A
brief history of the African National Congress - Our struggle for freedom has a long
history. It goes back to the days when the African people fought spear in hand
against the British and Boer colonisers. The ANC has kept this spirit of
resistance alive! Over the last 80 years the ANC has brought together millions
in the struggle for liberation. Together we have fought for our land, against
low wages, high rents and the dompas. We have fought against bantu education,
and for the right to vote for a government of our choice. This history is about
our struggle for freedom and justice. It tells the story of the ANC
1.
The African Kingdoms are defeated 1860s - 1900
White settlers from Holland first
came to South Africa in 1652. many bitter struggles were fought over land and
cattle. Although the African kingdoms lost land and cattle they were still
independent some 200 years later. But in the 1860s Britain brought
large armies with horses, modern rifles and cannons, to take control of South
Africa. The Xhosa who had fought nine wars of resistance against the
colonisers, were finally defeated in 1878, after more than 100 years of
warfare. Led by Cetshwayo, the Zulu brought a
crushing defeat on the British army at Isandhlwana in 1878, but were finally
defeated at Ulundi by British reinforcements. Soon afterwards the British
attacked and defeated the Pedi who had also remained independent for many
years. Leaders like Sukhukhune, Sandile and
Cetshwayo were captured and imprisoned or killed. By 1900 Britain had broken
the power of the African kingdoms and they then fell under the control of the
colonial government. In 1910, Britain handed over this control to the Boer and
British settlers themselves, when it gave them independence. The union of South
Africa was formed with a government that recognised only the rights of white
people and denied rights to blacks.
2.
The ANC is formed - 1912
The wars of resistance ended with
the defeat of Bambata`s rebellion. Africans had to find new ways to fight for
their land and their freedom. In 1911, Pixley ka Isaka Seme called on Africans
to forget the differences of the past and unite together in one national
organisation. He said: "We are one people. these divisions, these
jealousies, are the cause of all our woes today." On January 8th 1912, chiefs,
representatives of people`s and church organisations, and other prominent
individuals gathered in Bloemfontein and formed the African National Congress.
The ANC declared its aim to bring all Africans together as one people to defend
their rights and freedoms. The ANC was formed at a time when
South Africa was changing very fast. Diamonds had been discovered in 1867 and
gold in 1886. Mine bosses wanted large numbers of people to work for them in
the mines. Laws and taxes were designed to force people to leave their land.
The most severe law was the 1913 land Act, which prevented africans from
buying, renting or using land, except in the reserves. Many communities or families
immediately lost their land because of the Land Act. for millions of other
black people it became very difficult to live off the land. The Land Act caused
overcrowding, land hunger, poverty and starvation.
3.
Working for a Wage
The Land Act and other laws and
taxes forced people to seek work on the mines and on the white farms. While
some black people settled in cities like Johannesburg, most workers were
migrants. They travelled to the mines to work and returned home to the rural
areas with part of their wages, usually once a year. But Africans were not free to move
as they pleased. Passes controlled their movements and made sure they worked
either on the mines or on the farms. The pass laws also stopped Africans from
leaving their jobs or striking. In 1919 the ANC in Transvaal led a campaign
against the passes. The ANC also supported the militant strike by African
mineworkers in 1920. However, some ANC leaders disagreed
with militant actions such as strikes and protests. They argued that the ANC
should achieve its aims by persuasion, for example, by appealing to Britain.
but the appeals of delegations who visited Britain in 1914 to protest the Land
Act and again in 1919 to ask Britain to recognise African rights, were ignored. This careful approach meant that the
ANC was not very active in the 1920s. The Industrial and Commercial Workers
Union (ICU) - a general union formed in 1919 - was the most active and popular
organisation in rural and urban areas, at this time. The union won some major
victories for its workers through militant actions. However, the ICU could not
sustain itself, and in the late 1920s it collapsed. Socialist organisations also began
to organise black workers in the 1920s. The International Socialist League
together with other socialist organisations formed the Communist Party in 1921.
The Communist Party became the first non-racial political organisation in South
Africa. During the 1920s government policies
became harsher and more racist. A colour-bar was established to stop blacks
from holding semi-skilled jobs in some industries. It also meant that black
workers were paid lower wages for unskilled work. J.T. Gumede, was elected President
of the ANC in 1927. He tried to revitalise the ANC in order to fight these
racist policies. Gumede thought that the communists could make a contribution
to this struggle and wanted the ANC to co-operate with them. However, in 1930,
Gumede was voted out of office and the ANC became inactive in the 1930s undergo
conservative leadership.
4.
The ANC Gains New Life - 1940s
The ANC was boosted with new life
and energy in the 1940s, which changed it from the careful organisation it was
in the 1930s to the mass movement it was to become in the 1950s.
Increased attacks on the rights of
black people and the rise of extreme Afrikaner nationalism created the need for
a more militant response from the ANC. Harsher racism also brought greater
co-operation between the organisations of Africans, Coloureds and Indians. In
1947, the ANC and the Indian Congresses signed a pact stating full support for
one another`s campaigns. In 1944 the ANC Youth League was
formed. The young leaders of the Youth League - among them Nelson Mandela,
Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo - based their ideas on African nationalism. They
believed Africans would be freed only by their own efforts. The Youth League
aimed to involve the masses of people in militant struggles. Many more people moved to the cities
in the 1940s to work in new factories and industries. They began to from their
own community organisations - such as the Squatter`s Movement - and trade
unions. The militant ideas of the Youth League quickly found support among the
new population of the cities. The Youth League drew up a Programme of Action
calling for strikes, boycotts and defiance. It was adopted by the ANC in 1949,
the year after the National party came to power. The Programme of Action led to
the Defiance Campaign of the 1950s.
5.
A Mass Movement is Born - 1950
The Defiance Campaign was the
beginning of a mass movement of resistance to apartheid. apartheid aimed to
separate the different race groups completely through laws like the Population
Registration Act, Group areas Act and Bantu Education Act, and through stricter
pass laws and forced removals. "Non-Europeans" walked
through "Europeans Only" entrances and demanded service at
"White`s Only" counters of post offices. Africans broke the pass laws
and Indian, Coloured and White "volunteers" entered African townships
without permission. The success of the Defiance Campaign
encouraged further campaigns against apartheid laws, like the Group Areas Act
and the Bantu Education Act. The government tried to stop the
Defiance Campaign by banning it`s leaders and passing new laws to prevent
public disobedience. but the campaign had already made huge gains. It brought
closer co-operation between the ANC and the SA Indian Congress, swelled their
membership and also led to the formation of new organisations; the SA Coloured
people`s Organisation (SACPO) and the Congress of Democrats (COD), an
organisation of white democrats. These organisations, together with
the SA Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) formed the Congress Alliance. The Congress Alliance came together
to organise the Congress of the people - a conference of all the people of
South Africa - which presented people`s demands for the kind of South Africa
they wanted. The demands called for the people to
govern and for the land to be shared by those who work it. They called for
houses, work, security and for free and equal education. These demands were
drawn together into the Freedom Charter which was adopted at the Congress of
the People at Kliptown on the 26th June 1955. The government claimed that the
Freedom Charter was a communist document. Communism had been banned by the
government in 1950, so they arrested ANC and Congress leaders and brought them
to trial in the famous Trason Trial. They also tried to prove that the ANC and
its allies had a policy of violence and planned to overthrown the state. In 1955 the government announced
that women must carry passes. A huge campaign was mounted by women,
countrywide. Women also led a militant campaign against municipal beerhalls.
According to the law it was illegal for women to brew traditional beer. Police
raided homes and destroyed home brewed liquor so that men would use municipal
beerhalls. In response, women attacked the beerhalls and destroyed equipment and
buildings. The women also organised a highly successful boycott of the
beerhall. There were many other community
struggles in the 1950s. Resistance in the rural areas reached new heights. In
many areas campaigns were led by the ANC against passes for women, forced
removals and the Bantu Authorities Act. The Bantu Authorities Act gave the
white government the power to remove chiefs they considered troublesome and
replace them with those who would collaborate with the racist system. The collaboration of chiefs with
government officials was one of the causes of the Pondoland Revolt, a major
event in the resistance by rural people. The Pondos also demanded
representation in parliament, lower taxes and an end to Bantu Education. The struggles of the 1950s brought
blacks and whites together on a much greater scale in the fight for justice and
democracy. The Congress Alliance was an expression of the ANC`s policy of
non-racialism. This was expressed in the Freedom Charter which declared that
South Africa belongs to all who live in it. But not everyone in the ANC agreed
with the policy of non- racialism. A small minority of members who called
themselves Africanists, opposed the Freedom Charter. They objected to the ANC`s
growing co-operation with whites and Indians, who they described as foreigners.
They were also suspicious of communists who, they felt, brought a foreign
ideology into the struggle. The differences between the
Africanists and those in the ANC who supported non-racialism, could not be
overcome. In 1959 the Africanists broke away and formed the Pan Africanist
Congress (PAC). Anti-pass campaigns were taken up by both the ANC and the PAC
in 1960. The PAC campaign began on the 21st
March. People were asked to leave their passes at home and gather at police stations
to be arrested. People gathered in large numbers at Sharpville in the Vaal and
at Nyanga and Langa near Cape Town. At Sharpville the police opened fire on the
unarmed and peaceful crowd, killing 69 and wounding 186. The massacre of peaceful protestors
at Sharpville brought a decade of peaceful protest to an end. On 30 March 1960,
ten days after the Sharpville massacre, the government banned the ANC and the
PAC. They declared a state of emergency and arrested thousands of Congress and
PAC activists.
6.
The Armed Struggle Begins - 1960s
The ANC took up arms against the
South African Government in 1961. The massacre of peaceful protestors and the
subsequent banning of the ANC made it clear that peaceful protest alone would
not force the regime to change. The ANC went underground and continued to
organise secretly. Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was formed to "hit back by all
means within our power in defence of our people, our future and our
freedom". In 18 months MK carried out 200 acts
of sabotage. But the underground organisation was no match for the regime,
which began to use even harsher methods of repression. Laws were passed to make
death the penalty for sabotage and to allow police to detain people for 90 days
without trial. in 1963, police raided the secret headquarters of MK, arresting
the leadership. This led to the Rivonia Trial where the leaders of MK were
charged with attempting to cause a violent revolution. Some ANC leaders - among them Oliver
Tambo and Joe Slovo avoided arrest and left the country. Other ANC members left
to undergo military training. After the Rivonia Trial, the
underground structures of the ANC in the country were all but destroyed. The
ANC was faced with the question of how to bring trained soldiers back into the
country to continue the struggle. However, South Africa was surrounded by
countries that were very hostile to the ANC. Rhodesia, Angola and Mozambique
were all controlled by colonial governments that supported the regime. MK would
first have to make its way through those countries before it could reach home
ground. In 1967, MK began a joint campaign
with Zapu, a people`s army fighting for the liberation of Zimbabwe. They aimed
to find a route into South Africa by first crossing the Zambezi River from
Zambia and into Zimbabwe, then marching across Zimbabwe through Wankie Game
reserve, and crossing the Limpopo River into South Africa. While the Wankie
Campaign gave MK cadres important experience in combat, it was clear that MK
would have to find other ways of getting into the country. The ANC consultative
conference at Morogoro, Tanzania in 1969 looked for solutions to this problem. The Morogoro Conference called for
an all-round struggle. Both armed struggle and mass political struggle had to
be used to defeat the enemy. But the armed struggle and the revival of mass
struggle depended on building ANC underground structures within the country. A
fourth aspect of the all-round struggle was the campaign for international
support and assistance from the rest of the world. These four aspects were
often called the four pillars of struggle. The non-racial character of the ANC
was further consolidated by the opening up of the ANC membership to
non-Africans.
7.
Workers and Students Fight Back - 1970s
During the 1960s, as a result of the
banning of the liberation movement, there were few signs of resistance. The
apartheid system grew stronger and extended its control over all aspects of
people`s lives. But, despite the lull, people were not prepared to accept the
hardships and oppression of apartheid. In the 1970s workers and students fought
back against the system. their struggles changed the face of South Africa. From about 1970 prices began to rise
sharply, making it even more difficult for workers to survive on low wages.
Spontaneous strikes resulted: workers walked off the job demanding wage
increases. The strike began in Durban in 1973 and later spread to other parts
of the country. Student anger and grievances against
bantu education exploded in June 1976. Tens of thousands of high school
students took to the streets to protest against compulsory use of Afrikaans at
schools. Police opened fire on marching students, killing thirteen year old
Hector Petersen and at least three others. This began an uprising that spread
to other parts of the country leaving over 1,000 dead, most of whom were killed
by the police. Many Soweto student leaders were
influenced by the ideas of black consciousness. The South African Students
Movement (SASM), one of the first organisations of black high school students,
played an important role in the 1976 uprising. There were also small groups of
student activists who were linked to old ANC members and the ANC underground.
ANC underground structures issued pamphlets calling on the community to support
students and linking the student struggle to the struggle for national
liberation.
8.
The Struggle for People`s Power - 1980s
In the 1980s, people took the
liberation struggle to new heights. In the workplace, in the community and in
the schools, the people aimed to take control of their situation. All areas of
life became areas of political struggle. These strugglers were linked to the
demand for political power. Thousands of youths flooded the
ranks of MK after the 1976 uprising. The violence used by the security forces
to quell the uprising made the youths determined to come back and fight. The
1976 uprising also led the regime to change its strategy. For the first time
reforms were introduced to apartheid. These aimed to win some support from the
black community, but without making substantial changes. at the same time the
military was greatly strengthened. They could use greater force and repression
against people and organisations who ere considered revolutionary. Through the State
Security Council and a network of other structures, the military also gained
control over the most important decisions of government. This combination of
reform and repression, the NP government described as winning the hearts and
minds of black South Africans. However, the reforms proposed by the
government, such as the Tricameral Parliament and Black Local Authorities in
African Townships, were totally rejected and only gave rise to greater
resistance. In the 1980s community organisations
such as civics, students and youth organisations and women`s structures began
to spring up all over South Africa. This was a rebirth of the mass Congress
movement and led to the formation of the United Democratic Front. One of the biggest organisations
formed at this time was the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) with
branches in towns and cities throughout South Africa. In many cases civic
organisations developed out of parent - student committees which had been
formed to support education struggles. Massive national school boycotts rocked
the townships in 1980 and again in 1984/5. Worker organisation and power also
took a major step forward with the formation of the Congress of South African
Trade Unions (Cosatu) in 1985. Cosatu drew together independent unions that had
begun to grow in the seventies. Cosatu committed itself to advancing the
struggles of workers both in the workplace and in the community. 1987 saw the
highest number of strikes ever, including a strike by over 300,000 mine-workers. In 1985, the ANC called on township
residents to make townships ungovernable by destroying the Black Local
Authorities. Councillors and police were called on to resign. Municipal
buildings and homes of collaborators were attacked. As the administrative
system broke down, people established their own democratic structures to run
the community, including street committees and people`s courts. An atmosphere
of mass insurrection prevailed in many townships and rural towns across the
country during 1985 and 1986. Mass struggles and the armed struggle began to
support one another. Troops and police who had moved into the townships at the
end of 1984 engaged in running battles with youths - armed with stones and
petrol bombs - in an effort to re-establish control. As resistance mounted, the regime
became more vicious. A state of emergency was declared over many parts of the
country in July 1985. It lasted for six months, and then in June 1986 a
national emergency was declared, that lasted until 1990. The states of
emergency were used to detain over 300,000 people, among them children, and to
ban the UDF and its affiliates from all activity. Cosatu was restricted from
political activity. Secret government units killed
activists and bombed their homes. The South African Defence Force (SADF) led
raids into neighbouring countries to destroy ANC bases. These raids were part
of a general strategy to destabilise neighbouring governments that offered the
ANC support. The South African government gave extensive support to bandit
organisations like Renamo in Mozambique and Unita in Angola. The struggle for people`s power in
the 1980s shook the foundations of the bantustan system. The regime tried
desperately to save it by supporting vigilante groups and suppressing popular
resistance. In Natal, the struggle for people`s
power was met with violence by Inkatha warlords who were opposed to the growth
of community organisations. civic and youth organisations and Cosatu were
opposed to the undemocratic practices of Inkatha and its ties to the KwaZulu
government. The conflict has led to a bitter war in Natal, where thousands have
lost their lives. Today there is evidence that the apartheid government gave
money to Inkatha to fight the ANC, and that the South African Police and the
KwaZulu Police have played active roles in this war.
9.
The ANC is Unbanned
In spite of detentions and bannings,
the mass movement took to the city streets defiantly with the ANC and SACP
flags and banners. The people proclaimed the ANC unbanned. In February 1990,
the regime was forced to unban the ANC and other organisations. By unbanning the ANC, the regime
indicated for the first time, that it might be prepared to try and solve South
Africa`s problems peacefully, through negotiations. After its unbanning the ANC began to
establish branch and regional structures of its members. Regional and national
membership was elected. At its national conference inside the country since
1959, the ANC restated its aim to unite South Africa and bring the country to
free and democratic elections.
At the 1991 National Conference of
the ANC Nelson Mandela was elected President. Oliver Tambo, who served as
President from 1969 to 1991 was elected National Chairperson. Tambo died in
April 1993 after serving the ANC his entire adult life. The negotiations initiated by the
ANC resulted in the holding of historic first elections based on one person one
vote in April 1994. The ANC won these first historic
elections with a vast majority. 62,6% of the more than 22 million votes cast
were in favour of the ANC. On the 10th of May 1994 Nelson
Mandela was inaugurated as the President of South Africa. The ANC has been in
power ever since.