Increasing Violence

What was the Sharpeville Massacre?

Took place on 21 March, 1960 when White policemen opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators outside a police station at a township in Vereeniging.

• It fundamentally altered the course of the liberation struggle.

How many people were killed in the sharpeville massacre

70 unarmed demonstraters, 186 people injured

Where can the origins of sharpeville be traced back to?

The split in the ANC in 1959

• Africanists within ANC believed in african beliefs/traditions as best hope for liberation

• Africanists advocated for all land and welath in SA be returned back to its OG black owners

• Treason Trial (removal of Mandela) allowed for Africanists to come out in open opposition to ANC’s “stay-at-home” and depart from ANC in 1958

What was the PAC / why created

Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) led by Sobukwe, formed in 1959

• Strategy: Hijack some of campaigns launched by the ANC

• Would schedule their own PAC protests days before an ANC protest

What was the gov response to sharpeville?

PM Verwoerd seemed to embody the callousness and indifference of his gov to the human suffering when he addressed a crowd of nationalists shortly afterwards.

• Argued that huge majority of Africans were peace-loving citizens in support of him, and protestors were coerced by ANC/PAC

• Verwoerd’s response was typically bold and a state of emergency declared on 30 March 1960

• All political gatherings outlawed

• 8th April —> Officially banned the two movements

What were the main results of the massacre in terms of ANC?

Decision of the ANC to abandon its strategy of peaceful resistance to apartheid and instead embrace armed struggle.

• Mandela (now a fugitive on the run) finally managed to persuade ANC at a secret party congress in July 1961

  By the end of the year, the armed wing of the movement, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) had been created.

Was the decision to adopt the armed struggle a direct result of the Sharpeville Massacre?

• Sharpeville was a turning point for the ANC, where leaders like Luthuli saw apartheid state as vicious

• Old strategies had failed cuz gov would use all armed force necessary

• ANC was now banned, and had a serious rival (PAC) —> Risked being outflanked by younger, newer PAC

What was the wider signficance of the sharpeville massacre

• Historian Tom Lodge argues that it marked the true beginning of international campaign vs Apartheid

• Economic sanctions applied for first time

• Forced out of British Commonwealth