South African History (The Ending of Apartheid) - Part 7

The introduction of apartheid policies coincided with theKwaZulu but squeezing patronage from the apartheid
adoption by the ANC in 1949 of its Programme ofState by casting Inkatha in the role of loyal opposition.
Action, expressing the renewed militancy of the 1940s.The State sought to use Inkatha structures as
The Programme embodied a rejection of whitesurrogates in its war against the liberation movement.
domination and a call for action in the form of protests,Battles for turf between Inkatha and the ANC became
strikes and demonstrations. There followed a decadea very destructive accompaniment to South Africa's
of turbulent mass action in resistance to the impositiontransition to democracy. Developments in neighboring
of still harsher forms of segregation and oppression.states in the face of mass resistance to white-minority
The Defiance Campaign of the early 1950s carriedand colonial rule, notably Portuguese decolonization in
mass mobilization to new heights under the banner ofthe mid-1970s and the abdication of Zimbabwe's
non-violent resistance to the pass laws. These actionsminority regime in 1980, left South Africa exposed as
were based on the philosophy of Mohandas Gandhi.the last bastion of white supremacy.
A critical step in the emergence of non-racialism wasThe Government embarked on a series of reforms,
the formation of the Congress Alliance, including thean early example being the recognition of black trade
Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress, aunions to stabilize labor. In 1983, the Constitution was
small white congress organisation (the Congress ofreformed to allow the coloured and Indian minorities
Democrats) and the South African Congress of Tradelimited participation in separate and subordinate Houses
Unions.of Parliament. The vast majority of these groups
The Alliance gave formal expression to an emergingrejected the Tricameral dispensation but it was
unity across racial and class lines that was manifestednevertheless kept intact by the apartheid regime.
in the Defiance Campaign and other mass protests ofPW Botha further modified the Westminster
this period, which also saw women's resistance take aconstitutional model by instituting an executive
more organised character with the formation of thepresidency and doing away with the function of Prime
Federation of South African Women.Minister. In 1986, the pass laws were scrapped. These
In 1955, a Freedom Charter was drawn up at theinitiatives went hand-in-hand with the militarization of
Congress of the People in Soweto. The Chartersociety and the ascendancy of the State Security
enunciated the principles of the struggle, binding theCouncil, which usurped the role of the executive in
movement to a culture of human rights andcrucial respects.
non-racialism. Over the next few decades, theUnder the states of emergency, a comprehensive
Freedom Charter was elevated to an importantcounter-insurgency strategy was implemented to
symbol of the freedom struggle.combat what, by the mid-1980s, was an endemic
The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), founded byinsurrectionary spirit in the land. At the same time, the
Robert Sobukwe and based on the philosophy ofinternational community strengthened its support for
Africanism and anti-communism, broke away from thethe anti-apartheid cause. A range of sanctions and
Congress Alliance in 1959. The PAC slogan 'Africa forboycotts was instituted, both unilaterally and through
the Africans' was strongly pan-Africanist in nature.the United Nations (UN).
The State's initial response, harsh as it was, was notFW de Klerk, who had replaced Botha as State
yet as draconian as it was to become. Its attempt toPresident in 1989, announced at the opening of
prosecute more than 150 anti-apartheid leaders forParliament in February 1990 the unbanning of the
treason, in a trial that started in 1956, ended in acquittalsliberation movements and release of political prisoners,
in 1961. But by that time, mass organized opposition hadnotably Nelson Mandela.
been banned.A number of factors led to this step. International
Matters came to a head at Sharpeville in March 1960financial, trade, sport and cultural sanctions were clearly
when 69 PAC anti-pass demonstrators were killed. Abiting, even if South Africa was nowhere near collapse,
state of emergency was imposed, and detentioneither militarily or economically.
without trial was introduced.These sanctions were called for in a co-ordinated
The black political organizations were banned, and theirstrategy by the internal and external anti-apartheid
leaders went into exile or were arrested. In this climate,movement in South Africa. The ANC, enjoying wide
the ANC and PAC abandoned their long-standingrecognition as the foremost liberation organization, was
commitment to non-violent resistance and turned toincreasingly regarded as a government in waiting.
armed struggle, waged from the independent countriesInternational support for the liberation movement came
to the north.from various countries around the globe, particularly
Top leaders still inside the country, including membersfrom former East Bloc and Nordic countries as well as
of the newly formed military wing Umkhonto wefrom the Non-aligned Movement.
Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), were arrested in 1963. AtDuring the 1980s, the ANC moved its headquarters
the 'Rivonia trial', Mandela, Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada andfrom London, England to Lusaka, Zambia. The other
others convicted of sabotage (instead of treason, theliberation organizations increasingly experienced various
original charge) were sentenced to life imprisonment.internal and external pressures and did not enjoy much
The 1960s was a decade of overwhelming repressionpopular support.
and of relative political disarray among blacks inside theInternal and external mass resistance continued and it
country. Armed action from beyond the borders waswas obvious that Botha's strategy of reform initiatives
effectively contained by the State.combined with repression had failed to stabilize the
The resurgence of resistance politics in the early 1970sinternal situation.
was dramatic. The Black Consciousness Movement,To outside observers, and also in the eyes of growing
led by Steve Biko (who was killed in detention in 1977),numbers of white South Africans, apartheid stood
reawakened a sense of pride and self-esteem in blackexposed as morally bankrupt, indefensible and
people. News of the brutal death of Steve Bikoimpervious to reforms. The collapse of global
reverberated around the globe and led tocommunism, the withdrawal of Soviet and Cuban
unprecedented outrage.support for the MPLA regime in Angola, and the
As capitalist economies sputtered with the oil crisis ofnegotiated independence of Namibia ­ formerly
1973, black trade unions revived. A wave of strikesSouth-West Africa, administered by South Africa as a
reflected a new militancy that involved betterLeague of Nations mandate since 1919 ­ did much
organization and was drawing new sectors, into change the mindset of whites. No longer could
particular intellectuals and the student movement, intowhites demonize the ANC and PAC as fronts for
mass struggle and into debate over the principlesinternational communism.
informing it.White South Africa had also changed in deeper ways.
The year 1976 marked the beginning of a sustainedAfrikaner nationalism had lost much of its raison deter.
anti-apartheid revolt. In June, school pupils of SowetoMany Afrikaners had become urban, middle class and
rose up against apartheid education, followed by youthrelatively prosperous. Their ethnic grievances, and
uprisings all around the country. Youth activismattachment to ethnic causes and symbols, had largely
became the single most effective arm of the politicswaned.
of resistance in the 1980s.A large part of the NP's core constituency was ready
The United Democratic Front and the informal umbrella,to explore larger national identities, even across racial
the Mass Democratic Movement, emerged as legaldivides, and yearned for international respectability.
vehicles of democratic forces struggling for liberation.Apartheid increasingly seemed more like a straitjacket
Clerics played a prominent public role in thesethan a safeguard. In 1982, disenchanted hardliners had
movements.split from the NP to form the Conservative Party,
The involvement of workers in resistance took on aleaving the NP open to more flexible and modernizing
new dimension with the formation of the Congress ofinfluences. After this split, factions within the Afrikaner
South African Trade Unions and the National Councilelite openly started to pronounce in favor of a more
of Trade Unions.inclusive society causing more friction with the NP
Popular anger was directed against all those whogovernment, which increasingly became militaristic and
were deemed to be collaborating with the governmentauthoritarian.
in the pursuit of its objectives, and the black townshipsA number of business, student and academic
became virtually ungovernable. From the mid-1980s,Afrikaners held meetings publicly and privately with the
regional and national states of emergency wereANC in exile. Secret talks were held between the
enforced.imprisoned Nelson Mandela and government Ministers
The Inkatha movement, which from 1979 becameabout a new dispensation for South Africa with blacks
increasingly oppositional to the externally-basedforming a major part of it.
liberation movement, played a straddling role in theInside the country, mass action became the order of
1980s. Stressing Zulu ethnicity and traditionalism, Inkathathe day. Petty apartheid laws and symbols were
claimed a mass following in the rural areas of theopenly challenged and removed. Together with a sliding
KwaZulu homeland.economy and increasing international pressure, these
Its leader, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, carved adevelopments made historic changes inevitable.
distinctive niche for himself, refusing 'independence' for