The ANC restrengthened

• ANC restrengthened

  -As the Soweto uprising was organised locally, and spread, largely unplanned, to other parts of South Africa, it was felt that the traditional leaders of opposition to apartheid were becoming more irrelevant.

  -However, the ANC was reorganising itself and preparing for a new phase of struggle, taking advantage of the thousands of cadres who joined following the Soweto uprising in 1976.
• Decline of the ANC in the early 1970s

  -The ANC declined in importance in the 1970s, it's former leaders were still in prison, and the organisation itself was in exile since its banning in 1960.Many of those arrested after the Soweto uprising in 1976 initially treated people like Mandela with some degree of contempt when they met them in prison.

  -The older activists seemed relics of a previous age. Those who had taken initiative in the protest movement in the absence of the ANC and PAC were both more militant and ready to deploy violence.
• Decline of the ANC in the early 1970s

  -Many distrusted the integrationist policies of the ANC and were more prepared to see all white people as enemies. However, Mandela and other long-term prisoners opened up a dialogue in which they both learnt about the new waves of protest and activity, and educated their young fellow prisoners in the aims of the ANC and hopes for a unified South Africa.

  -The ANC had not been involved in military campaign since the unsuccessful Wankie uprising in 1967. The Soweto uprising rejuvenated the ANC and provided it with new cadres to engage it's campaigns.
• Decline of the ANC in the early 1970s - Internal reorganisation

  -Under the leadership of Oliver Tambo, the ANC was planning for a new phase of struggle. It was reorganised abroad to co-ordinate the following key activities:

  • Oversee the growing number of exile
  • Co-ordinate the activities of the MK
  • Raise funds
  • Set up ANC offices throughout the world
• Decline of the ANC in the early 1970s - Internal reorganisation

  -There were frustrations among those who had left SA to be trained to fight. While the ANC maintained a growing number of military camps, it faced mutinies when recruits grew angry about the lack of activities.

  -It also expelled 8 dissidents in 1975 for their Africanist views and criticism of the ANC's relations with SACP

  -The ANC had headquarters in London, where its strategies for gaining international support were mainly co-ordinated. It had bases in friendly African countries from where it could launch raids into SA.
• Decline of the ANC in the early 1970s - Visit to Vietnam

  -In 1978, the ANC visited Vietnam to study what it saw as the North Vietnamese victory over the USA.

  -It changed tactics from attacks in rural areas to guerrilla warfare in urban areas, which it felt would carry more publicity.

  -It saw its role as both military in terms of armed attacks and political in building up a mass organisation.

  -The ANC had to make itself the clear leader of the opposition against apartheid, they needed to win international legitimacy - to not be seen as a terrorist group but as a government in exile.
• Decline of the ANC in the early 1970s - External legitimacy

  -The ANC spent much of the 1970s winning external legitimacy, both in Africa and the wider world.

  -In 1963, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and ANC worked together to gain power in Africa. However, these countries were not strong enough to give more substantial support to the ANC; most traded with SA and some were dependent on it.

  -For example, Zambia was reliant on SA railways and ports to export it's copper, which made up 95% of it's income.

  -SA placed pressure on these countries to expel the ANC, like Tanzania in 1969.
• Decline of the ANC in early 1970s - External legitimacy

  -ANC leaders also visited non-Communist countries to try and win support and legitimacy. They were disadvantaged by being seen by many as pro-Communist.

  -Especially within the context of the Cold War when many countries opposed Communist regimes who offered support for the ANC.

  -This was exacerbated by their close ties with the SACP.
• Decline of the ANC in early 1970s - External legitimacy

  -Many groups and individuals in Western countries disliked the ANC's stance on violence, typically asking them to stop the armed struggle: right wing leaders and organisations in Britain and the USA often regarded the ANC as a terrorist organisation.

  -This limited it's overall support.
• The role of Oliver Tambo

  -Was Mandela's law partner and fellow leader of the ANC.

  -During the state of emergency in 1961, he escaped and set up ANC headquarters in Tanzania.

  -Became the face of the ANC, remained its acting president until the death of Chief Luthuli in 1967, when he finally assumed the ANC presidency.
• The role of Oliver Tambo - Tambo's strategy

  -Tambo developed the two-pronged strategy of military conflict and the development of a mass political organisation, but progress was slow and the organisation could be riven with discontent.

  -In an attempt to prove its military credentials, it launched a joined offensive with the MPLA government forced against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in Angola in 1983;the lack of success caused more frustrations and open conflict with the organisation.
• The role of Oliver Tambo - Tambo's strategy P2

  -Faced various munities in which frustrated recruits sought to return to SA and complained about lack of resources and poor conditions in the camps.

  -Visited dissidents in camps in Angola in 1983 and Mozambique in 1984 after the Nkomati Accords meant their expulsion.

  -In 1985, after the Kabwe conference in Zambia addressing their grievances, he issued a code of conduct concerning procedures and punishments in the cadres' camps. Problems in camps continued.
• The role of Oliver Tambo - Tambo's strategy P3

  -The security department of the ANC, Mbokodo, could be ruthless in quelling dissent: members were quick to apply interrogation techniques in East European countries such as the German Democratic Republic, and leaders such as Tambo were powerless to rein them in.

  -However, he did keep the organisation intact and provided a unifying figure.
• The role of Oliver Tambo - Need for international support

  -Tambo saw the need to build up international support and counter the accusations emanating from SA about the ANC's relationship with communism.

  -He would meet regularly with influential figures to explain the ANC position and assure them that the ANC supported capitalist development.

  -He met representatives of US multinational companies in the early 1980s in the face of US President Reagan's aggressive stance against communism, and indeed belief that SA was making real progress towards racial equality.
• The role of Oliver Tambo - Need for international support P2

  -October 1985, he gave evidence to a British House of Commons Committee, justifying the armed struggle.

  -It was this meeting which led to the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group visit which subsequently supported the use of sanctions against SA.
• The role of Oliver Tambo - Making SA ungovernable

  -One of Tambo's biggest challenges was to keep the ANC unified while appealing to foreign supporters and indeed reassuring white people that they would have nothing to fear from an ANC victory.

  -January 1985, in the face of President Botha's state of emergency, he advocated making the country ungovernable through military and non-cooperative actions.
• The role Oliver Tambo - Beginnings of guerrilla warfare

  -The ANC had begun to infiltrate guerrilla fighters into SA from the early 1970s. This was made easier after its neighbours won their independence and could be used as a springboard for attacks.

  -However, this point shouldn't be overemphasised.

  -The ANC was never strong enough militarily to threaten the apartheid regime, although the persistence of conflict could weaken the latter in tandem with other factors, and did lead to huge military commitment which drained the economy.
• Umkhonto we Sizwe or Spear of the nation attacks

  -MK attacks from the mid 1970s included sabotage on railways and industrial plants, attacks on government officials and assassinations, particularly of those accused of collaborating.

  -Often they were planned to tie in with local concerns, such as an attack on a police station at Soekmekaar at a time when local people were angry about forced removals.

  -Their strength was in their persistence rather than large-scale effects.
• The global anti-apartheid movement

  -Covered many countries where people organised rallies and public events to show their opposition to the regime in SA.

  -Governments themselves were often lukewarm, reluctant to offend SA, and wary of the ANC ties with communism and its military activities.

  -There were exceptions: India, for example, maintained close ties with the ANC and there was anti-apartheid encouragement from organisations in the Netherlands and Canada.
• The global anti-apartheid movement P2

  -Scandinavian countries, particularly Sweden, provided aid and support.

  -Sweden had maintained close ties with the ANC throughout the 1960s, although it was reluctant to give official support until 1969 because of the links with communism.

  -When official recognition was forthcoming, other Scandinavian nations followed suit, and all gave substantial help such as welfare, education and healthcare facilities.
• The global anti-apartheid movement P3

  -One reason for their support was so the communist bloc should not be seen as the only developed countries to offer aid to anti-apartheid groups, but they did insist that none of it found its way into the coffers of MK.

  -AND accountants apparently were conscientious in ensuring that this was not the case.
• The global anti-apartheid movement P3

  -One reason for their support was so the communist bloc should not be seen as the only developed countries to offer aid to anti-apartheid groups, but they did insist that none of it found its way into the coffers of MK.

  -AND accountants apparently were conscientious in ensuring that this was not the case.
• The global anti-apartheid P4

  -Other examples included the anti-apartheid movement in Britain in the 1960s, which promoted sanctions and boycotts.

  -In 1970, there were significant protests against the SA rugby team's tour and several games were abandoned owing to disruption.

  -British people were encouraged not to buy fruit from SA.

  -Demonstrations took place outside banks with has close ties to SA (Barclays).

  -Anti-apartheid support in the USA led to Congress in October 1986 overriding President Reagan's veto, to impose sanctions on SA.