced by the ANC (African National Congress)in early January and Tambo introduced them at a press conference on 2 January 1980. Tambo was directly responsible for organizing active guerrilla units. Along with his comrades, among which

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5838-747: The African National Congress. His house at 51 Alexandra Park Road, Muswell Hill, London, was purchased by the South African Government in 2010 as a historic monument and now bears a plaque. Tambo's grave was declared a National Heritage site when he died but lost this status when his wife, Adelaide Tambo , died and was buried alongside him. However their grave was re-declared a National Heritage site in October 2012. The ANC safe house in Lusaka, Zambia where Tambo spent much of his time in exile when not in London

5977-494: The African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalise and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war. Secondly, we felt that without violence there would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against

6116-457: The Afrikaners. He claimed that the only difference was between those in favour of apartheid and those against it. The ethnic division would no longer be between Afrikaans and English speakers, but between blacks and whites. Most Afrikaners supported the notion of unanimity of white people to ensure their safety. White voters of British descent were divided. Many had opposed a republic, leading to

6255-644: The Booysens Police Station, leaving two officers wounded. In 2000, the Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) granted amnesty for the attack. In the night of 31 May – 1 June, MK members attacked two Sasol oil from coal plants, leaving important material damages. There was a lull until 21 April 1981, when the MK attacked a substation in Durban with limpet mines . In this period,

6394-434: The British Empire cited racial exploitation of Blacks as a cause for its war against the Boer republics . However, the peace negotiations for the Treaty of Vereeniging demanded "the just predominance of the white race" in South Africa as a precondition for the Boer republics unifying with the British Empire. In 1905 the General Pass Regulations Act denied Black people the vote and limited them to fixed areas, and in 1906

6533-418: The Cape Province. The previous government had introduced the Separate Representation of Voters Bill into Parliament in 1951, turning it to be an Act on 18 June 1951; however, four voters, G Harris, W D Franklin, W D Collins and Edgar Deane, challenged its validity in court with support from the United Party. The Cape Supreme Court upheld the act, but reversed by the Appeal Court, finding the act invalid because

6672-425: The Dutch Cape Colony. Under the 1806 Cape Articles of Capitulation the new British colonial rulers were required to respect previous legislation enacted under Roman-Dutch law , and this led to a separation of the law in South Africa from English Common Law and a high degree of legislative autonomy. The governors and assemblies that governed the legal process in the various colonies of South Africa were launched on

6811-435: The Fighting People of Southern Africa and the Portuguese Colonies, organised by the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation and the World Peace Council , the MPLA and ANC entered into a formal military alliance together with the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO), the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). This became known as

6950-425: The Government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its policies, only then did we decide to answer with violence. The manifesto referred to by Mandela, adduced by the prosecution at his trial as Exhibit AD, included the statements: Our men are armed and trained freedom fighters not "terrorists". We are fighting for democracy—majority rule—the right of the Africans to rule Africa. We are fighting for

7089-502: The Khartoum alliance. The ANC-MPLA alliance assumed new significance in the mid-1970s with Angolan independence. After consolidating power with Cuban support, the MPLA granted MK permission to establish training facilities in Angola. The primary MK base in Angola was located at Novo Catengue, where intakes of up to 500 recruits were trained by Cuban military advisers. Between 1976 and 1979, over 1,000 MK guerrillas were trained at Novo Catengue. In recognition of Cuba's role in supervising

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7228-443: The MK attacked the Consul of the House of Transkei with explosives, leaving only material damage. In this period, attacks with explosives continued. On 27 May, the MK took credit for another attack in Durban , destroying a South African Defence Force recruitment building. In June of the same year, the MK took credit for the arson attack against the headquarters of the Federal Progressive Party , which caused material damage,

7367-436: The Manifesto of uMkhonto published on 16 December 1961, which is exhibit AD, we said: The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices – submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no choice but to hit back by all means in our power in defence of our people, our future, and our freedom. Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by

7506-430: The Military History Journal, some members, including Chris Hani , were able to remain undetected for a long period. Meanwhile, MK cadres had access to a growing range of military training opportunities in Algeria , Egypt and the Soviet Union and other communist-bloc countries. The Soweto uprising of 1976 led to a large exodus of young black men and women. Anxious to strike back at the apartheid regime, they crossed

7645-450: The Ministry of Native Affairs and defunded most mission schools . The Promotion of Black Self-Government Act of 1959 entrenched the NP policy of nominally independent "homelands" for blacks. So-called "self–governing Bantu units" were proposed, which would have devolved administrative powers, with the promise later of autonomy and self-government. It also abolished the seats of white representatives of black South Africans and removed from

7784-562: The Nation ' ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre . Its mission was to fight against the South African government to bring an end to its racist policies . After warning the South African government in June 1961 of its intent to increase resistance if the government did not take steps toward constitutional reform and increase political rights, uMkhonto weSizwe launched its first attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. The group

7923-437: The Native Administration Act 1956 allowed the government to banish blacks. The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 created separate government structures for blacks and whites and was the first piece of legislation to support the government's plan of separate development in the bantustans . The Bantu Education Act, 1953 established a separate education system for blacks emphasizing African culture and vocational training under

8062-416: The SADF were killed. The commission found that at least 84 of the injured were SADF members or employees. Amnesty was granted by the TRC. In 1985, he was re-elected President of the ANC. In October of that year, Tambo gave an important interview to the editor of the Cape Times newspaper, Tony Heard , in which he outlined the ANC's position and vision for a future, non-racial , South Africa. The interview

8201-432: The Second World War. The state responded with laws that allowed detention without trial and an unlimited power to ban organisations, and also by establishing military and civilian intelligence organisations. MK began planning a campaign called "Operation O Mayibuye", or "Operation Mayibuye", from Liliesleaf Farm . The South African Heritage Portal describes how they were able to meet there: "Goldreich and Harold Wolpe,

8340-460: The South African government, which failed to accommodate the influx with parallel expansion in housing or social services. Overcrowding, increasing crime rates, and disillusionment resulted; urban blacks came to support a new generation of leaders influenced by the principles of self-determination and popular freedoms enshrined in such statements as the Atlantic Charter . Black political organisations and leaders such as Alfred Xuma , James Mpanza ,

8479-644: The South African government: Transkei in 1976, Bophuthatswana in 1977, Venda in 1979, and Ciskei in 1981 (known as the TBVC states). Once a homeland was granted its nominal independence, its designated citizens had their South African citizenship revoked and replaced with citizenship in their homeland. These people were then issued passports instead of passbooks. Citizens of the nominally autonomous homelands also had their South African citizenship circumscribed, meaning they were no longer legally considered South African. The South African government attempted to draw an equivalence between their view of black citizens of

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8618-441: The TBVC states) were intended to be fully sovereign. In reality, they had no significant economic infrastructure and with few exceptions encompassed swaths of disconnected territory. This meant all the Bantustans were little more than puppet states controlled by South Africa. Umkhonto we Sizwe uMkhonto weSizwe ( Xhosa pronunciation: [um̩ˈkʰonto we ˈsizwe] ; abbreviated MK ; lit.   ' Spear of

8757-431: The Urban Areas Act (1923) introduced residential segregation and provided cheap labour for industry led by White people; the Colour Bar Act (1926) prevented Black mine workers from practising skilled trades; the Native Administration Act (1927) made the British Crown rather than paramount chiefs the supreme head over all African affairs; the Native Land and Trust Act (1936) complemented the 1913 Native Land Act and, in

8896-416: The abandonment of a limpet mine in a fuel depot in Alberton as well as other sabotage of railways. On 21 July, an attack on an electrical plant in Pretoria was reported, with at least six explosions recorded in three facilities. On 11 August, MK members attacked the Voortrekker military base in Pretoria with grenade launchers. On 1 November, MK members attacked a border post with Swaziland , occupied by

9035-424: The affluent and capitalist, the party also failed to appeal to its working class constituents. Populist rhetoric allowed the National Party to sweep eight constituencies in the mining and industrial centres of the Witwatersrand and five more in Pretoria . Barring the predominantly English-speaking landowner electorate of the Natal , the United Party was defeated in almost every rural district. Its urban losses in

9174-412: The aim of implementing the apartheid philosophy and silencing liberal opposition. When the National Party came to power in 1948, there were factional differences in the party about the implementation of systemic racial segregation. The " baasskap " (white domination or supremacist) faction, which was the dominant faction in the NP, and state institutions, favoured systematic segregation, but also favoured

9313-412: The amount of land Africans could hold. Similarly, in Natal , the Natal Legislative Assembly Bill of 1894 deprived Indians of the right to vote. In 1896 the South African Republic brought in two pass laws requiring Africans to carry a badge. Only those employed by a master were permitted to remain on the Rand , and those entering a "labour district" needed a special pass. During the Second Boer War ,

9452-410: The anti-apartheid movement. Previously, the ANC had sought to further its cause by actions such as petitions and demonstrations; the Youth League felt these actions were insufficient to achieve the group's goals and proposed their own "Program of Action". This program advocated tactics such as boycotts , civil disobedience , strikes , and non-collaboration. In 1955, Tambo became Secretary-general of

9591-400: The attack on a fuel depot and power transformer, Hectorspruit , Mpumalanga Province. In June MK attacked railways in Durban , and detonated an explosive in the offices of the Presidential Council, leaving one civilian killed. In 28 June that MK attacked railways in Vryheid and Scheepersnek. On 5 June, the MK bombs kill one person when the explosive blasts in a lift at the offices of

9730-457: The attacks with explosives continued. On 29 October, a grenade attack was reported against the West Rand police station, Gauteng Province. The following day, the MK attacked the Consul of the House of Transkei with explosives, leaving only material damage. On 21 November MK members shot dead an officer in Chiawelo, Gauteng. On 29 October, a grenade attack was reported against the West Rand police station, Gauteng Province. The following day,

9869-415: The black population to ten designated "tribal homelands", also known as bantustans , four of which became nominally independent states. The government announced that relocated persons would lose their South African citizenship as they were absorbed into the bantustans. Apartheid sparked significant international and domestic opposition, resulting in some of the most influential global social movements of

10008-594: The bombing was in response to a South African cross-border raid into Lesotho in December 1982 which killed 42 ANC supporters and civilians, and the assassination of Ruth First , an ANC activist and wife of Joe Slovo, in Maputo , Mozambique . It claimed that 11 of the casualties were SADF personnel and hence a military target. The legal representative of some of the victims argued that as they were administrative staff, including telephonists and typists, they could not be considered

10147-521: The border to Rhodesia to seek military training. This enabled uMkhonto weSizwe to rebuild an army — one capable of attacking prestigious targets such as the refineries at Sasolburg . On 24 February 1977, a bomb exploded at the Daveyton Police Station, causing only superficial damage. On 14 December, guerrillas attacked the Germiston police station. On 10 March 1978, a bomb exploded outside

10286-602: The borders of their homelands – hence this policy of separate development". Under the homelands system, blacks would no longer be citizens of South Africa, becoming citizens of the independent homelands who worked in South Africa as foreign migrant labourers on temporary work permits. In 1958 the Promotion of Black Self-Government Act was passed, and border industries and the Bantu Investment Corporation were established to promote economic development and

10425-746: The centenary of the sinking of the troopship SS Mendi . The event was curated by Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza and Fr Lawrence Mduduzi Ndlovu, together with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation. African National Congress Oliver Tambo at britannica.com Apartheid Apartheid ( / ə ˈ p ɑːr t ( h ) aɪ t / ə- PART -(h)yte , especially South African English :  / ə ˈ p ɑːr t ( h ) eɪ t / ə- PART -(h)ayt , Afrikaans : [aˈpart(ɦ)ɛit] ; transl.  "separateness" , lit.   ' aparthood ' )

10564-560: The common voters' roll in the Cape to a new Coloured voters' roll. Immediately after the vote, the Senate was restored to its original size. The Senate Act was contested in the Supreme Court, but the recently enlarged Appeal Court, packed with government-supporting judges, upheld the act, and also the Act to remove Coloured voters. The 1956 law allowed Coloureds to elect four people to Parliament, but

10703-418: The conclusion of the Rivonia Trial , Mandela outlined the motivations that led to the formation of uMkhonto weSizwe: At the beginning of June 1961, after a long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I, and some colleagues, came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be unrealistic and wrong for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at

10842-491: The course of the conflict, contravened the Geneva Protocols and was responsible for the commission of gross human rights violations…of the three main parties to the [South African] conflict, only the ANC committed itself to observing the tenets of the Geneva Protocols and, in the main, conducting the armed struggle in accordance within the international humanitarian law". In January 1969, the ANC declared its solidarity with

10981-569: The death penalty for this bombing, which became known as the "Magoo's Bar bombing". McBride received amnesty and became a senior police officer. In 1987, an explosion outside a Johannesburg court killed three police officers and injured a further 15; a court in Newcastle had been attacked in a similar way the previous year, injuring 24. Also in 1987, a bomb exploded at a military command centre in Johannesburg, killing one person and injuring 68 personnel. The armed struggle continued with attacks on

11120-527: The disenfranchised. Before South Africa became a republic in 1961, politics among white South Africans was typified by the division between the mainly Afrikaner pro-republic conservative and the largely English anti-republican liberal sentiments, with the legacy of the Boer War still a factor for some people. Once South Africa became a republic, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd called for improved relations and greater accord between people of British descent and

11259-553: The effects of the United Party's policies. The commission concluded that integration would bring about a "loss of personality" for all racial groups. The HNP incorporated the commission's findings into its campaign platform for the 1948 South African general election , which it won. South Africa had allowed social custom and law to govern the consideration of multiracial affairs and of the allocation, in racial terms, of access to economic, social, and political status. Most white South Africans, regardless of their own differences, accepted

11398-469: The end of 1962. This effectively neutralised MK within South Africa for the next decade. However, the organisation had established itself—and its key relationship as a disciplined part of the ANC—and did not disappear. The early 1970s were a low point for the ANC in many ways, including in the military sphere. Attempts to rebuild uMkhonto weSizwe inside South Africa resulted in many losses, although, as noted by

11537-686: The first pieces of segregating legislation enacted by Smuts' government was the Asiatic Land Tenure Bill (1946) , which banned land sales to Indians and Indian descendent South Africans. The same year, the government established the Fagan Commission . Amid fears integration would eventually lead to racial assimilation, the Opposition Herenigde Nasionale Party (HNP) established the Sauer Commission to investigate

11676-529: The government submitted a figure of 57 explosions resulting in 25 deaths. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that the use of torture by uMkhonto weSizwe was "routine", as were executions "without due process" at ANC detention camps. This was particularly true in the period of 1979–1989, although torture was not official ANC policy. It called the Durban bombing a "gross violation of human rights". The TRC also noted in its report that although "ANC had, in

11815-583: The grounds that South African airports should not be named after political figures. There is a sculpture of Tambo at the Albert Road Recreation Ground, Muswell Hill, close to his London home. In February 2021, Haringey Council renamed the park as the O.R. Tambo Recreation Ground . In June 2013, the city of Reggio Emilia in Italy celebrated Tambo with the creation of a park dedicated to the President of

11954-465: The highest status, followed by Indians , Coloureds and black Africans , in that order. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day, particularly inequality . Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into petty apartheid , which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and grand apartheid , which strictly separated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law

12093-424: The homeland structure as one of its cornerstones. Verwoerd came to believe in the granting of independence to these homelands. The government justified its plans on the ostensible basis that "(the) government's policy is, therefore, not a policy of discrimination on the grounds of race or colour, but a policy of differentiation on the ground of nationhood, of different nations, granting to each self-determination within

12232-412: The homeland system, the government attempted to divide South Africa and South West Africa into a number of separate states, each of which was supposed to develop into a separate nation-state for a different ethnic group. Territorial separation was hardly a new institution. There were, for example, the "reserves" created under the British government in the nineteenth century. Under apartheid, 13 percent of

12371-508: The homelands and the problems which other countries faced through entry of illegal immigrants. Bantustans within the borders of South Africa and South West Africa were classified by degree of nominal self-rule: 6 were "non-self-governing", 10 were "self-governing", and 4 were "independent". In theory, self-governing Bantustans had control over many aspects of their internal functioning but were not yet sovereign nations. Independent Bantustans (Transkei, Bophutatswana, Venda and Ciskei; also known as

12510-833: The house of the Lt Magezi Ngobeni of SAP Special Branch was attacked with grenades, leaving five children wounded. In the next month, a railway near Alice , Eastern Cape was damaged by a blast. On 4 January, the Morebeng SAP Station was attacked by an explosive device, leaving one officer injured. Days later, members of the MK took 25 hostages in a bank in Pretoria , the next confrontation between security forces and MK members left five dead (three attackers), and approximately 20 wounded. In March, MK shot dead two officers in Bophutatswana . In June 1980, MK members attacked

12649-527: The immigration of blacks from other countries. To reside in a city, blacks had to be in employment there. Until 1956 women were for the most part excluded from these pass requirements, as attempts to introduce pass laws for women were met with fierce resistance. In 1950, D. F. Malan announced the NP's intention to create a Coloured Affairs Department. J.G. Strijdom , Malan's successor as prime minister, moved to strip voting rights from black and Coloured residents of

12788-454: The land was reserved for black homelands, a small amount relative to its total population, and generally in economically unproductive areas of the country. The Tomlinson Commission of 1954 justified apartheid and the homeland system, but stated that additional land ought to be given to the homelands, a recommendation that was not carried out. When Verwoerd became prime minister in 1958, the policy of "separate development" came into being, with

12927-404: The last two of which included several sub-classifications. Places of residence were determined by racial classification. Between 1960 and 1983, 3.5 million black Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighbourhoods as a result of apartheid legislation, in some of the largest mass evictions in modern history. Most of these targeted removals were intended to restrict

13066-589: The late 1980s, killing and wounding many people. Wimpy were specifically targeted because of their perceived rigid enforcement of many apartheid laws, including excluding non-whites from their restaurants. From 1985 to 1987, there also was a campaign to place anti-tank mines on rural roads in what was then the Northern Transvaal . This tactic was abandoned due to the high rate of civilian casualties—especially among black labourers. The ANC estimated that there were 30 landmine explosions resulting in 23 deaths, while

13205-646: The legislative program: the South Africa Act (1910) enfranchised White people, giving them complete political control over all other racial groups while removing the right of Black people to sit in parliament; the Native Land Act (1913) prevented Black people, except those in the Cape, from buying land outside "reserves"; the Natives in Urban Areas Bill (1918) was designed to force Black people into "locations";

13344-2532: The long term. A third faction, which included Hendrik Verwoerd , sympathised with the purists, but allowed for the use of black labour, while implementing the purist goal of vertical separation. Verwoerd would refer to this policy as a policy of "good neighbourliness" as a means of justifying such segregation. Glen Grey Act (1894) Natal Legislative Assembly Bill (1894) Transvaal Asiatic Registration Act (1906) South Africa Act (1909) Mines and Works Act (1911) Natives Land Act (1913) Natives (Urban Areas) Act (1923) Immorality Act (1927) Native Administration Act (1927) Women's Enfranchisement Act (1930) Franchise Laws Amendment Act (1931) Representation of Natives Act (1936) Native Trust and Land Act (1936) Native (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act (1945) Immorality Amendment Act † (1950) Population Registration Act (1950) Group Areas Act (1950) Suppression of Communism Act (1950) Native Building Workers Act (1951) Separate Representation of Voters Act (1951) Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act (1951) Bantu Authorities Act (1951) Native Laws Amendment Act † (1952) Pass Laws Act (1952) Public Safety Act (1953) Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act (1953) Bantu Education Act (1953) Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953) Natives Resettlement Act (1954) Group Areas Development Act (1955) Riotous Assemblies Act (1956) Industrial Conciliation Act (1956) Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act (1956) Immorality Act (1957) Bantu Investment Corporation Act (1959) Extension of University Education Act (1959) Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act (1959) Unlawful Organizations Act (1960) Indemnity Act (1961) Coloured Persons Communal Reserves Act (1961) Republic of South Africa Constitution Act (1961) Urban Bantu Councils Act (1961) General Law Amendment Act (1963) Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act (1968) Prohibition of Political Interference Act (1968) Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act (1970) Bantu Homelands Constitution Act (1971) Aliens Control Act (1973) Indemnity Act (1977) National Key Points Act (1980) List of National Key Points Internal Security Act (1982) Black Local Authorities Act (1982) Interim Constitution (1993) Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act (1995) NP leaders argued that South Africa did not comprise

13483-496: The mounting tensions of the Cold War also stirred up discontent, while the nationalists promised to purge the state and public service of communist sympathisers. First to desert the United Party were Afrikaner farmers, who wished to see a change in influx control due to problems with squatters, as well as higher prices for their maize and other produce in the face of the mineowners' demand for cheap food policies. Always identified with

13622-699: The mutiny was suppressed seven mutineers were executed (with further executions only halted after the personal intervention of Oliver Tambo ). MK's presence in Angola inevitably embroiled it in the Angolan Civil War . In August 1983, an MK battalion was deployed against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) insurgents near Kibashe. In 1986, three battalions of newly trained MK recruits were deployed to guard FAPLA rear areas during Operation Alpha Centauri . MK also participated in

13761-604: The nation's most populous province, the Transvaal , proved equally devastating. As the voting system was disproportionately weighted in favour of rural constituencies and the Transvaal in particular, the 1948 election catapulted the Herenigde Nasionale Party from a small minority party to a commanding position with an eight-vote parliamentary lead. Daniel François Malan became the first nationalist prime minister, with

13900-481: The number of judges in the Appeal Court from five to 11, and appointed pro-Nationalist judges to fill the new places. In the same year they introduced the Senate Act, which increased the Senate from 49 seats to 89. Adjustments were made such that the NP controlled 77 of these seats. The parliament met in a joint sitting and passed the Separate Representation of Voters Act in 1956, which transferred Coloured voters from

14039-699: The offices of the Bantu Affairs building in Port Elizabeth , killing one civilian and wound three others. On 21 August 1978, B. Mayeza, personnel member of the Bureau of State Security was shot dead in Umlazi , Durban . On 9 December 1978, an explosive blast severely damaged the Soweto Community Council building. On 14 January, seven members clashed with SAP (South African Police) near Zeerust , one member

14178-417: The organisation (June) and the first acts of sabotage (December), the MK high command set up regional commands in the main centres. The people chosen to be part of these commands were chosen either because they had the necessary technical or military skills or because they were members of Congress Alliance organisations. In June 1961, Mandela sent a letter to South African newspapers warning the government that

14317-505: The organisation had fallen under the influence of Western liberals. Many Afrikaners resented what they perceived as disempowerment by an underpaid black workforce and the superior economic power and prosperity of white English speakers. Smuts, as a strong advocate of the United Nations , lost domestic support when South Africa was criticised for its colour bar and the continued mandate of South West Africa by other UN member states. Afrikaner nationalists proclaimed that they offered

14456-483: The participation of black Africans in the economy with black labour controlled to advance the economic gains of Afrikaners. A second faction were the "purists", who believed in "vertical segregation", in which blacks and whites would be entirely separated, with blacks living in native reserves, with separate political and economic structures, which, they believed, would entail severe short-term pain, but would also lead to independence of white South Africa from black labour in

14595-487: The person who gave final approval, in between 1978 and 1979, for the 20 May 1983 Church Street bombing , which resulted in the death of 19 people and injuries to 197–217 people. The attack was orchestrated by a special operations unit of the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), commanded by Aboobaker Ismail. Such units had been authorized by Tambo as President of the ANC in 1979. At the time of the attack, they reported to Joe Slovo as chief of staff. The ANC's submission said that

14734-732: The presidents Council in Cape Town . Weeks later, two bombs cause extensive damage to the railway depot, pump station, stores and vehicles in Scheepersnek. A triple blasts in the Drakensberg Administration offices in Pietermaritzburg . On 8 November, an improvised device causes important damage at the Mobil fuel storage depot in Mkuze . Days later, MK militants uses RPG-7s to attack

14873-464: The prevailing pattern. Nevertheless, by 1948 it remained apparent that there were gaps in the social structure, whether legislated or otherwise, concerning the rights and opportunities of nonwhites. The rapid economic development of World War II attracted black migrant workers in large numbers to chief industrial centres, where they compensated for the wartime shortage of white labour. However, this escalated rate of black urbanisation went unrecognised by

15012-453: The principle of white supremacy. All lawful modes of expressing opposition to this principle had been closed by legislation, and we were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or take over the Government. We chose to defy the law. We first broke the law in a way which avoided any recourse to violence; when this form was legislated against, and then

15151-488: The provision of employment in or near the homelands. Many black South Africans who had never resided in their identified homeland were forcibly removed from the cities to the homelands. The vision of a South Africa divided into multiple ethnostates appealed to the reform-minded Afrikaner intelligentsia, and it provided a more coherent philosophical and moral framework for the National Party's policies, while also providing

15290-681: The right to vote for the Coloured Persons Representative Council , which had limited legislative powers. The council was in turn dissolved in 1980. In 1984 a new constitution introduced the Tricameral Parliament in which coloured voters elected the House of Representatives . A 2016 study in The Journal of Politics suggests that disenfranchisement in South Africa had a significant negative effect on basic service delivery to

15429-476: The rolls the few blacks still qualified to vote. The Bantu Investment Corporation Act of 1959 set up a mechanism to transfer capital to the homelands to create employment there. Legislation of 1967 allowed the government to stop industrial development in "white" cities and redirect such development to the "homelands". The Black Homeland Citizenship Act of 1970 marked a new phase in the Bantustan strategy. It changed

15568-469: The same year, the Representation of Natives Act removed previous Black voters from the Cape voters' roll and allowed them to elect three Whites to Parliament. The United Party government of Jan Smuts began to move away from the rigid enforcement of segregationist laws during World War II, but faced growing opposition from Afrikaner nationalists who wanted stricter segregation. Post-war, one of

15707-514: The severing of ties with the UK and remained loyal to the Crown . They were displeased by having to choose between British and South African nationalities. Although Verwoerd tried to bond these different blocs, the subsequent voting illustrated only a minor swell of support, indicating that a great many English speakers remained apathetic and that Verwoerd had not succeeded in uniting the white population. Under

15846-399: The status of blacks to citizens of one of the ten autonomous territories. The aim was to ensure a demographic majority of white people within South Africa by having all ten Bantustans achieve full independence. Inter-racial contact in sport was frowned upon, but there were no segregatory sports laws. The government tightened pass laws compelling blacks to carry identity documents, to prevent

15985-492: The time, escaped during the trial. The organisation was formally disbanded in a ceremony at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Gauteng , on 16 December 1993, although its armed struggle had been suspended earlier, during the negotiations to end apartheid . According to Nelson Mandela , all of the founding members of the uMkhonto weSizwe, including himself, were also members of the ANC. In his " I Am Prepared to Die " speech, delivered at

16124-506: The training programme, the third MK intake to muster out was named the "Moncada Detachment". There were also a number of smaller MK training camps established throughout Angola, namely at Quibaxe. Aside from Cuba, the Soviet Union also contributed some instructors at the request of Oliver Tambo ; between 1976 and 1991, 200 Soviet military personnel served at various MK camps in Angola as training staff. The ANC and MK presence in Angola re-ignited its alliance with SWAPO and its own armed wing,

16263-582: The transition period between 1990 and 1994. Some reforms of the apartheid system were undertaken, including allowing for Indian and Coloured political representation in parliament , but these measures failed to appease most activist groups. Between 1987 and 1993, the National Party entered into bilateral negotiations with the African National Congress (ANC), the leading anti-apartheid political movement, for ending segregation and introducing majority rule. In 1990, prominent ANC figures, such as Nelson Mandela , were released from prison. Apartheid legislation

16402-632: The voters a new policy to ensure continued white domination. This policy was initially expounded from a theory drafted by Hendrik Verwoerd and was presented to the National Party by the Sauer Commission . It called for a systematic effort to organise the relations, rights, and privileges of the races as officially defined through a series of parliamentary acts and administrative decrees. Segregation had thus far been pursued only in major matters, such as separate schools, and local society rather than law had been depended upon to enforce most separation; it should now be extended to everything. The commission's goal

16541-561: The voting, as SABC3 caters predominantly to English speakers. In late 2005, ANC politicians announced plans to rename Johannesburg International Airport after him. Then-President Thabo Mbeki at this time did not side with this idea, and there was a behind closed door meeting deliberating on this. Votes were in favour of the idea and against Mbeki and the proposal was accepted and the renaming ceremony occurred on 27 October 2006. The ANC-dominated government had previously renamed Jan Smuts Airport as Johannesburg International Airport in 1994 on

16680-458: Was Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, and Walter Sisulu, Tambo directed and facilitated several attacks against the South African public. In an interview in 1985, Tambo was quoted as saying: "In the past, we were saying the ANC will not deliberately take innocent life, but now, looking at what is happening in South Africa, it is difficult to say civilians are not going to die." The post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) identified Tambo as

16819-507: Was Tambo himself who asked Reggio Emilia to mint Isitwalandwe Medals , the greatest of the ANC's honors. In 2004, he was voted number 31 in SABC3 's Great South Africans , scoring lower than H. F. Verwoerd , before the SABC decided to cancel the final rounds of voting. The decision to cancel the results was largely informed by the fact that the majority of blacks South Africans did not participate in

16958-517: Was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia ) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap ( lit. 'boss-ship' or 'boss-hood'), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population . Under this minoritarian system, white citizens held

17097-507: Was allotted its own area, which was used in later years as a basis of forced removal. The Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act of 1951 allowed the government to demolish black shanty town slums and forced white employers to pay for the construction of housing for those black workers who were permitted to reside in cities otherwise reserved for whites. The Native Laws Amendment Act, 1952 centralised and tightened pass laws so that blacks could not stay in urban areas longer than 72 hours without

17236-518: Was captured, others escaped over Botswana border. On 23 January, an explosion damaged the railway near New Canada, Gauteng . The next day, a large quantity of explosives on the line were found and defused, between Fort Beaufort and King William's Town , Eastern Cape. In February, Sergeant Benjamin Letlako, a Police Special Branch member, is shot dead in Katlehong . On 15 April, an improvised device

17375-560: Was declared a national monument by the Zambian Government in 2017, and opened to the public as Oliver Tambo Heritage House . It was opened by South African President Jacob Zuma , Zambian President Edgar Lungu and former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda . To conclude the centenary celebrations of the birth of Tambo, a commemoration was held at Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Moroka, Soweto on 27 October 2017. This same event marked also

17514-585: Was discovered and defused on a railway line near Soweto . In 5 May, guerrillas opened fire in the Moroka Police Station, killing one and wounding three more policemen and three civilians. Next, an explosive device was found in a railway in Eastern Transvaal . On 15 November, members of MK attacked the Orlando SAP Station, leaving two officers dead and other two wounded. In the same day,

17653-523: Was expelled for participating in a student strike. In 1942, Tambo returned to his former high school in Johannesburg to teach science and mathematics . In 1944, along with Nelson Mandela , and Walter Sisulu , Tambo founded the ANC Youth League , with Tambo becoming its first National Secretary and a member of the National Executive in 1948. The Youth League proposed a change in the tactics of

17792-492: Was followed by Ordinance 3 in 1848, which introduced an indenture system for Xhosa that was little different from slavery. The various South African colonies passed legislation throughout the rest of the 19th century to limit the freedom of unskilled workers, to increase the restrictions on indentured workers and to regulate the relations between the races. The discoveries of diamonds and gold in South Africa also raised racial inequality between White people and Black people. In

17931-523: Was harder for him to fulfill his duties as President of the ANC, so in 1991, at the ANC's 48th National Conference , Nelson Mandela took over as president of the ANC. When he stepped down as president, however, the congress created a special position for him as the National Chairman. After suffering complications following a stroke, Tambo died on 24 April 1993, at the age of 75. His death came 14 days after Chris Hani 's assassination and one year before

18070-595: Was important for helping to create the political conditions for the South African government to later openly enter talks with the ANC thereby resulting in the CODESA negotiations that would start upon his return to South Africa. He returned to South Africa on 13 December 1990 after over 30 years in exile. He was able to return to South Africa because of the legalization of the ANC. When he returned after his time in exile he received much support. Some of that support even came from old rivals. However, because of his stroke in 1989, it

18209-526: Was in part adopted from "left-over" British rule that separated different racial groups after they took control of the Boer republics in the Anglo-Boer war . This created the black-only " townships " or "locations", where blacks were relocated to their own towns. As the NP government's minister of native affairs from 1950, Hendrik Verwoerd had a significant role in crafting such laws, which led to him being regarded as

18348-680: Was largely eliminated by the Rhodesian Security Forces during Operation Nickel , and the survivors driven back across the border into Botswana and Zambia . Historian Rocky Williams assesses that MK and ZIPRA "fought well under difficult conditions" and that although the incursion failed, the Rhodesian authorities were forced to rely on clandestine military assistance from South Africa to counter them. Concerning MK's alliance with ZIPRA, Oliver Tambo stated: "We have had close political relations with ZAPU, and these developed into relations at

18487-422: Was privately owned by Arthur Goldreich and bought with South African Communist Party and ANC funds, as non-whites were unable to own a property in that area under the Group Areas Act .) The arrests were followed by the Rivonia Trial , in which ten leaders of the ANC were tried for 221 militant acts that the prosecution said were designed to "foment violent revolution". Wilton Mkwayi , chief of uMkhonto weSizwe at

18626-534: Was repealed on 17 June 1991, leading to multiracial elections in April 1994 . Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning "separateness", or "the state of being apart", literally " apart - hood " (from the Afrikaans suffix -heid ). Its first recorded use was in 1929. Racial discrimination and inequality against Black people in South Africa dates to the beginning of large-scale European colonisation of South Africa with

18765-458: Was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African government, and banned. For a time it was headquartered in Rivonia , which was rural at that time but is now an affluent suburb of Johannesburg . On 11 July 1963, nineteen ANC and uMkhonto weSizwe leaders, including Arthur Goldreich , Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu , were arrested at Liliesleaf Farm , Rivonia. (The farm

18904-576: Was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949 , followed closely by the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950, which made it illegal for most South African citizens to marry or pursue sexual relationships across racial lines . The Population Registration Act, 1950 classified all South Africans into one of four racial groups based on appearance, known ancestry, socioeconomic status, and cultural lifestyle: "Black", "White", "Coloured", and "Indian",

19043-489: Was the perfect cover.... The farm outbuildings became home to various key ANC black members who posed as 'servants' of the white Goldreich family. Here the leaders of a hoped for revolution developed a plan for guerrilla warfare (Operation Mayibuye) with its own printing press and a secret radio transmitter." In 1962, Mandela went to Algeria, Egypt, and Ghana to get international backing for the group. In December 1962, Looksmart Ngudle and Denis Goldberg helped to organise

19182-458: Was the son of a farmer and an assistant salesperson at a local trading store. Mzimeni had four wives and ten children, all of whom were literate . Oliver's mother, Mzimeni's third wife, was called Julia. Tambo graduated high school in 1938 as one of the top students. After this, Tambo was admitted to the University of Fort Hare but in 1940 he, along with several others including Nelson Mandela ,

19321-405: Was to completely remove blacks from areas designated for whites, including cities, with the exception of temporary migrant labour. Blacks would then be encouraged to create their own political units in land reserved for them. The party gave this policy a name –  apartheid . Apartheid was to be the basic ideological and practical foundation of Afrikaner politics for the next quarter of

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