Topic 3

• How far was the ANC strengthened during the period 1968-83?

  • Strengthened: international support
  • Not strengthened: discontent of ANC supporters
  • Not strengthened: Tambo's leadership
• Decline of the ANC in the early 1970s


  • Problems the ANC was facing:
  • Former leaders were still in prison
  • Organisation itself was in exile since its banning in 1960
  • Many of those arrested after the Soweto uprising in 1976 treated ppl like Nelson Mandela w/ some degree of contempt when they met them in prison
  • Older activists seemed relics of a previous age
  • Younger activists were more militant and ready to deploy violence
  • Distrusted ANC's integrationist policies → more prepared to see all white ppl as enemies
• Mandela and other long-term prisoners opened up in a dialogue in which they both learnt abt the new waves of protest and activity
• Educated young fellow prisoners the aims of the ANC & hopes for a unified SA
• A new phase for the ANC

  • 1. Internal reorganisation: Reorganised abroad to co-ordinate → oversee the growing no. of exiles, the activities of MK, raise funds, set up ANC offices throughout the world
  • Frustrations: at least 2 occasions when recruits grew angry abt lack of activities, ANC expelled 8 dissidents in 1975 for Africanist views + criticism of the ANC's relationship w/ SACP
  • Headquarters in London → where strategies for international support were mainly co-ordinated & maintained friendly bases in friendly African countries
  • 2. Visit to Vietnam (1978): Changed tactics from attacks in rural areas to guerilla warfare in urban areas, saw its role as both military and political
  • 3. External legitimacy: To make ANC the clear leader of anti-apartheid = needs to win international legitimacy (to not be seen as terrorist grp but as a gov in exile), especially from African countries (in 1963, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU))
• Internal reorganisation


  Reorganised abroad to co-ordinate → oversee the growing no. of exiles, the activities of MK, raise funds, set up ANC offices throughout the world
• Frustrations


  At least 2 occasions when recruits grew angry abt lack of activities, ANC expelled 8 dissidents in 1975 for Africanist views + criticism of the ANC's relationship w/ SACP
• Headquarters


  In London → where strategies for international support were mainly co-ordinated & maintained friendly bases in friendly African countries
• Visit to Vietnam (1978)


  • To learn from the success of North Vietnamese over the US
  • Changed tactics from attacks in rural areas to guerilla warfare in urban areas
  • Saw its role as both military and political
• External legitimacy


  To make ANC the clear leader of anti-apartheid = needs to win international legitimacy (to not be seen as terrorist grp but as a gov in exile)
• Countries ANC sought support from

  • African countries
  • Non-Communist countries
  • Western countries
• African countries


  • In 1963, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and ANC working tgt to gain power in African countries
  • These countries weren't strong enough to give more substantial support to the ANC
  • Most traded w/ SA & some were dependent on it
  • E.g. Zambia was reliant on SA railways & ports to export its copper (95% of its income)
  • SA placed pressure on these countries to expel the ANC, e.g. on Tanzania in 1969
• Non-Communist countries


  • Saw ANC as pro-Communist → Cold War → many countries opposed the Communist regimes who offered support for the ANC
  • Thus, ANC has close ties w/ the SACP
• Western countries


  Disliked the ANC's stance on violence → asked them to stop armed struggle + e.g. in UK and US regarded the ANC as a terrorist organisation
• Tambo's strategy


  • Two pronged strategy: (1) military conflict (2) development of a mass political organisation
  • Progress was slow, e.g. in a joint offensive w/ the MLPA gov forces against the UNITA in Angola in 1983 was unsuccessful → caused more frustrations & open conflicts w/ the organisation
  • Mutinies, frustrated recruits sought to return to SA & complained abt lack of resources + poor conditions in the camps
  • In 1985, Tambo issued a code of conduct concerning procedures & punishments in the cadres' camps → problems continued
  • The security department of the ANC, Mbokodo = ruthless in quelling dissent & used interrogation techniques → Tambo was powerless to rein them in
• Need for international support

  • (= end links w/ communism)
  • Met regularly w/ influential figures to explain the ANC position + assure them that the ANC will support capitalist development where necessary
  • In October 1985, Tambo gave evidence to a British House of Commons Committee to justify the armed struggle
  • Led to the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group visit which the EPG recommended economic sanctions against SA in 1986
• Making South Africa ungovernable

  In January 1985, in face of Botha's state of emergency, Tambo advocated making the country ungovernable through military + non-cooperative actions
• Beginnings of guerilla warfare

  • The ANC begun to infiltrate guerilla fighters into SA from the early 1970s → made easier after its neighbours won their independence → could be used as springboard for attacks
  • The ANC was never strong enough militarily to threaten the apartheid regime, BUT IT DID DRAIN THE SA ECONOMY
• MK attacks


  • From the mid-1970s, included sabotage on railways and industrial plants, attacks on gov offices and assassinations
  • Planned to tie in w/ local concerns, e.g. an attack on a police station at Soekmekaar at a time when local ppl were angry abt forced removals
  • Strength was in their persistence > large-scale effects
• Countries that provided aid and support to the ANC

  • Scandinavian countries (esp. Sweden)
  • UK
  • US
• Scandinavian countries


  • Provided aid and support
  • Sweden maintained close ties w/ ANC in the 1960s but was reluctant to give official support until 1969 because of the links w/ communism
  • Other Scandinavian nations followed → all gave substantial help in welfare, education and healthcare facilities
  • Reason to support: Communist bloc not be seen as the only developed countries to offer aid to anti-apartheid grps
  • Insisted that these support didn't go into the coffers of MK
• UK


  In 1970, significant protests against the SA rugby team's tour and several games were abandoned owing to disruption; demonstrations took place outside banks, e.g. Barclays, which had close ties w/ SA
• US


  In October 1986, Congress overrode Reagan's veto & imposed sanctions on SA
• Oliver Tambo


  • Escaped the state of emergency in March 1961 → set up ANC headquarters in Tanzania
  • The international 'face' of the ANC
  • Assumed ANC presidency when Chief Luthuli died in 1967
• Black Consciousness


  A movement based in the USA increasing pride and black identity
• Black Consciousness movement in South Africa


  • Associated with Steve Biko and SASO (South African Students' Organisation), founded in 1969, fought for better conditions and opportunities
• Steve Biko


  Leader and co-founder of SASO
• SASO was tolerated by the government at first because of its goals
• SASO's goals

  • Encouraged non-cooperation with white government -> slogan: 'Black man, you are on your own'
  • Encouraged Indians and coloured people to see themselves as black and equally subject to white opposition
• SASO organised strikes on university campuses in 1972 in protest over inferior facilities
• In 1975, SASO celebrated the overthrow of the Portuguese colonial regimes in Mozambique and Angola
• The Black Consciousness movement began to inspire black schoolchildren to feel pride of themselves in 1972
• SASO was banned in 1975 but continued underground
• African education system

  • Education was not compulsory
  • Schools lacked the resources to teach skills for menial jobs
  • High demand for skl places because they valued education + saw it as means to escape crime and poverty
  • Numbers in secondary skls increased from aprox. 179,000 (1954) to 389,000 (1976)
  • However, there weren't enough skls
• The government's response to the great demand in skl places was to cut the number of years of schooling for Africans from 13 to 12. In 1975, the final year at primary skl was cut. More numbers attending secondary skl but no extra facilities to accomodate the increase.
• Between 1970 and 1975, African enrolment in secondary schools increased by 150% but there were not enough facilities to accommodate the increase
• For every R42 spent on a black African child's education, their white peers received R644
• In some schools, class sizes could be as high as 70-100
• Afrikaans Medium Decree


  Introduced by Botha in 1974

  Made use of Afrikaans compulsory in schools from the last year of primary school
• In 1976, Treurnicht insisted half the lessons be taught in Afrikaans, including maths