103-720: The Pebco Three were three black South African anti-apartheid activists – Sipho Hashe, Champion Galela, and Qaqawuli Godolozi – who were abducted and subsequently murdered in 1985 by members of the South African security police . After an increase in the cost of living for the Black population in Port Elizabeth – following a 100% rent fee price hike in the late 1970s – the residents of Port Elizabeth decided to organise themselves and form an organisation that would challenge socio-economic injustices that were meted out on Black people including
206-486: A "basic misunderstanding" about the TRC's mandate, which was to uncover the truth about past abuse, using amnesty as a mechanism, rather than to punish past crimes . Critics of the TRC dispute this, saying that their position is not a misunderstanding but a rejection of the TRC's mandate. Among the highest-profile of these objections were the criticisms levelled by the family of prominent anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko , who
309-608: A British embassy official interested in providing a cash donation to PEBCO call Sipho Hashe at his home. The informant convinced Sipho and his two friends to come to the airport to pick up the donation. (Nieuwoudt later refused to name the informant for fear of his safety.) The three men were apprehended by members of the Security Police and taken to an abandoned police station on a farm at Post Chalmers, near Cradock. They were then interrogated, stripped of their possessions, beaten, sedated, and finally strangled. The bodies were burned and
412-604: A Ghanaian Maoist group led by Leballo. APLA was destroyed by the Tanzanian military at Chunya on 11 March 1980 for refusing to accept the reformist-diplomatic leadership by Make. Leballo was influential in the South African 1985 student risings and pivotal in removing Leabua Jonathan's regime in Lesotho, the stress of which caused his death. The PAC never recovered from the 1980 massacre of Leballo's troops and his death and only won 1.2% of
515-799: A church vestibule, which led to the creation of the South African Students Organisation (SASO), under Biko, in 1969. The BCM was an umbrella organisation for groups such as SASO. It was created in 1967, and among its members were the Azanian People's Organisation , the black Community Programme (which directed welfare schemes for blacks), the Black People's Convention (BPC) and the South African Students Movement (SASM), which represented high-school learners. The BPC originally attempted to unite charitable associations like
618-423: A drastic theory, much like socialism, as the liberation movement progressed to challenging class divisions and shifting from an ethnic stress to focusing more on non-racialism . The BCM became more worried about the destiny of the black people as workers and believed that "economic and political exploitation has reduced the black people into a class". With Black Consciousness increasing throughout black communities,
721-578: A group of disenchanted ANC members broke away from the ANC and formed the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) in 1959. First on the PAC's agenda was a series of nationwide demonstrations against the pass laws . The PAC called for blacks to demonstrate against pass books on 21 March 1960. One of the mass demonstrations organised by the PAC took place at Sharpeville , a township near Vereeniging . The size of
824-426: A medium for its message. The BCM drew most of its backing from high schools and tertiary institutions. Black Consciousness ethics were crucial in lifting consciousness amongst black people of their value and right to a better existence, along with the need to insist on these. The BCM's non-violent approach subsided in favour of a more radical element as its resolve to attain liberty was met with state hostility. After
927-425: A monumental process, the consequences of which will take years to unravel. For all its pervasive weight, however, it infiltrates our culture asymmetrically, unevenly across multiple sectors. Its place in small rural communities, for example, when it establishes itself in a local church hall, and absorbs substantial numbers of the population, is very different from its situation in large urban centres, where its presence
1030-666: A more radical generation. During this epoch, new anti-apartheid ideas and establishments were created, and they gathered support from across South Africa. The surfacing of the South African Black Consciousness Movement was influenced by its American equivalent, the American Black Power movement, and directors like Malcolm X . African heads like Kenneth Kaunda suggested ideas of autonomy and Black Pride by means of their anti-colonialist writings. Scholars grew in assurance and became far more candid about
1133-559: A national front in politics, the United Democratic Front (UDF). Simultaneously, inter-factional rivalry between the ANC, the PAC and the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO), a third militant force, escalated into sectarian violence as the three groups fought for influence. The government took the opportunity to declare a state of emergency in 1986 and detain thousands of its political opponents without trial. Secret bilateral negotiations to end apartheid commenced in 1987 as
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#17328589697121236-538: A number of other organisations were formed to combat apartheid. In 1972, the Black People's Convention was founded, and the black Allied Worker's Union, formed in 1973, focused on black labour matters. The black community programmes gave attention to the more global issues of black communities. School learners began to confront the Bantu education policy, which was designed to prepare them to be second-class citizens. They created
1339-464: A plan for bringing exiles back into the country. It also revealed that MK was planning to use guerrilla warfare . The PAC's secretive martial arm was called Poqo, meaning "go it alone". It was prepared to take lives in the quest for liberation: it murdered whites, police informants and black people who supported the government. It sought to arrange a national revolution to conquer the white government, but poor organisation and in-house nuisances crippled
1442-661: A surprise attack on the SADF base in Matola, Mozambique, killing 16 SADF soldiers and wounding more than 40. On 8 December 1982, ANC guerrillas attacked the South African embassy in Maseru, Lesotho, killing three people and injuring several others and on 14 November 1987, the ANC targeted the Vlakplaas police station in Pretoria with a car bomb, killing three police officers and injuring 18 others. Vlakplaas
1545-656: A violent overthrow of the state, and replacing it with a communist government. The charge was based on statements and speeches made during the Defiance Campaign and the Congress of the People. The Freedom Charter was used as proof of the Alliance's communist intent and their conspiracy to oust the government. The State greatly relied on the evidence of Professor Arthur Murray, an ostensible authority on Marxism and Communism. His evidence
1648-545: The Truth Commission Special Report . The programme was presented by progressive Afrikaner journalist Max du Preez , former editor of the Vrye Weekblad . The producers of the programme included Anneliese Burgess, Jann Turner , Benedict Motau, Gael Reagon, Rene Schiebe and Bronwyn Nicholson, a production assistant. Various films have been made about the commission: Several plays have been produced about
1751-491: The 1948 general election . From the early 1950s, the African National Congress (ANC) initiated its Defiance Campaign of passive resistance. Subsequent civil disobedience protests targeted curfews, pass laws , and "petty apartheid" segregation in public facilities. Some anti-apartheid demonstrations resulted in widespread rioting in Port Elizabeth and East London in 1952, but organised destruction of property
1854-544: The Sharpeville massacre , some anti-apartheid movements, including the ANC and PAC, began a shift in tactics from peaceful non-cooperation to the formation of armed resistance wings. Mass strikes and student demonstrations continued into the 1970s, powered by growing black unemployment, the unpopularity of the South African Border War , and a newly assertive Black Consciousness Movement . The brutal suppression of
1957-635: The South African Defence Force . Further apartheid laws were abolished on 17 June 1991, and multiparty negotiations proceeded until the first multi-racial general election held in April 1994. Although its creation predated apartheid, the African National Congress (ANC) became the primary force in opposition to the government after its moderate leadership was superseded by the organisation's more radical Youth League (ANCYL) in 1949. Led by Walter Sisulu , Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo , elected to
2060-909: The South African Indian Congress and the Coloured People's Congress, agreed on a plan for the defiance of unfair laws. They wrote to Prime Minister D. F. Malan and demanded that he repeal the Pass Laws, the Group Areas Act , the Bantu Administration Act and other legislation, warning that refusal to do so would be met with a campaign of defiance. Malan referred the Council to the Native Affairs Department and threatened to treat insolence callously. The Programme of Action
2163-537: The Soweto uprising . The government's effort at defeating all opposition had been effective. The State of Emergency was de-proclaimed, the economy boomed and the government began implementing apartheid by building the infrastructures of the ten separate Homelands and relocating blacks into these homelands. In 1966, Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd was stabbed to death in parliament, but his policies continued under B.J. Vorster and later P.W. Botha . Despite these developments,
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#17328589697122266-638: The University of the Western Cape ), Johannesburg (at the Central Methodist Mission), and Randburg (at the Rhema Bible Church). The commission was empowered to grant amnesty to those who committed abuses during the apartheid era, as long as the crimes were politically motivated, proportionate, and there was full disclosure by the person seeking amnesty. To avoid victor's justice , no side
2369-468: The "Sobukwe clause", which permitted the state to detain people even after they had served their sentences. The PAC's management difficulties also existed in exile. When they were outlawed, PAC leaders set up headquarters in places like Dar es Salaam , London and the United States. In 1962, Potlako Leballo left the country for Maseru , Basutoland , and became the PAC's acting president. Soon after he
2472-470: The 1976 Soweto uprising radicalised a generation of black activists and greatly bolstered the strength of the ANC's guerrilla force, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK). From 1976 to 1987 MK carried out a series of successful bomb attacks targeting government facilities, transportation lines, power stations, and other civil infrastructure. South Africa's military often retaliated by raiding ANC safe houses in neighbouring states. The NP made several attempts to reform
2575-748: The 1989 Motherwell Bombing in which Nieuwoudt was also involved. The TRC refused to grant amnesty to the three perpetrators Van Zyl, Nieuwoudt and Lotz, citing that the three had failed to make full disclosure in the case of the PEBCO Three. Internal resistance to apartheid Military stalemate between MK and South African security forces Bilateral negotiations to end apartheid Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to guerrilla warfare . Mass action against
2678-583: The ANC and NIC increased and strengthened through the Defiance Campaign. Support for the ANC and its endeavours increased. On 15 August 1953, at the Cape ANC conference in Cradock, Professor Z. K. Matthews proposed a national convention of the people to study the national problems on an all-inclusive basis and outline a manifesto of amity. In March 1954, the ANC, the South African Indian Congress (SAIC),
2781-527: The ANC to coordinate underground militant activity throughout South Africa. By the end of 1962 the ANC established an MK high command consisting of Mandela, Sisulu, Govan Mbeki , Raymond Mhlaba , and prominent South African Communist Party (SACP) activist Joe Slovo . Slovo and the SACP were instrumental in bolstering MK and developing its tactics for guerrilla warfare, inciting insurrection and urban sabotage. White SACP members such as Jack Hodgson, who had served in
2884-566: The ANC was able to launch several successful guerrilla attacks against the South African Defense Force from their locations in-hiding. For example, On 20 May 1983, the ANC detonated a car bomb outside the South African Air Force headquarters in Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring more than 200. The attack was one of the deadliest in the ANC's armed struggle against Apartheid. On 30 January 1981, ANC guerrillas launched
2987-458: The ANC's National Executive on the eve of the Congress. Among the organisations present were the Indian Congress and the ANC. The Freedom Charter articulated a vision for South Africa that radically differed from the partition policy of apartheid. It: The congress delegates had consented to almost all the sections of the charter when the police announced that they suspected treason and recorded
3090-584: The ANC's National Executive that year, the ANCYL advocated a radical black nationalist programme that combined the Africanist ideas of Anton Lembede with Marxism . They proposed that white authority could only be overthrown through mass campaigns. The ideals of the ANC and ANCYL are stated in the ANC official web site and state, concerning the Tripartite Alliance: "The Alliance is founded on a common commitment to
3193-453: The ANC's executive to adopt armed struggle. Mandela first advocated this option during the Defiance Campaign of 1952, but his proposal was rejected by his fellow activists for being too radical. However, with the subsequent success of revolutionary struggles in Cuba , French Indochina , and French Algeria , the ANC executive became increasingly more open to suggestions by Mandela and Sisulu that it
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3296-614: The Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats (SACOD) and the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) met and founded the National Action Council for the Congress of the People. Delegates were drawn from each of these establishments and a nationwide organiser was assigned. A campaign was publicised for the drafting of a freedom charter, and asked for 10,000 volunteers to help with
3399-594: The Education and Cultural Advancement of African People of South Africa before expanding into a political administration with Biko as its honorary president. When the BCM's principles were revealed, a number of fresh organisations staunch in their endorsement of black liberation were founded. The Azanian People's Organisation was only launched in 1978, a long time after the birth of the Black Consciousness Movement, as
3502-587: The Extension of University Education Act of 1959, which guaranteed that black and white students would be taught individually and inequitably. After the Rivonia Trial and the banning of the ANC and PAC, the struggle within South Africa was significantly suppressed. The age bracket that had seen the Sharpeville massacre became apathetic. A revival in anti-apartheid sentiment came in the late 1960s and mid-1970s from
3605-603: The NP's bigoted policies and the repression of the black people. During the 1970s, resistance grew stronger through trade unions and strikes, and was then spearheaded by the South African Students' Organisation under Steve Biko 's leadership. A medical student, Biko was the main force behind the growth of South Africa's Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), which stressed the need for psychological liberation, black pride , and non-violent opposition to apartheid. The BCM faction
3708-471: The National Party reacted to increased external pressure and the atmosphere of political unrest. Leading ANC officials such as Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu were released from prison between 1987 and 1989, and in 1990 the ANC and PAC were formally delisted as banned organisations by President F. W. de Klerk , and Nelson Mandela was released from prison. The same year, MK reached a formal ceasefire with
3811-557: The Nuremberg trials are an example. In one survey study, the effectiveness of the TRC was measured on a variety of levels: In the study by Orlando Lentini, the opinions of three ethnic groups were measured in this study: English-speaking White South Africans , the Afrikaners , and the Xhosa . According to the researchers, all of the participants perceived the TRC to be effective in bringing out
3914-515: The PAC and Poqo. The PAC did not have adequate direction. Many PAC principals were taken into custody on 21 March 1960, and those released were hampered by bans. When Robert Sobukwe (who was jailed following the Sharpeville massacre) was discharged from Robben Island in 1969, he was placed under house arrest in Kimberley until he died in 1978. Police repeatedly lengthened his incarceration through
4017-523: The PAC. The Sharpeville Massacre persuaded several anti-apartheid movements that nonviolent civil disobedience alone was ineffective at encouraging the National Party government to seek reform. The resurgent tide of armed revolutions in many developing nations and European colonial territories during the early 1960s gave ANC and PAC leaders the idea that nonviolent civil disobedience should be complemented by acts of insurrection and sabotage. Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu were instrumental in persuading
4120-545: The PEBCO Three were murdered. Also incriminated in the case were former policemen Johan Martin Van Zyl and Johannes Koole. Van Zyl voluntarily surrendered to police in Port Elizabeth on 11 February 2004. He had been out of the country on murder and three counts of assault to do grievous bodily harm. The trial was set for 12 October but has since been postponed by the defence, pending a Truth and Reconciliation Commission review of
4223-585: The Pretoria Central Prison, and the other seven were imprisoned on Robben Island. Bram Fischer , the defence trial attorney, was also arrested and tried shortly thereafter. The instructions that Mandela gave to make MK an African force were ignored: it continued to be organised and led by the SACP. The trial was condemned by the United Nations Security Council and was a major force in the introduction of international sanctions against
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4326-617: The South African Army during World War II, were instrumental in training MK recruits. The SACP was also able to secure promises of military aid from the Soviet Union for the fledgling guerrilla army, and purchased Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia , just outside Johannesburg, to serve as MK's headquarters. Throughout the 1960s, MK was still a relatively small unit of poorly equipped guerrilla fighters incapable of taking significant action against
4429-514: The South African Student's Movement (SASM). It was particularly popular in Soweto, where the 1976 insurrection against Bantu Education would prove to be a crossroads in the fight against apartheid. Biko was taken into custody on 18 August 1977 and brutally tortured by unidentified security personnel until he lapsed into a coma. He was not medically treated for three days and died in Pretoria. At
4532-503: The South African government. After Sharpeville the ANC and PAC were banned. The SACP denied it existed, having dissolved in 1950 to escape banning as the CPSA. Leaders like Mandela and Sobukwe were either in jail or in exile. Consequently, there were serious mutinies in Angolan camps by Soweto and Cape student recruits angry at the corrupt and brutal consequences of minority control. The government
4635-477: The South African security forces. Success of the MK's strategy depended on its ability to stoke the anger of a politically conscious black underclass and its armed struggle was essentially a strategic attempt at mass socialisation.This reflected the principles of Leninist vanguardism which heavily influenced SACP and ANC political theory to a lesser extent. MK commanders hoped that through their actions, they could appeal to
4738-400: The TRC had been weighted in favour of the perpetrators of abuse. As a result of the TRC's shortcomings and the unaddressed injuries of many victims, victims' groups, together with NGOs and lawyers, took various TRC-related matters to South African and US courts in the early 2000s. Another dilemma facing the TRC was how to do justice to the testimonials of those witnesses for whom translation
4841-650: The TRC: A 1998 study by South Africa's Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation & the Khulumani Support Group, which surveyed several hundred victims of human rights abuse during the Apartheid era, found that most felt that the TRC had failed to achieve reconciliation between the black and white communities. Most believed that justice was a prerequisite for reconciliation rather than an alternative to it, and that
4944-670: The administration was multiracial, it was not addressing many of the issues of the mounting number of black students since 1960. This resulted in the 1967 creation of the University Christian Movement (UCM), an organisation rooted in African-American philosophy. In July 1967, the annual NUSAS symposium took place at Rhodes University in Grahamstown . White students were permitted to live on university grounds, but black students were relegated to accommodation further away in
5047-544: The apartheid regime. On the 10 October 1979, after having officially established the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO), a public meeting was held where it was decided that a protest against the increase in rent, transport, fuel and lighting, township services charges and food costs be held. PEBCO's immediate aims and demands were: to fight for equal rights for all people of Port Elizabeth; to fight all discriminatory legislation enacted by
5150-544: The apartheid system, beginning with the Constitutional Referendum of 1983 . This introduced the Tricameral Parliament , which allowed for some parliamentary representation of Coloureds and Indians , but continued to deny political rights to black South Africans. The resulting controversy triggered a new wave of anti-apartheid social movements and community groups which articulated their interests through
5253-404: The applications for amnesty. In reporting these numbers, the Commission voiced its regret that there was very little overlap of victims between those seeking restitution and those seeking amnesty. A total of 5,392 amnesty applications were refused, granting only 849 out of the 7,111 (which includes the number of additional categories, such as "withdrawn"). The TRC's emphasis on reconciliation
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#17328589697125356-533: The approach of the National Forum, which believed that the struggle should hold little or no place for whites. The ideal of blacks leading the resistance campaign was an important aim of the traditional Black Consciousness groups, and it shaped the thinking of many 1980s activists, especially those in the workforce. Furthermore, the NF focused on workers' issues, which became more and more important to BC supporters. Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) The Truth and Reconciliation Commission ( TRC )
5459-425: The back. Many witnesses stated that the crowd was not violent, but Colonel J. Pienaar, the senior police officer in charge on the day, said: "Hordes of natives surrounded the police station. My car was struck with a stone. If they do these things they must learn their lesson the hard way." The event became known as the Sharpeville massacre . In the aftermath the government banned the African National Congress (ANC) and
5562-491: The campaign, almost 8,000 black and Indian people had been detained; at the same time, ANC membership grew from 7,000 to 100,000, and the number of subdivisions went from 14 at the campaign's beginning to 87 at its end. There was also a change in leadership: shortly before the campaign ended, Albert Luthuli was elected as the new ANC president. By the end of the campaign, the government was forced to temporarily relax its apartheid legislation. Once things had calmed down, however,
5665-429: The carnage in Soweto the ANC's Nelson Mandela grudgingly concurred that bloodshed was the only means left to convince the NP to accede to commands for an end to its apartheid policy. A subversive plan of terror was mapped out, with Biko and the BCM at the forefront. The BCM and other opinionated elements were prohibited during the 1970s because the government saw them as dangerous. Black Consciousness in South Africa adopted
5768-409: The conscription of views across the country and the Congress of the People. Demands were documented and sent to the local board of the National Action Council in preparation for drafting the Charter. The Congress of the People was held 25–26 June 1955 in Kliptown , south of Johannesburg . 3,000 delegates gathered under police watch to revise and accept the Freedom Charter that had been endorsed by
5871-423: The country and black people disregarded racial laws; for example, they walked through "whites only" entries. At the campaign's zenith in September 1952, more than 2,500 people from 24 different towns were arrested for defying various laws. After five months, the African and Indian Congresses decided to call off the campaign because of the increasing number of riots, strikes and heavier sentences on participants. During
5974-403: The country, earning him the moniker "The Black Pimpernel". Mandela initially avoided arrest within South Africa, but in August 1962, after receiving some inside information, the police put up a roadblock and captured him. MK's success declined with his arrest and the police infiltrated the organisation. In July 1963, the police found the location of the MK headquarters at Lilliesleaf. They raided
6077-407: The crowd was estimated to be 20,000 people. The crowd converged on the Sharpeville police station, singing and offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their pass books. A group of police officers panicked and opened fire on the demonstrators shortly after the crowd approached the police station, killing 69 people and injuring 186. All the victims were black, and most of them had been shot in
6180-410: The farm and arrested many major leaders of the ANC and MK, including Sisulu, Mbeki and Ahmed Kathrada . They were detained and indicted with sabotage and attempting to bring down the government. At the same time, police collected evidence to be used in the trial that allowed them to arrest others like Denis Goldberg . Particularly damaging was the information on Operation Mayibuye (Operation Comeback),
6283-404: The façade of mere separation; it gave the owners of public amenities the right to bar people on the basis of colour or race and made it lawful for different races to be treated inequitably. Sisulu, Mandela, Albert Luthuli , other famous ANC members, Indian Congress, and trade union chiefs' activities were all proscribed under the Suppression of Communism Act. The proscription meant that the headship
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#17328589697126386-412: The government and local authorities; to seek participation in decision making on all matters affecting the people of South Africa; to fight for the granting of the right to Blacks to buy land under freehold title at any place of their choice; and to resist any attempt, direct or indirect, to deprive Blacks of their South African citizenship. Their fundamental aim included the creation of one municipality for
6489-471: The government responded harshly and took several extreme measures, among which were the Unlawful Organisations Act, the Suppression of Communism Act , the Public Safety Act and the Criminal Procedures Act. Criminal Law Amendment Act No 8 stated that "[any] person who in any way whatsoever advises, encourages, incites, commands, aids or procures any other person ... or uses language calculated to cause any other person to commit an offence by way of protest against
6592-474: The hearings. On 15 April 1996, the South African National Broadcaster televised the first two hours of the first human rights violation committee hearing live. With funding from the Norwegian government, radio continued to broadcast live throughout. Additional high-profile hearings, such as Winnie Mandela 's testimony, were also televised live. The rest of the hearings were presented on television each Sunday, from April 1996 to June 1998, in hour-long episodes of
6695-475: The law... shall be guilty of an offence." In December 1952, Mandela, Sisulu and 18 others were tried under the Suppression of Communism Act for leading the Defiance Campaign . They received nine months' imprisonment, which was suspended for two years. The government also tightened the regulation of separate amenities. Protesters had argued to the courts that different amenities for different races ought to be of an equal standard. The Separate Amenities Act removed
6798-521: The masses and inspire a popular uprising against the South African regime. A popular uprising would compensate for the MK's weaknesses as it offered a way to defeat the National Party politically without having to engage in a direct military confrontation which the guerrillas would have no hope of winning. On 16 December 1961, MK operatives bombed a number of public facilities in several major South African cities, namely Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban. This programme of controlled sabotage
6901-494: The names and addresses of all those present. In 1956, the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) was founded and led by Lilian Ngoyi , Helen Joseph and Amina Cachalia . On 9 August that year, the women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria and protested against the pass laws. On the morning of 5 December 1956, the police detained 156 Congress Alliance leaders: 104 African, 23 white, 21 Indian and eight Coloured people. They were charged with high treason and plotting
7004-433: The objectives of the National Democratic Revolution , and the need to unite the largest possible cross-section of South Africans behind these objectives," citing the actionable intent and their goal to end oppression. When the ANCYL took control of the ANC, the organisation advocated a policy of open defiance and resistance for the first time, which unleashed the 1950s Programme of Action, instituted in 1949, that emphasised
7107-525: The remains were thrown into the nearby Fish River . Eugene de Kock a former head of section C1 at the Vlakplaas farm north of Pretoria where many of these atrocities occurred – in his submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) about the death of the PEBCO Three – admits to this and writes that in late 1985 there began an altercation between two members of his Vlakplaas team, sergeant Joe Mamasela and warrant officer Gert Beeslaar who had been involved in an operation in Port Elizabeth in which
7210-401: The right of the African people to freedom under the flag of African Nationalism. It laid out plans for strikes , boycotts , and civil disobedience , resulting in mass protests, stay-aways , boycotts, strikes and occasional violent clashes. The 1950 May Day stay-away was a strong, successful expression of black grievances. In 1952, the Joint Planning Council, made up of members from the ANC,
7313-430: The ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid , which began formally in 1990 and ended with South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994. Apartheid was adopted as a formal South African government policy by the NP following their victory in
7416-459: The spectrum, former apartheid State President P.W. Botha defied a subpoena to appear before the commission, calling it a "circus". His defiance resulted in a fine and suspended sentence, but these were overturned on appeal. Playwright Jane Taylor, responsible for the acclaimed Ubu and the Truth Commission , found fault with the commission's lopsided influence: The TRC is unquestionably
7519-515: The struggle against apartheid, under the catchphrase " Liberation before education ". Black communities became highly politicised. The Black Consciousness Movement began to change its focus during the 1980s from issues of nation and community to issues of class; as a result, they may have made of an impact than in the mid-1970s, though there is some evidence to suggest that it retained at least some influence, particularly in workers' organisations. The role of Black Consciousness could be clearly seen in
7622-573: The subsequent inquest, the magistrate ruled that no-one was culpable, but the South African Medical Association eventually took action against the doctors who had failed to treat Biko. There was a strong reaction both within and outside South Africa. Foreign countries imposed even more stringent sanctions, and the United Nations imposed an arms embargo . Young blacks inside South Africa committed themselves even more fervently to
7725-472: The suffering caused by apartheid, many black South Africans were angered at amnesty being granted for human rights abuses committed by the apartheid government; local reports at the time noted that his failure to accept that the former NP government's policies had given security forces a "licence to kill" - evidenced to him personally in different ways - drove the chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu almost to tears. The BBC described such criticisms as stemming from
7828-429: The three activists' disappearance, nothing was known of their fate until November 1997. On 11 November, former Security Police Officer Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt , while applying for amnesty during a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing, confessed to participating in the beating, robbery, and murder of the PEBCO Three. According to his testimony, Nieuwoudt lured the three men by having a paid police informant pose as
7931-408: The trial, Mandela gave his " I am prepared to die " speech. In June 1964, eight were found guilty of terrorism, sabotage, planning and executing guerrilla warfare and working towards an armed invasion of the country. The treason charge was dropped and all eight were sentenced to life imprisonment. They did not get the death penalty, as it received too much international criticism. Goldberg was sent to
8034-409: The truth, but to varying degrees, depending on the group in question. The differences in opinions about the effectiveness can be attributed to how each group viewed the proceedings. Some viewed them as not entirely accurate, as many people would lie in order to keep themselves out of trouble while receiving amnesty for their crimes. (The commission would grant amnesty to some with consideration given to
8137-399: The victims. A register of reconciliation was also established so that ordinary South Africans who wished to express regret for past failures could also express their remorse. The TRC had a number of high-profile members, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu (chairman), Alex Boraine (deputy chairman), Sisi Khampepe , Wynand Malan , Klaas de Jonge and Emma Mashinini . The TRC's mandate
8240-477: The vote in the 1994 South African election. The widely publicised Rivonia Trial began in October 1963. Ten men were accused of treason for trying to depose the government and sabotage. Mandela, along with those arrested at Lilliesleaf and another 24 co-conspirators, were tried. Many of them, including Tambo, had already fled the country. The ANC used the lawsuit to draw international interest to its cause. During
8343-467: The weight of the crimes committed.) Some said that the proceedings only helped to remind them of the horrors that had taken place in the past when they had been working to forget such things. Thus, the TRC's effectiveness in terms of achieving those very things within its title is still debatable. The hearings were initially set to be heard in camera , but the intervention of 23 non-governmental organisations eventually succeeded in gaining media access to
8446-414: The whole of Port Elizabeth, therefore rejecting the system of community councils and separate municipalities for Blacks and Whites. The 1980s proved to be a volatile period for activism in Port Elizabeth and as such, leaders of PEBCO were detained for short stints from time to time. In 1980, five of its leaders were detained, including Thozamile Botha , the founding member, who in the previous year – 1979 –
8549-516: Was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa in 1996 after the end of apartheid . Authorised by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu , the commission invited witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, and selected some for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution. The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
8652-553: Was able to dismantle the ANC's power within South Africa's borders by incarcerating leaders of MK and the ANC, and greatly affect its efficiency outside of them. The ANC faced many problems in the aftermath of the Rivonia Trial, as its inner administration was severely damaged. By 1964, the ANC went into hiding and planned guerilla activities from overseas. At the end of the 1960s, new organisations and ideas would form to confront apartheid. The next key act of opposition came in 1976 with
8755-680: Was confiscated. 3,246 PAC and Poqo members were arrested. In 1968, PAC was expelled from Maseru (where it was allied with the opposition Basutoland Congress Party) and Zambia (which was friendlier to the ANC). Between 1974 and 1976 Leballo and Ntantala trained the Lesotho Liberation Army (LLA) and the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) in Libya. American pressures split the PAC into a "reformist-diplomatic" group under Sibeko, Make, and Pokela, and
8858-473: Was criticised to be destructive and alien to Africa. Black people became conscious of their own distinctive identity and self-worth and grew more outspoken about their right to freedom. The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was the first organisation to represent students in South Africa, but it had a principally white membership, and black students saw this as an impediment. White students' concerns were more scholastic than political, and although
8961-569: Was dismissed at the Ford Company in New Brighton for his political involvement and organising workers on site. He soon left the country in May 1980 to join the ANC in exile, leaving his comrade Qaqawuli Godolozi as PEBCO's new president. Five years later, on 8 May 1985, three members – Sipho Hashe, Champion Galela, and Qaqawuli Godolozi – disappeared from the airport in Port Elizabeth , South Africa . This
9064-548: Was due to the fact that PEBCO had now affiliated itself with the United Democratic Front (UDF), which was believed by some at the time to be an internal wing of the then-banned African National Congress (ANC). As a result of the three's disappearance, the Consumer Boycott Committee organised a huge consumer boycott which began in July 1985. Although it was strongly suspected that the Security Police had something to do with
9167-521: Was elected as acting president, he made a public statement that he would launch an attack on South African Police with an army of 150.000 cadres. A few days after that statement, he send two women PAC couriers, Cynthia Lichaba and Thabisa Lethala, to post letters in Ladybrand, a South African town near Lesotho. The letters contained instructions and details of Poqo cadres. The two women were arrested by Basutoland police and correspondence addressed to poqo cells
9270-676: Was enriched by Tutu with the spirit of the indigenous African concept Ubuntu , which tends to translate across cultures as a spiritual awareness of our interconnectedness as a human family; and more specifically in Xhosa, that together, we make one another human. The work of the TRC was accomplished through three committees: Public hearings of the Human Rights Violations Committee and the Amnesty Committee were held at many venues around South Africa, including Cape Town (at
9373-549: Was established in 2000 as the successor organisation of the TRC. The TRC was set up in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act , No. 34 of 1995, and was based in Cape Town . The hearings started in 1996. The mandate of the commission was to bear witness to, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, as well as offering reparation and rehabilitation to
9476-480: Was exempt from appearing before the commission. The commission heard reports of human rights violations and considered amnesty applications from all sides, from the apartheid state to the liberation forces, including the African National Congress . The Commission found that there were 7,000 political deaths under Apartheid between 1948 and 1989. More than 19,050 people had been victims of gross human rights violations. An additional 2,975 victims were identified through
9579-574: Was founded by Biko and materialised out of the ideas of the civil rights movement and Black Power movement in the USA. The motto of the movement was "Black is Beautiful", first made popular by boxer Mohammed Ali. BCM endorsed black pride and African customs, and did much to alter feelings of inadequacy while raising awareness of the fallacy of blacks being seen as inferior. It defied practices and merchandise that were meant to make black people "whiter", such as hair straighteners and skin lighteners. Western culture
9682-517: Was in sharp contrast to the approach taken by the Nuremberg trials and other de-Nazification measures. South Africa's first coalition government chose to pursue forgiveness over prosecution, and reparation over retaliation. Opinions differ about the efficacy of the restorative justice method (as employed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) as compared to the retributive justice method, of which
9785-400: Was killed by the security police, and whose story was featured in the film Cry Freedom . Biko's family described the TRC as a "vehicle for political expediency", which "robbed" them of their right to justice. The family opposed amnesty for his killers on these grounds and brought a legal action in South Africa's highest court, arguing that the TRC was unconstitutional. On the other side of
9888-509: Was launched with the Defiance Campaign in June 1952. By defying the laws, the organisation hoped to incite mass arrests that would overwhelm the government. Mandela led a crowd of 50 men down the streets of a white area in Johannesburg after the 11 pm curfew that forbade black people's presence. The group was apprehended, but the rest of the country followed its example. Defiance spread throughout
9991-430: Was necessary. It was believed that, with the great discrepancy between the emotions of the witnesses and those translating them, much of the impact was lost in interlingual rendition. A briefly tried solution was to have the translators mimic the witnesses' emotions, but this proved disastrous and was quickly scrapped. While former president F. W. de Klerk appeared before the commission and reiterated his apology for
10094-492: Was not deliberately employed until 1959. That year, anger over pass laws and environmental regulations perceived as unjust by black farmers resulted in a series of arsons targeting sugarcane plantations. Organisations such as the ANC, the South African Communist Party , and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) remained preoccupied with organising student strikes and work boycotts between 1959 and 1960. Following
10197-479: Was notorious for its role in the repression of anti-apartheid activists. Prior to the 1960s, the NP government managed to quell much of the anti-apartheid opposition within South Africa by outlawing movements like the ANC and PAC, and driving their leaders into exile or captivity. Tertiary-education organisations such as the University of the North and Zululand University began to resist apartheid; they were fashioned by
10300-428: Was restricted to their homes and adjacent areas and they were banned from attending public gatherings. On the global stage, India demanded that apartheid be challenged by the United Nations, which led to the establishment of a UN commission on apartheid. Although the movement was subjected to increasing restrictions, it was still able to struggle against the oppressive instruments of the state. Collaboration between
10403-401: Was that the ANC papers were full of communist terms like " comrade " and " proletariat ", which are often found in the writings of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin . Halfway through the drawn-out trial, charges against 61 of the accused were withdrawn, and, five years after their arrest, the remaining 30 were acquitted after the court held that the state had failed to prove its case. In 1958
10506-475: Was time for armed struggle. From 1961 to 1963, the ground in South Africa was slowly being readied for armed revolution. A hierarchical network of covert ANC cells was created for underground operations, military aid solicited from sympathetic African states and the Soviet Union, and a guerrilla training camp established in Tanganyika . In June 1961, the uMkhonto we Sizwe (abbreviated as MK) had been set up by
10609-702: Was timed to coincide with the Day of the Vow , the anniversary of an important battle between the voortrekkers and the Zulu Kingdom in 1838. Over the next eighteen months, MK carried out 200 acts of sabotage, mostly targeting pass offices, power pylons, and police stations. In October 1962 the ANC publicly declared responsibility for the sabotage campaign and acknowledged the existence of MK. Mandela began planning for MK members to be given military training outside South Africa and slipped past authorities as he himself moved in and out of
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