The Heroic History of the Anti-Apartheid

Movement

(100 Years after the Birth of Nelson Mandela)

One of the greatest social movements in history was

the anti-apartheid movement. Global in reach,
courageous in its essence, and diverse in its
composition accurately describe the parameters of
this august, inspirational movement. From Nelson
Mandela to Steve Biko, Brothers and Sisters united to
defeat the scourge of apartheid. Today, it is exactly
the 100 year Birthday of the late hero Brother Nelson
Mandela. After one century, we see positive changes
in South Africa and so far to go at the same time. The
struggle continues, but the cause for justice remains.
 Contents
Prologue
The Zulu people and other events
The ANC and other fighters for freedom
The start of Modern Apartheid
The Freedom Charter
More Anti-Apartheid Resistance
Nelson Mandela Imprisoned
Soweto
The International Anti-Apartheid Movement
Nelson Mandela as President
The 21st century
The Passing away of a Revolutionary Legend and
the continued struggle for justice
 Prologue
To understand the anti-
anti- apartheid movement in South Africa is to understand the total history of
South Africa. The first inhabitants of South Africa were black people. Black people are the first
humans of the Earth. The indigenous peoples of South Africa included the San and Khoikhoi people.
They ware some of the most ancient human beings in history. Human beings have lived in South
Africa for over 100,000 years. Rock paintings were found in Western Cape and other places. The
San people respected the land and used hunting plus many were nomads thousands of years ago.
About 2,000 years ago, some San peoples used livestock from further north. Some herded cattle
and oxen. There were chiefs, they organized community structures, and they incorporated
property ownership. The pastoralist San are known as the Khoikhoi who traveled south in the
Cape of Good Hope. By the 1st millennium A.D., there was the Bantu expansion. The Bantu peoples
reached Southern Africa from the Niger River Delta by 500 A.D. in modern day KwaZulu-Natal
Province. The Bantus had domestic animals and used agriculture, and farmed wheat plus other
crops. They organized villages and worked in iron. Many of them would be the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi,
Ndebele, Tswana, Pedi, and Basotho peoples. Many of them intermarried with the Khoisan peoples
as well. One Kingdom of South Africa called Mapungubwe existed between 900-1300 A.D. It traded
with Arabia, India, and China. It had iron, copper, gold, etc. The first European to explore the
coastline of South Africa was the Portuguese mariner Bartolomeu Dias in 1488. He wanted to have
a trade route into the Far East by going around South Africa.

In November 1497, a fleet of Portuguese ships under the command of the Portuguese mariner Vasco
da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope. By December 6, 1497, the fleet had passed the Great
Fish River on the east coast of South Africa, where Dias had earlier turned back. Da Gama gave the
name Natal to the coast he was passing, which in Portuguese means Christmas. Da Gama's fleet
proceeded northwards to Zanzibar and later sailed eastwards, eventually reaching India and
thereby opening the Cape Route between Europe and Asia. Dutch colonization existed starting in
1652. It started with the Dutch East India Company (or the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie aka
VOC). The VOC wanted a permanent settlement at the Cape in South Africa. So, the Dutch used
some of their major European trading houses to sail.
 Colonization
A small VOC expedition was organized and it was under command by the Dutchman Jan van
Riebeeck. He and his crew reached Table Bay on April 6, 1652. He wanted an area where ships
could give European settlers food and base camps. Since the Khoikhoi back then were not
agricultural farmers, the VOC imported Dutch farmers to create farms. Later, passing ships would
supply the growing VOC settlement. The VOC increasingly intruded on the Khoikhoi territory. The
VOC also brought 71,000 slaves to Cape Town from India, Indonesia, East Africa, Mauritius, and
Madagascar. The white European farmers in South Africa are known as burghers. They grew their
farms and many of them were ex-VOC soldiers and gardeners. The majority of these people had
Dutch ancestry and belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. Reformed churches embrace the
theological doctrines of the Protestant John Calvin. Some were Germans being Lutherans. In 1688,
the Dutch and the Germans were joined by French Huguenots, who were Calvinist Protestants
fleeing religious persecution in France under its Catholic ruler, King Louis XIV. Van Riebeeck didn’t
want to enslave the local Khoi and San people. He allowed the VOC to enslave imported people
from the Dutch colonies in Indonesia, etc. van Riebeeck and the VOC used the Khoikhoi and the
San to be made as “indentured servants” which is code for slaves.

Biracial children of Dutch settlers and the Khoi-San and Malay slaves were known as Cape
Coloureds and the Cape Malays respectively. Many white South Africans today have ancestors from
the interracial unions at the Cape between European occupiers and the imported Asian and African
slaves (plus the Khoi and San peoples). Simon van der Stel was the first Governor of the Dutch
settlement. He was of mixed race origin. From 1815 to 1910, an explosion of conflicts existed among
the British, the black Africans, and the Boers (who were the Dutch immigrants to South Africa).
Imperialists from Europe lusted for power and resources in South Africa. By the end of the 1700’s,
France invaded the Netherlands. The Dutch Batavian Republic allied with the revolutionary French.
The British seized the Cape in 1795 to stop it from going into French hands. The Dutch ruled it
again in 1803. Later, the British got it again in 1805 as a prize during the Napoleonic Wars. The
British wanted the European Boer settlers to embrace British language and culture. The Boers
refused and started the trek to move from British administrative reach. The Great Trek of 1836
was done because of their refusal to embrace British overt rule and some of them had an
acceptance of slavery as the British banned slavery by the 1830’s. Many Boers wanted slavery as a
means to financially exploit the lives of black people, which is evil and disgraceful.

The Boers didn’t want to be dominated by the British, so they sought their own form of self-
government. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish themselves in what is today KwaZulu-Natal,
they settled on the highveld. There they founded two republics, the Orange Free State (1854) and
the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), better known as the Transvaal (1858). The ZAR lasted to
1902. The modern Boer rebellion against British rule came in 1815 via the Slachter’s Nek Rebellion.
It was started by Frederik Bezuidenhout, who was accused of beating a black man. This black
African man was of Khoi heritage. Bezuidenhout resisted arrest and fled to a cave near his home
where he fought against the soldiers sent to capture him. When he refused to surrender he was
shot dead by one of the soldiers. His brother wanted revenge and the rebellion occurred. Although
many of the frontier Boers (or Dutch settlers) did not support or agree with the rebellion, some
Voortrekkers have claimed that it was one of the reasons for the Great Trek. The rebellion was
ended by the British. In February 1837, the leader of one of these groups, Piet Retief, wrote a
manifesto which was published in two Cape Colony newspapers, setting out the justifications for
the Great Trek. Natalia was a short-lived Boer republic established in 1839 by Boer voortrekkers
emigrating from the Cape Colony.

The manifesto lists four complaints against the British administration of South Africa, and the
abolition of slavery was listed as the second of these. The independent Boer republic of Orange
Free State evolved from colonial Britain's Orange River Sovereignty, enforced by the presence of
British troops, which lasted from 1848 to 1854 in the territory between the Orange and Vaal rivers,
named Transorange. The British colony of Cape Colony lasted from 1795 to 1910. The Griqua
people of South Africa were biracial people and they formed their own lands too. Nicolaas
Waterboer was one ruler of Griqualand. Wars and battles existed. In the southeastern part of
South Africa, the Boers and the Xhosa clashed along the Great Fish River, and in 1779 the first of
nine frontier wars erupted. For nearly 100 years subsequently, the Xhosa fought the settlers
sporadically, first the Boers or Afrikaners and later the British. In the Fourth Frontier War, which
lasted from 1811 to 1812, the British forced the Xhosa back across the Great Fish River and
established forts along this boundary.
The increasing economic involvement of the British in southern Africa from the 1820's, and
especially following the discovery of first diamonds at Kimberley and gold in the Transvaal,
resulted in pressure for land and African labor. This ultimately led to increasingly tense relations
with African states. The British fought the Zulus constantly.

The Zulu people and other events

The Zulu people expanded greatly by the 1700’s. They were part of the Nguni tribe. The Zulu
kingdom grew. One famous king of the Zulu area was of course Shaka kaSenzangakhona, son of the
chief of the Zulu clan. He is famously known as Shaka Zulu. Shaka built large armies, breaking from
clan tradition by placing the armies under the control of his own officers rather than of hereditary
chiefs. He then set out on a massive program of expansion, killing or enslaving those who resisted
in the territories he conquered. His impis (warrior regiments) were rigorously disciplined: failure in
battle meant death. In 1828, Shaka was killed by his half-brothers Dingaan and Umhlangana. The
weaker and less-skilled Dingaan became king, relaxing military discipline while continuing the
despotism. Dingaan also attempted to establish relations with the British traders on the Natal coast,
but events had started to unfold that would see the demise of Zulu independence. Estimates for the
death toll resulting from the Mfecane range from 1 million to 2 million.

The British granted limited self-government to the Transvaal. The Boers called that area a
Republic in the late 1850’s. Indian laborers travel heavily into South Africa from 1860 to 1911. They
are the ancestors of most of South Africa’s current Indian population. When diamonds are
discovered at Kimberley by 1867, British forces were in a frenzy. One imperialist Cecil Rhodes
lusted after diamonds and was an overt white supremacist. Rhodes was one of the most wicked
and racist men in history. The First Anglo-Boer War started in 1880 and ended in 1881. It was
about the British wanting to annex all Southern African territories under British rule. Boers
opposed this plan. The Boers were victorious by 1881 after the Battle of Majuba Hill on February
27, 1881. The ZAR remained. The war was fight for resources especially gold. The Second Anglo-
Boer War started because a debate on resources and gold. It lasted from 1899 to 1902. Paul Kruger
of the Boers wanted the British to leave the borders of the South African Republic. The British
refused, so Kruger declared war. This war was when the British used colonial troops from many
lands. Many British used concentration camps against the Boers in South Africa. The British
suffragette Emily Hobhouse visited British concentration camps in South Africa and produced a
report condemning the appalling conditions there. By 1902, 26,000 Boer women and children had
died of disease and neglect in the camps. The Anglo-Boer War affected all race groups in South
Africa. Black people were conscripted or otherwise coerced by both sides into working for them
either as combatants or non-combatants to sustain the respective war efforts of both the Boers
and the British. The official statistics of black people killed in action are inaccurate. Most of the
bodies were dumped in unmarked graves. It has, however, been verified that 17,182 black people
died mainly of diseases in the Cape concentration camps alone, but this figure is not accepted
historically as a true reflection of the overall numbers (in other words, the numbers are much
higher). Concentration camp superintendents did not always record the deaths of black inmates in
the camps. The British won where the Treaty of Vereening made the Boer Republics to embrace
British sovereignty and the British would reconstruct areas under their control. Boer Republics
merged into the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1948. The right wing National Party ruled
heavily in that land.

The ANC and other fighters for freedom

In 1912, the Foundation of South African Native National Congress (SANNC) was created. It would
later be called the ANC or the African National Congress. Back then, the ANC wanted to use peaceful
constitutional protest to cause Africans of black descent to have full equality. Their views reflected
influence from liberal democratic and other progressive plus Christian philosophies. The Native’s
Land Act of 1913 reserved 93 percent of the land in South Africa to white people and it prevented
black people (making up 2/3s of the population during that time) from buying land freely. They
made small reserves for black people that were the forerunner of homelands of Bantustans. The
act was totally evil and unjust. In 1913, the ANC protested the Native’s Act. They were unsuccessful
to ask Britain to do something about the law. One person who opposed the passage of the Native’s
Act was Sol Plaatje (1876-1932). He was the co-founder of the South African Native National
Congress or the ANC. He was its first general secretary in 1912.

In 1918, the Foundation of the Bantu Women’s League (or BWL) was created. They wanted to stop
pass laws for women. They also wanted black women to have total equality in South Africa. They
were involved in civil disobedience campaigns. In 1943, the ANC accepted women into its
membership and in 1948; the ANC Women’s League was created. A black woman named Charlotte
Maxeke was a politician and the founder of the Bantu Women’s League. Clements Kadalie (from
Malawi) created the ICU or the Foundation of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union. He
created it in 1919 in order to unionize dock workers, rail workers, and other municipal workers in
Cape Town. The ICU was a leading resistance organization by the 1920’s. It had popular support
in both urban and rural locations. It wanted land, justice, living wages, and it opposed pass laws
(which was about black people having a pass to travel in any area of South Africa). In 1923, the
Native’s Urban Areas Act was passed. This promoted residential segregation in urban areas and
restricted black Africans traveling into towns. It curtailed black economic freedom and banned
unions from forming. It harmed tons of black workers. The South African Indian Congress was
created in 1924 in promoting Indian rights in Natal plus all over South Africa. During apartheid, the
SAIC cooperated with the African National Congress. Gandhi was pictured with SAIC leaders. Yes, I
know of Gandhi's hypocrisies and racism too (as research has found out). The Hertzog Bills
removed from the voting rolls the few black Africans who were still enfranchised in the Cape. This
move signaled the evisceration of black political rights. These bills were named after the racist
South African Prime Minister James Barry Munnik Hertzog.

During that time, black and white South Africans were involved in World War I and World War II.
Many racist Afrikaners were supportive of the Nazis.
The image above shows a mass meeting at Durban on May 28, 1950 to protest against Group
Area Bill and Suppression of Communism Bill. The gathering of over 20,000 people includes
Africans, Indians and Coloured people (of what we call biracial and multiracial people in
the States). The meeting was held under joint auspices of the African National Congress,
Natal Indian Congress, and the Coloured People Organization.

The start of modern apartheid

Apartheid policies grew. 1948 was the important year of apartheid. This was when the policy of
apartheid was explicitly adopted by the National Party. By 1950, population is classified by race.
The Group Areas Act was passed to segregate black people and whites. The Communist Party was
banned. The Group Areas Act imposed strict residential racial segregation. The government
forcibly removed black people to African, Coloured, or Indian “townships” (also known as
“locations”) on the outskirts of cities and towns. In the process of enforcing this plan, government
bulldozers destroyed vibrant, racially mixed neighborhoods, such as Sophiatown in Johannesburg
and District Six in Cape Town. The informal settlements of Cato Manor housed a population of
150,000 during the 1950’s until the promulgation of the Group Areas Act in 1955, when the entire
population was resettled to formal townships.
 These heroes are Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, and Lilian Masediba Ngoyi.
The ANC responded with the campaign of civil disobedience. It was led by Nelson Mandela. The
1950 Population Registration Act classified all South Africans as members of the White, African,
Coloured (this is what we call biracial or multiethnic in our time), or Indian racial groups. The
government created Racial Classification Boards to officially determine a person’s “race.” On May
12, 1950, the ANC adopted the Program of Action. This program outlined the ANC aim of self-
determination and “national freedom from White domination and the attainment of political
independence [which] implies the rejection of the conception of segregation, apartheid, trusteeship,
or white leadership.” The new program embraced African nationalism—a movement of solidarity
among African nations that fought for rights for black people, and thus against white supremacy.
A movement known as the Torch Commando was formed in the 1950’s, led by white war veterans
who had fought fascism in Europe and North Africa during World War II, only to find fascism on
the rise in South Africa when they returned home. These human beings fought against apartheid in
South Africa. The Torch Commando was born out of the work of the Springbok Legion, a South
African organization of World War II veterans, founded in 1941 during the Second World War, and
the War Veterans Action Committee established with the involvement of Springbok Legionnaires to
appeal to a broader base of ex-servicemen.

The Springbok Legion was open to all servicemen regardless of race or gender and was avowedly
anti-fascist and anti-racist. Amongst its leading members were servicemen such as Joe Slovo,
Lionel Bernstein, Wolfie Kodesh, Jack Hodgson and Fred Carneson who all later joined the African
National Congress and its military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe under the command of Nelson
Mandela. Others such as Harry Schwarz, a later well-known anti-apartheid political leader, lawyer
and ambassador to the United States during the government of national unity was one of the
organization’s founders. Another member was General Kennie van der Spuy, one of the founding
members of the South African Air Force who fought in both World War I and World War II and
was captured and imprisoned in the Kremlin by the Russians after fighting alongside the White
Russian forces against the communists and held until 1920. The Torch Commando existed for more
than five years, and at its height claimed to have had 250,000 members. The government was
alarmed by the number of judges, public servants and military officers joining the organization, and
a new law was passed to ban anyone in public service or the military from joining.

On June 26, 1952, the African National Congress along with the South African Indian Congress
started the Defiance Campaign. This was when volunteers started a peaceful resistance to
apartheid by breaking the laws that are unjust. These peaceful protests include black people sitting
on benches marked for white people only and being out in the city after the curfew was set for
black people. It spread from Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth to all over South Africa. Over 8,500
people of diverse ethnic backgrounds were imprisoned.

In 1952, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo (who was a South African anti-apartheid politician and
revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress [ANC] from 1967 to 1991)
opened the first black legal firm in South Africa.

The 1953 Reservation of Separate Amenities Act imposed segregation on all public facilities,
including post offices, beaches, stadiums, parks, toilets, and cemeteries plus buses and trains as
well. The Bantu Education Act was passed in 1953. This was a law passed to create a separate
education system for black people and white people in South Africa. This law made the apartheid
system to control the education of black children. It made Africans to pay taxes for this policy. It
wanted to end the education of progressive, pro-racial justice ideals. Black people were forced in
this system by white racists who wanted them to have low wage jobs and not true economic
justice. Labor unions, despite tremendous pressure from restrictive laws, formed a new non-racial
federation: The South African Congress of Trade Unions on March 5, 1955. The most important
trade unions in SACTU were the Food and Canning Worker’s Union, The Textile Worker’s
Industrial Union and the National Union of Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Workers.
1955 was also the year of the Freedom Charter being created by progressive anti-apartheid
activists. It asserts that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. The Charter was representative
of the ANC policies for over 4 decades. It grew out a widespread campaign to collect the people’s
proposals for alternatives to apartheid. It was the statement of core principles of the South African
Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies – the South
African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People’s
Congress. It is characterized by its opening demand; “The People Shall Govern!”
Govern!” In 1955, the ANC
sent out 50,000 volunteers into townships and the countryside to collect “freedom demands” from
the people of South Africa. This system was designed to give all South Africans equal rights.
Demands such as “Land to be given to all landless people”, “Living wages and shorter hours of
work”, “Free and compulsory education, irrespective of colour, race or nationality” were
synthesized into the final document by ANC leaders including Z.K. Mathews, Lionel “Rusty”
Bernstein, Ethel Drus, Ruth First and Alan Lipman (whose wife, Beata Lipman, hand-wrote the
original Charter). The Charter was officially adopted on June 26 1955 at a Congress of the People
in Kliptown. The meeting was attended by roughly 3,000 delegates but was broken up by police
on the second day, although by then the charter had been read in full. The crowd had shouted its
approval of each section with cries of “Afrika!”
Afrika!” and “Mayibuye!”
Mayibuye!” Nelson Mandela escaped the police
by disguising himself as a milkman, as his movements and interactions were restricted by banning
orders at the time.
 The Freedom Charter
The document is notable for its demand for and commitment to a non-racial South Africa and this
has remained the platform of the ANC. As a result, ANC members who held pro-African views left
the ANC after it adopted the charter, forming the Pan Africanist Congress. The charter also calls for
democracy and human rights, land reform, labor rights, and nationalization. After the congress was
denounced as treason by the apartheid government, the South African government banned the ANC
and arrested 156 activists, including Mandela who was imprisoned in 1962. However, the charter
continued to circulate in the revolutionary underground and inspired a new generation of young
militant heroes in the 1980's. The Congress adopted the Charter, which stated that “only a
democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to all their birthright without
distinction of colour, race, sex or belief.” A strong constitutional element was discernable: “All Shall
be Equal Before the Law!” and “All Shall Enjoy Equal Human Rights!” Inclusiveness was evident in
the demand that “All National Groups Shall Have Equal Rights!”

By 1955, South African government officials left UNESCO since UNESCO promoted policies against
racial discrimination. The ANC Women’s League and the non-racial Federation of South African
Women organized a massive march on August 9, 1956, now commemorated as South African
Women’s Day. Twenty thousand women participated in this demonstration to protest the
extension of pass laws to women. The march ended in a silent show of strength at the Union
Buildings in Pretoria. Nelson Mandela was arrested along with other people for fighting against
apartheid on December of 1956. He is charged with treason. After a four year trial, he is found not
guilty. Hendrik F. Verwoerd, educated in the Netherlands, the United States, and Germany, was the
main ideologue of apartheid and he was the Prime Minister of South Africa by 1958. The South
African apartheid state by 1959 formed separate homelands for black people. They are called
Bantustans or for the major black human beings in South Africa. They or the government did this
to prevent black people from being full citizens of South Africa. Between 1960 and 1985,
approximately 3.5 million Africans were forcibly removed to alleged "homelands." The 1959
Extension of University Education Act prevented black students from attending "white" universities
(except with government permission) and created separate and unequal institutions for Africans,
Coloureds, and Indians respectively.

More anti-apartheid resistance

In 1959, the Pan Africanist Congress or the PAC was formed in 1959. It was a split from the African
National Congress. The PAC promoted African Nationalism and more mass action. It formed a
militant wing, called Poqo, after the Sharpeville massacre and worked both in exile and
underground within South Africa. It was led by Robert Sobukwe. He was a heroic black man in his
own right. In 1960, white supremacist cops killed at least 70 black demonstrators at Sharpeville.
This was the Sharpeville Massacre. Many protesters were shot in the back. These human beings
protested the pass laws peacefully. After this atrocity, the apartheid government declared a state
of emergency and banned the ANC and the PAC. Albert Luthuli was the most widely known and
respected African leader of his era. He was a black man who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961
for his actions against apartheid. He was nearly 50 when he first assumed national political office.
Over the course of his political career his attitudes grew more progressive.

During the year of 1961, South Africa was declared a republic. It left the Commonwealth. Mandela
headed the ANC new military wing, which launches a sabotage campaign against the tyrannical
apartheid regime. The Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was the armed wing of the African National
Congress, established in 1961 to force the apartheid regime to the bargaining table through acts of
sabotage and, if necessary, military campaigns. During the 1960’s, international pressure against the
government of South Africa started. South Africa was excluded from the Olympic Games. Also, the
great musician Miriam Makeba spoke out against apartheid in Africa, Europe, and in America
throughout the 1960's and beyond. On August, 1962, Nelson Mandela was arrested for treason. By
this time, he was a member of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”) or part of the
African National Congress. He was arrested for his role in bombing government targets.

Nelson Mandela Imprisoned

His trial is called the Rivonia trial. By 1964, ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life
imprisonment. He isn’t the only one sentenced to life. The others included anti-apartheid, heroic
activists Govan Mbeki (father of South African President Thabo Mbeki), Walter Sisulu, Raymond
Mhlaba, Elias Moretsele, Ahmed Kathrada, and Dennis Goldberg.

From 1964 to 1994, South Africa would be changed forever. South Africa went from a tyrannical
apartheid state to a democratic country. In 1965, Rhodesia was created from British rule. The
British wanted Rhodesia to have black people to have a fair share of power. The people of
Rhodesia refused and black people would use revolutionary means to cause Zimbabwe to exist.
The 1972 Internal Security Act was when South Africa gave police powers to detain without trial
for a renewable period of ninety days. With these stricter laws, the apartheid regime succeeded in
repressing most dissent. There was the 1973 wildcat strike in Durban. These strikes spread into
factories on the Rand and the Eastern Cape. Many couldn’t stop the strikes or replace trained
workers in high demands. So, the companies accepted the strikers’ demands in order to restart
production. As a result of the successful strikes of 1973, independent labor unions emerged, which
further politicized industrial workplaces and forced the government to extend some labor rights to
Africans.
 Unsung Women anti-Apartheid Heroes
For thousands of years, women have been at the forefront of human rights movements. The anti-apartheid
movement was filled with heroic women who risked their lives to advocate for freedom, justice, and equality.
They worked as scholars, protesters, organizers, and teachers. Some were mothers and some were imprisoned.
Some were young and some were older. Yet, they were unified in the same cause of eliminating apartheid from
the face of the Earth triumphally. The Bantu Women’s League (BWL), the National Council of African Women
(NCAW), and the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) were filled with heroic women who desired total equality among
the sexes. They worked relentless to end the fascism of apartheid. On August 9, 1956, about 20,000 women
marched to Pretoria at the Union Buildings to protest against the pass laws that violated the rights of black
women. These anti-apartheid women heroes should be honored in their cause of liberty.

Bertha Gxowa fought hard Dr. Phyllis Ntantala-Jordan

Lillian Ngoyi was a South Amina Cachalia worked hard
against apartheid. She (1920-2016) was a political
African anti-apartheid activist as an advocate for freedom.
supported women’s rights and activist and author in South
who lived from 1911 to 1980. She was a friend and ally of
was a trade unionist in South Africa. She worked in the Cape
She joined the ANC Women’s Nelson Mandela. Also, she
Africa. She lived from 1934 to African Teachers’ Association.
League in 1952. She was part fought apartheid, promoted
2010. She was a leader of the Ntantala-Jordan wrote
of the 1956 march to Pretoria women’s rights, and was a
Defiance Campaign in 1952. Ukwayo: Isikrweqe nekhakha,
to protest the pass laws. She politician. She was in house
She was in the ANC Youth an Xhosa translation of I.B.
was a great orator too. She arrested during the 1960’s and
League and the ANC Women’s Tabata's "Boycott as a weapon
was the first women elected to the 1970’s. She was elected to
League. of struggle", which was
the executive committee of the National Assembly of
the African National Congress. widely-distributed by the South Africa in 1994. Her
She helped to create the Society of Young Africa autobiography, When Hope
Federation of South African (SOYA) in Transkei. and History Rhyme, was
Women. published in March of 2013,
just after her passing.

Sister Albertina Sisulu (1918-

Fatima Meer was a South
African writer, screenwriter,
and great anti-apartheid
activist. She in 1946 protested
apartheid and started the
Student Passive Resistance
Committee.
Rahima Moosa promoted
women’s rights. She was a
mother and part of the African
National Congress. She was
part of the march in 1956 to
fight apartheid.
Sonia Bunting was a person
2011) heroically stood up for
who fought apartheid. She
black people. She was one of
was imprisoned, detained, and
the greatest warriors in human
was in exile in London. Her
history. Her husband was
parents were Jewish exiles.
fellow activist Walter Sisulu
She continued to fight for
(1912-2003). She was in the
freedom until her passing in
ANC, supported the Freedom
2001.
Charter and advanced
community activism.
 More Unsung Women anti-Apartheid Heroes
Mama Beshenga opposed
the unjust Native Law
Amendment Act that forced
black families out of urban
areas. She defended families
and worked in labor as a trade
unionist. She demonstrated
for freedom.
Charlotte Maxeke (1874-
1939) was a lifelong freedom
fighter. She was a political
activist and a religious leader
(as a member of the AME
church. She learned
information from Pan-
Africanist W.E.B. Du Bois). She
graduated from Wilberforce
University in 1901 being the
first black South African
woman to have done so. She
demonstrated against the
pass laws. She was a founder
of the Bantu Women’s League
and it later was part of the
African National Congress
Women’s League. She wanted
liberation for African people.
Miriam Makeba (1932-2008)
was a legendary icon. She was
a singer, an anti-apartheid
leader, and a person who
believed in compassion. Her
music inspired social change
and it allowed the world to
witness the majesty and the
beauty of African music in
general. She was a leader in
favor of social change fully
dedicated to human
liberation.
Florence Matomela was a
South African anti-pass law
activist. She believed in civil
rights. She was part of the
ANC and she was a teacher
plus mother. She fought
apartheid and lived from 1910
to 1969. She was an organizer
of the African National
Congress Women’s League
(ANCWL) and vice President
of the Federation of South
African Women (FEDSAW)
during the mid-1950’s.
 Soweto
There was the June 16, 1978 student march in Soweto. These young people acted independently of
the ANC and other formal organizations. Thousands of primary and secondary school students in
Soweto marched peacefully. They opposed the Afrikaner language was a medium of instruction in
the classroom. They wanted black African history to be taught in the classroom too. Soweto is a
large township in Johannesburg. Police fired into the crowd to stop the demonstration, killing and
wounding many students. Thirteen-year-old Hector Pieterson was one of the first youths to be
killed. This spread outrage worldwide and grew the anti-apartheid movement internationally.
Steve Biko was a leader of the anti-apartheid movement of the 1970’s. He spoke of black
consciousness which is about black people understanding their identity so liberation would come.
He was a black intellectual who appealed to South Africans of every social stratum and of every
income level. He was a martyr as he was murdered by the police in their custody on September
12, 1977.
 Steve Biko’s activism and advocacy of Black Consciousness inspired a new
generation of anti-apartheid leaders in South Africa plus throughout the world.
Prime Minister P.W. Botha assumed power in 1978. He is famous for showing token “reform” in
appeasing internationally criticism and defuses resistance to oppression in South Africa. In 1979, the
Wiehahn Commission recommends to legalize African trade unions. Activists organized factory and
mineworkers. They also broadened their base of support by connecting with township residents
and migrant workers who lived in tightly policed dormitories called "hostels." The Federation of
South African Trade Unions, formed in 1979, focused on organizing black workers outside of party
politics; another federation, the Council of Unions of South Africa, formed in 1980, supported Black
Consciousness principles. The Dumbutshena Report was commissioned by the government to
investigate events surrounding the Entumbane uprising back in 1981. In 1983, Botha created the
token tri-cameral Parliament in South Africa (in a change to the Constitution). He experienced
massive, international criticism. The new parliament featured separate, but token, legislatures for
Coloureds and Indians, in addition to the all-powerful and all-white House of Assembly. Black
Africans, representing nearly three-quarters of the population, remained totally excluded.

In 1983, the United Democratic Front (UDF) was created to oppose the Tricameral Constitution. It
came to include more than five hundred political, labor, youth, sport, religious, and community
organizations from across the country. The UDF adopted the Freedom Charter, and linked itself
increasingly openly with the still-banned African National Congress. In 1985, COSATU soon became
the country’s largest labor federation, with 500,000 members in thirty-three unions, most notably
the National Union of Mineworkers. COSATU adopted the ANC’s Freedom Charter principles and
linked up with the UDF. When UDF leaders were arrested, COSATU leaders often took their place.
The combined power of the UDF and COSATU was a major factor in forcing the apartheid regime
to negotiate.
On April 10, 1985, Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a cleric, anti-apartheid
activist, and former Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (or the TRC). There
were musicians who formed the Artists United Against Apartheid in 1985. They included many
people like Steven Van Zandt. They celebrated anti-apartheid music like “Silver and Gold” from
U2. The United States, Europe, and the British Commonwealth imposed comprehensive sanctions,
although oil and arms continued to reach the apartheid state secretly by 1986. Cultural and
sporting boycotts increased in South Africa. The Pass Law was dismantled by 1986. The Pass Law
was about advancing identification papers for African men and women with racial classification and
other personal information, including employment status and history. The government used passes
to restrict movement of black people. Passes criminalized millions of ordinary South Africans. In
1988, amnesty is announced for all dissidents. F. W. de Klerk was the new president of South Africa
in 1989. By this time, apartheid rapidly declined. Soon, a multi-racial democracy would come. He
was the man who negotiated the transition into a more democratic South Africa. Black people soon
had equal voting and other rights. The 3rd National Congress of the Congress of South Africa
Trade Unions (COSATU) was held in Johannesburg in July of 1989. Their slogan was "Educate,
Consolidate, Advance to Victory." The state of emergency is not renewed.

One of the greatest events of South Africa was when Nelson Mandela was released on February 2,
1990 after 27 years. He was accompanied by his then-wife Winnie Mandela. He left the Victor
Verster prison (later renamed Drakenstein Correctional Centre) on the outskirts of Paarl and was
driven the 60 km. to Cape Town by African National Congress's (ANC) Rose Sonto along a route
lined by thousands of supporters. The ban against the African National Congress was lifted by
February 12, 1990. There was the May 5, 1990 Groote Schuur Minute. This was when the African
National Congress (ANC) and the South African government agreed to political negotiations and an
end to armed struggle. A working group was formed to discuss important issues such as the
release of political prisoners and immunity, while the government undertook a review of security
legislation to ensure free political activity. The ANC suspended armed struggle, and the National
Party agreed to negotiate a resolution to the impasse. Despite ongoing violence, the parties
involved made progress towards a negotiated settlement. On July 5, 1991, Nelson Mandela was
elected ANC President. They held a conference at Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. He succeeded Oliver
Tamo, who was elected national chairperson. By June 17, 1992, armed members of the Inkatha
Freedom Party (IFP) living at Kwa Madala hostel attacked the residents of Boipatong, an informal
settlement south of Johannesburg, killing about 45 people. This was the Boipatong Massacre. The
Convention for a Democratic South Africa or CODESA promoted a new constitution ending
apartheid. All parties were represented, but the ANC and National Party dominated talks.
Discussions were protracted, with disagreements and occasional breakdowns of talks.
The National Party at first insisted on special minority rights for whites, favoring power sharing
based on group rights. The revolutionary Tembisile Chris Hani was killed on the morning of
Saturday April 10, 1993. With him was his daughter, Nomakhwezi, then 15 years old. His wife,
Limpho, and two other daughters, Neo (then 20 years old) and Lindiwe (then 12 years old) were
away at the time. The assassin was Janusz 'Koba' Walus who, together with former Conservative
Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis, was jailed for the killing. More than 150,000 people attended Hani's
funeral on April 19, 1993, before the first democratic elections for which he had fought so hard. He
was buried in the Els Park Cemetery, Boksburg. The elections in South Africa finally happened on
April 27-28, 1994. Millions of South Africans voted. Millions of black people voted for the first time
ever. The ANC won a huge victory winning all provinces except Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal,
but just failing to reach the two-thirds majority to enable it to rewrite the constitution by itself.
Nelson Mandela was elected the new President of South Africa. He was the first black man to be the
President of South Africa. He was inaugurated on May 10, 1994. He supported his friends and ally.
From 1994 to the present, there is the existence of the current era of South Africa.

Today, we recognize the legacy of one strong woman. She stood up and
militantly opposed apartheid and desired liberation for our people in South
Africa plus throughout the world. Her name is Winnie Mandela. She was 81
when she passed away in 2018. Always engaging into loving freedom and
always in love with African people, she fought courageously for our freedom.
Heroes and ancestors sacrificed a great deal, so we could work, type in the
Internet, and have many other freedoms that some take for granted.

Winnie Mandela was born in Bizana, Pondoland, South Africa on September

26, 1936. She was part of the ANC. She was imprisoned, tortured, and
abused, but that didn't stop her. For the record, I don't condone and I don't
support any mistake that she has done. Also, another important point is that
the white racist pro-apartheid criminals did many atrocities spanning decades
and centuries. She continued in politics well into the 21st century. Today,
apartheid is over, but we are still fighting economic inequality in South
Africa. She was one colossus person who transformed South Africa
forevermore. I send prayers and condolences to her family and friends.

Rest in Power Sister Winnie Mandela.

 Nelson Mandela as President
On May 10, 1994, massive change came into South Africa. Nelson Mandela was the new South
African President. He was the first black man being the President of South Africa too. Would
massive revolutionary come or just reform? Time has shown us the answer to that important
question. On 1996, there was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was chaired by
Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It held hearings on human rights crimes committed by former
government and liberation movements during the apartheid era. It was controversial since many
pro-apartheid criminals weren’t given lengthy jail sentences if they admitted publicly their crimes
(only amnesty). Many black and white South Africans disagreed with the testimonies and the
essence of the commission itself. Also, you must have justice first then reconciliation not vice versa.
It did allow many people to see the viciousness of the apartheid regime. It allowed many victims of
apartheid to share their stories to the world. On 1996, Parliament adopted a new constitution.
National Party withdrew its coalition saying it is being ignored. By 1998, the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission report called apartheid as a crime against humanity (which it is) and
found human rights abuses done by many groups. It criticized both sides for human rights abuses.
Nelson Mandela had to hold together a fragile, multiracial democracy. Mandela promoted many
progressive policies as President. Also, he promoted many neoliberal policies in favor of the World
Bank, the IMF, corporate elites, and the growing black middle class crowd. Neoliberal policies can
never adequately address unemployment, inadequate housing, health care, and education since you
need grassroots, comprehensive, and revolutionary solutions beyond reform (in order to radically
change society).

The global capitalist world order is not for the poor, especially for the black poor as history has
taught us. By 1999, the ANC won the general elections. Thabo Mbeki took over as President of
South Africa.
 The 21st century
On December of 2000, the ANC prevailed in local elections. The recently formed Democratic
Alliance got nearly a quarter of the votes. The Inkatha Freedom Party won 9%. On April of 2001,
39 multinational pharmaceutical companies ended a legal battle to stop South Africa from importing
generic AIDS drugs. To this very day, many multinational corporations follow the neoliberal
economic, disgraceful playbook. The decision to allow generic AIDS drugs to be imported into
South Africa has been hailed as a victory for the poor people of the world in importing cheaper
drugs to combat HIV/AIDS. May 2001 was when an official panel investigated allegations of
corruption involving a 1999 arms deal that involved British, French, German, Italian, Swedish, and
South African firms. South African government leaders were cleared of unlawful conduct on
November of 2001. The famous Durban race conference was held on September of 2001. It
condemned racism, it called for reparations, it condemned Zionism, and it inspired the world to
fight for racial justice. The High court on December of 2001 ruled that pregnant women must be
given AIDS drugs to help prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies. The court dealt
with Dr. Wouter Basson or Dr. Death. He ran the apartheid-era germ warfare program. He is
acquitted unjustly and the ANC rightfully condemned the verdict.
These human beings are Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, and Adelaide Tambo.
On 2002, the constitutional court ordered the government to provide key anti-AIDS drugs to all
public hospitals. The government argued that the drugs are too costly, but saving lives is more
important than money. Right wing extremists bombed places in Soweto and near Pretoria on
October 2002. The police charged 17 right wingers with plotting against the state. Walter Wisulu
passed away on May of 2003. He was a key leader of the anti-apartheid struggle and he was 91
when he passed away. Thousands of people gathered to pay their last respects. The government
of South Africa approved a major program to treat and fight HIV/AIDS on November of 2003. The
program dealt with funding a network of drug distribution centers and preventative measures.
Cabinet had refused previously to provide anti-AIDS medicine via public health system. The ANC
won a landslide election victory of getting nearly 70% of the votes on April of 2004. Thabo Mbeki
started his second term of President of South Africa. The Inkhatha Freedom Party leader
Mangosuthu Buthelezi was dropped from the cabinet. The investigators exhumed the first bodies in
a Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation into the fates of hundreds of people who
disappeared in the apartheid era on March of 2005.

The geographical names committee recommended that the culture minister should approve a name
change for the capital from Pretoria to Tshwane on May of 2005. President Mbeki fired his deputy
Jacob Zuma on June 2005 after a corruption case. 100,000 gold miners strike over pay which
brought the industry to a standstill on August 2005. By this time, economic inequality in South
Africa grew and many workers are fighting back heroically for economic justice. By May of 2006,
former deputy president Jacob Zuma was acquitted of rape charges by the High Court in
Johannesburg. He was reinstated as deputy leader of the governing African National Congress. By
this time, many ANC leaders have compromised to embrace neoliberal extremism. The Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao visited and promised to limit clothing exports to help South Africa’s ailing
textile industry on June 2006. Zuma continued to run for President as corruption charges against
him are dismissed by September of 2006. President Mbeki urged South Africans to bring rapists,
drug dealers, and corrupt officials to justice on April 2007. On May of 2007, Cape Town mayor
Helen Zille was elected as a new leader of the main opposition party of Democratic Alliance (DA).

Massive strikes continued in South Africa. On June of 2007, thousands of public sector workers are
involved in the largest strike since the end of apartheid. It went on for 4 weeks. Schools, hospitals,
and public transport are disrupted. Zuma was elected chairman of the ANC by December of 2007.
Prosecutors brought new corruption charges against him. Xenophobic violence happens in South
Africa by May of 2008. Many victims are from Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique. Some
immigrants return to their home countries. Zuma’s charges are dismissed and he decided to run for
president in 2009. By December of 2008, a new political party is created in Bloemfontein. It is
called the Congress of the People or COPE. It is made up of directors of the ANC and is headed by
former defense minister Mosiuoa Lekota. On January of 2009, an appeals court ruled that
corruption case against ANC leader Jacob Zuma can continue. Prosecutors drop their corruption
case against Jacob Zuma on April of 2009. The ANC won the general election in 2009 and Jacob
Zuma was elected President by Parliament. The South Africa economy experienced its first
Recession in 17 years on 2009. Poor people in townships protest by July of 2009. South Africa
hosted its first World Cup football tournament on June 2010. Civil servants created a nationwide
strike on August of 2010. In local elections, with opposition Democratic Alliance nearly double its
share of the vote in the last poll on May of 2011. President Zuma mediates the Libyan conflict. On
March 17, 2011, South Africa, as a member of the UN Security Council, supported a resolution put
forward by the US, Britain and France allowing NATO to bomb Libya, eventually invade it and
brutally assassinate its leader Muammar Gaddafi. The South African representative passionately
argued in favor of the Western proposal. This caused South Africa to ally with Western imperialist
policies. Gaddafi is not perfect, but he doesn’t deserve to be assassinated without due processs.
President Zuma fired 2 ministers accused of corruption on October of 2011. The opposition
Democratic Alliance picked Lindiwe Mazibuko (who is a black woman) as leader in Parliament.

The ANC continued to have troubles. The ANC suspended its controversial and influential youth
leader Julius Malema of 5 years on allegations that he brought the party into disrepute. The
National Assembly overwhelmingly approved the information bill. It is against the freedom of
speech. The ANC supports it in saying it is needed to promote national security, which is ludicrous.
By July of 2012, a member of a white supremacist group was found guilty of plotting to
assassinate Nelson Mandela and trying to overthrow the government. One of the most disgraceful
events in South African history was the Marikana massacre. This happened on August of 2012. It is
about how the crooked police fired on workers at a platinum mine in Marikana. At least 34 people
were murdered, 78 were injured, and more than 200 people were arrested. Neither the ANC, the
South African Communist Party nor COSATU had condemned the killings immediately. These
workers were protesting for their rightful economic rights. Prosecutors dropped murder charges
against 270 miners (when they didn’t murder anyone, but the cops did) on September of 2012. A
public outcry caused the government to set up a judicial commission inquiry in October of
2012. Julius Malema wanted Zuma to resign because of his response to the Marikana Massacre.
Marlena is later accused of money laundering. Malema said that the charges are politically motivated
especially after the Marikana shootings. On October of 2012, Platinum wine owner Amplate fired
12,000 striking miners as waves of wildcat strikes existed.
 The Passing Away of a Revolutionary Legend and the
continued struggle for Justice
On December 5, 2013, Nelson Mandela passed away at the age of 95 years old. From 1918-1943, he
was born from an aristocratic Xhosa family in South Africa and was educated heavily. From 1943 to
1960, he grew his revolutionary consciousness in fighting against apartheid. From 1960 to 1990, he
became even more revolutionary by fighting oppression by any means necessary and being
imprisoned for his heroic beliefs. From 1990 to his passing, he reflected on his life and shown
compromises and revolutionary views. Tributes exist worldwide. Like with many iconic
individuals, many people tried to sugarcoat his legacy, but Mandela worked in revolutionary
movements. Plus, some of his greatest allies were socialists, communists, women rights activists,
civil rights leaders, and other progressive heroes. Nelson Mandela was a political revolutionary who
was once considered an enemy of the state by the U.S. government (during a time) plus the South
African apartheid government. The irony of his passing is that many of the same Western capitalist
elites who hated Mandela before his imprisonment are now praising him greatly.

Many anti-corruption people criticized President Zuma for a twenty million dollar upgrade to his
private home. On May of 2014, the ruling ANC party owned a majority in general elections. The
Paralympics athlete Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in jail for killing his girlfriend on
October of 2014. President Zuma, by February of 2015, announced his plan to limit farm seizes and
ban foreign farmland ownership in trying to redistribute land to black farmers (being part of a
longstanding ANC pledge). Power utility Eskom rations electricity to prevent power cuts. This is
blamed of years of poor maintenance. More anti-immigrant attacks leave several people dead from
March to April of 2015. On June 2015, there were allegations of bribery to the international soccer
body of FIFA to secure the 2010 World Cup. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited South
Africa despite the International Criminal Court having an arrest warrant against him over genocide
and war crime charges. The Supreme Court on March of 2016 ruled that President Zuma violated
the constitution for not repaying public money used to improve his private residence. April 2017
was the time when President Zuma dismissed widely respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan,
leading to the country’s credit rating being cut to junk status. President Zumba survived his eight
motions of no-confidence. This was on August of 2017. On February 2018, Mr. Zuma resigned as
President. Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (who is a wealthy elite person) is the current President of
South Africa since February 15, 2018. South Africa made many contributions in history along with
having the problem of economic inequality and corporate elites (from the Oppenheimers to other
oligarchs) dominating much of the wealth of the land too.

We know about the past and current revolutionaries of South Africa. Therefore, there are tons of
South Africans today who are continuously fighting racism, xenophobia, militarism, free market
fundamentalism, and other evils. We are in solidarity with them 100 percent.

By Timothy

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika