Black Resistance Against Apartheid
Black people were unanimous in their opposition to apartheid, but were not unanimous on the best way to fight it. Different groups held different opinions and there was also disagreeement within groups on how to bring about liberation.
The ANC(African National Congress), formed in 1912, was one group that initiated the black resistance. Early campaigns consisting of petitions, deputations and appeals proved ineffective, but when a militant mood began affecting the African population in the early 1940’s, due to the success of the government’s repression efforts, the ANC acted in a more assertive manner. They presented the government with a document entitled ‘African Claims’, demanding full citizenship rights and an end to all discriminatory laws. Others, however, thought more radical action was neccessary.
Nelson Mandela and other radicals in the ANC were successful in ousting the old guard in 1949. They announced a ‘Programme of Action’ which included civil disobedience, boycotts, and ’stay-at-home’ strikes. Despite increased crack-downs on dissenters by the new National party government, including the Suppression of Communism Act, the ANC stayed strong. In 1952 a ‘Defiance Campaign’ was organized in protest of the growing encroachment of apartheid laws. In five months more than 8,000 people went to prison for deliberately breaking laws and regulations such as using railway coaches, waiting rooms and platform seats marked for Europeans only or by parading in streets after curfew. Again, the government introduced new legislation to prevent protest of any kind, and again, the ANC persevered.
Together with Indian activists and radical whites, the ANC drew up a ‘Freedom Charter’ in 1955. The charter declared that ‘South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.’ It also demanded the right to vote for all citizens, to hold office and to be equal before the law. The ANC was also successful during this time in cultivating foreign organizations such as churches and businesses. Still, this was not enough to bring any major change.
After the appointment of Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd in 1958, government suppression was increased, and a new group emerged called the PAC (Pan-African Congress). Africanists in the ANC were the ones to form this new group. Their view was that Africans were the only true owners of South Africa and they were in favor of militant action to “get it back”. On March 21, 1960 a crowd of PAC demonstrators were fired upon by police in Sharpeville, just fifty miles south of Johannesburg. Sixty nine were killed and 186 were wounded, most of the victims being shot in the back as they fled the gunfire.
After the incident at Sharpeville and a failed ‘mass non-cooperation’ strike in 1961, more ANC members, including Nelson Mandela, began to see violence as, perhaps, the only answer. It was agreed upon by the ANC that the ANC would remain committed to non-violence, but that it would not stand in the way of those who wanted to establish a separate military organization. This new organization was formed under the name Umkhonto we Sizwe.
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