National resistance to apartheid

After the Union of South Africa was created, some middle-class, educated blacks began to organise out of fear that the new parliament would be white-dominated

What was this group called and what were their aims?

• A black association called the ‘South African Native National Congress’ (SANNC) was formed in 1912 when several hundred African elite met at Bloemfontein

• Although they recognised the benefits of British rule, such as Christianity, education and the law, they were frustrated by racial discrimination towards Africans

What did SANNC resistance look like

• Its first president J I Dube, hoped to appeal discriminatory legislation, such as the Natives’ Land Act (1913)

  • Failing to have an impact in the South African parliament, the SANNC sent a delegation to London to campaign in the British parliament

    • The British government did not act because this was an internal issue

• Similar setbacks followed as African leaders pursued a moderate course

  • In 1918, a petition was sent to King George V seeking intervention, reminding him of black South African contributions during the war, but this was ignored

  • In 1919, a black South African delegation was sent to the Paris Peace Conference to present an argument for ‘black self-determination’

  • Black South Africans began adopting non-violent protest methods of Gandhi

What did black resistance in the 1920s look like?

• Blacks left Christian churches for African forms of Christianity

• Workers began to organise strikes, increasing levels of police violence

  • Clements Kadalie became the leader of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU)

    • This became a major protest movement, with 200,000 members

    • In February 1920, 70,000 black workers in 21 mines went on strike, leading to 11 deaths from police

• In May 1921, religious prophet Enoch Mgijima refused police orders to dismantle a settlement, and police fire led to the death of 190 people

• In 1921, the Communist Party of South Africa (CP) was formed, although it had a difficult relationship with the ICU, and Kadalie expelled any communists from the union

  • The CP became involved in trade unions, such as the African Mineworkers Union

What did the SANNC change its name to in 1923 and why did they rebrand?

the African National Congress (ANC) was still moderate, educated and middle-class dominated, refusing to participate in mass demonstrations, however they were now wary of communist and socialist movements

By the late 1930s, the ANC seemed to be failing due to internal divisions and with other black groups about the type of tactics to be used

However, in 1940, there was a revival of the ANC under Dr A B Xuma, as the organisation was improved with new young members such as

• Born in 1914, Anton Lembede was the founding president of the ANC Youth League and was credited with providing the ideology for African nationalism

  • This would provide ideas for the ANC ‘Programme of Action’ adopted in 1949

• Born in 1912, Walter Sisulu joined the ANC in 1941, and in 1943 became a member of the ANC Youth League

  • Sisulu was self-educated, having worked in the mines and was a trade unionist

  • He became secretary general of the ANC from 1949 to 1954 and was also a member of the CP

• Oliver Tambo was born in 1917, and was well-educated, having studied at Fort Hare University with Mandela, and set up a legal practice together

  • He helped form the ANC Youth League and was a leading ANC figure in the 1950s

• Nelson Mandela was born in 1918, and the son of a chief, was educated at a mission school before attending Fort Hare University

  • He became a lawyer, establishing a practice in Johannesburg and joined in the ANC in 1943, co-founding the ANC Youth League

  • President of the ANC’s Transvaal’s branch, he was to play a major role in the Defiance Campaign

The younger ANC members realised that the nationalist government would simply ignore moderate protest leading to what being adopted

• The ANC adopted a Programme of Action, involving strikes, demonstrations and non-cooperation

On 26 June 1952, the Afrikaner government planned to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Jan van Riebeeck’s arrival at the Cape

How did the ANC plan to counter these demonstrations and was it effective?

• The ANC planned to counter these celebrations with a ‘Defiance Campaign’ involving counter-demonstrations highlighting the evils of apartheid

  • 8000 Africans went to European only facilities and locations, inviting arrest

  • In October, there was rioting that resulted in deaths of blacks and whites

  • The government responded with more repression and introducing the Suppression of Communism Act, in which any criticism of the system was labelled communist and justified with harsh suppression

• By the end of the campaign, ANC membership had grown from 7000 to 100,000

  • The ‘Freedom Charter’ was created as its manifesto, outlining its principles

The regime placed 156 people on trial for treason after the publication of the Freedom Charter, including most of the leadership of the ANC

What was the result of the trial?

• Accused of planning violent revolution and the Charter as nothing more than a communist plan of action, they were released after the government failed in its case

  • However, ANC leadership was ineffective as the case dragged for five years, and at the same time, the government introduced more laws to stifle black action, such as the Riotous Assemblies Act

    • Despite this, protests continued, including bus boycotts on the Rand, where blacks insisted they would rather walk than pay high fares

Female resistance to apartheid was also significant

• In 1955, the government announced that women would be forced to have a pass, leading to further protests, led by Albertina Sisulu, Walter’s wife

  • She was arrested on several occasions, and was banned for 17 years, and in 1963, she became the first woman held under the 90 Day Law, allowing a person to be held in solitary confinement for 90 days without trial

• Another black female who was prominent in the protest movement was Nelson Mandela’s wife, Winnie Mandela

  • While her husband was in prison, she continued the resistance and proved popular among the youth of Soweto

• In 1955, the Black Sash Organisation was formed by white women who wanted to prevent coloured people losing the vote, wearing black sashes in mourning

  • Members offered legal advice to those affected by the Pass Laws

• In 1956, the Federation of South African Women (FSAW) was formed, and under its black president, Lilian Ngoyi, and white secretary, Helen Joseph, organised a women’s march of 20,000 on the heart of the Afrikaner government

• Other white female opponents included Margaret Ballinger, Ruth First and Helen Suzman

  • Suzman was a member of parliament for thirty-six years and provided the only consistent opposition to apartheid, and used parliamentary privilege to improve prison conditions for the ANC

By the late 1950s, the ANC seemed to be failing, as many of its leaders were on trial or imprisoned for treason

Why did the ANC have internal division and what was the result of thiss?

• Critics argued that it had made too many compromises, weakening its effectiveness, because it worked with non-black groups, especially the Congress of White Democrats

• Figures like Robert Sobukwe argued that the ANC should be concerned only with black interests, avoid compromises if it inevitably worked with non-black groups, and should be far more assertive in taking action against the white government

  • In 1959, Sobukwe broke away from the ANC and formed the Pan-African Congress (PAC)

    • Initiated a major campaign against the pass laws, which would result in the Sharpeville Massacre

    • Sobukwe was sentenced to three years in prison due to his role in Sharpeville, and at the end of his sentence, the government brought in the General Law Amendment Act

      • Allowed a person to be detained 90 days without trial

    • Sobukwe would be kept in detention, and was moved to Robben Island where he stayed for six years in solitary confinement, but was allowed civilian clothes and books

      • After his release from prison, he was placed under house arrest in Kimberley and died in 1978 at 54

The nature and growth of the ANC

Nelson Mandela

Anna Kelk Mager and Maanda Mulaudzi

“I saw non-violence on the Gandhian model not as an inviolable principle but as a tactic to be used as the situation demanded. The principle was not so important that the strategy should be used even when it was self-defeating”

“The protest was a powerful symbolic moment and a spectacular piece of political theatre…the women sang”

Sharpeville is a black township situated near Johannesburg, and built in 1943, replaced the settlement of Topville, and faced high unemployment, crowded housing conditions and poor living standards, as all black townships did

Why did the PAC plan a demonstration at Sharpeville and what did they hope to achieve?

The PAC planned a major demonstration against the hated pass laws at Sharpeville in March 1960, planning for a large group of Africans to march on Sharpeville police station and burn their passes

• It was believed that such a large group would make arrests futile and make the pass system unworkable

What events led to the Sharpeville Massacre

• On 21 March 1960, Robert Sobukwe led a small group to Orlando police station from his home, intending to give himself up for arrest

• Once the crowd reached the station, they were arrested and charged with sedition, but while this was happening a crowd of 5000 made it to Sharpeville Police Station

  • Sebukwe warned police in advance this was going to happen

  • Most of the demonstrators were peaceful, but as the crowd continued to grow between 7000-20,000 the atmosphere turned ugly

    • There was only a small group of inexperienced police officers at the station, aided by reinforcements and armoured personal carriers

  • Police reports stated that stones were thrown at them and that when a police officer was knocked over, panic set in

    • Another report suggests that a protestor fired a gun in the air, creating widespread panic

    • Another report says an inexperienced policeman lost his nerve and fired into the crowd

      • Black protestors claim the shooting was not an accident but deliberate

  • The massacre resulted in the deaths of 69 people and left 180 wounded, 70% of those who had been shot in the back while fleeing

    • At the same time there was another incident at Langa in the Cape, where a police baton charge against demonstrators led to 2 dead and 49 wounded

The significance of the Sharpeville massacre was significant for apartheid

• Government response

  • Although the violence of the apartheid regime was known, the mass scale of Sharpeville sent shock throughout the country

  • Marches and work stoppages by black workers continued throughout 1960, and 30,000 Africans marched on parliament

  • The Verwoerd government declared a state of emergency and arrested 18,000 demonstrators

• The economic impact

  • Many foreign investors withdrew their funds and there was a dramatic drop of white immigration after the Sharpeville Massacre

    • However, harsh measures introduced by the regime re-established economic security and stability, as white investors and immigration returned

  • By 1970, the country was experiencing an impressive economic boom with growth rates averaging 6% during the 1960s

  • To many white South Africans, it appeared that apartheid could work, challenging Smuts’ prediction in the 1940s

• ANC and PAC response

  • Forced to go underground due to many of their leaders now in exile, they established military wings

    • The ‘Spear of the Nation’ (MK) for the ANC

    • The Poqo (pure) for the PAC

  • Mandela argued that they were left with no other alternative but violent struggle

    • Between 1961-1963, the MK carried out over 200 acts of sabotage against government installations

• International impact

  • Following the Sharpeville Massacre, there was international outrage, and the UN passed a resolution expressing anger towards the South African government and calling for racial equality and an end to apartheid

    • South Africa began to experience growing international isolation, as companies became reluctant to invest, although this was short-term

  • Opposition to the apartheid regime, especially from African and Asian members of the Commonwealth, led to its decision to leave the Commonwealth

Sharpeville Massacre

Anne Kelk Mager and Maanda Mulaudzi

“Sharpeville was a watershed (turning point), for the events that followed the shootings irrevocably changed the character of African nationalist resistance”

What were Nelson Mandela’s early years like?

• Born 18 July 1918 in the Madiba clan in the village of Mvezo in Eastern Cape, his birth name was Rolihlahla Mandela, meaning troublemaker

  • His father was destined to be chief, but lost the title and fortune over a dispute with a local colonial magistrate

• Mandela received a varied education

  • Attended primary school in Qunu, where his teacher gave him the name Nelson, and completed junior certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute

  • He went to  Wesleyan secondary school and studied at the University College of Fort Hare, but was expelled before he could finish to due involvement in student protests

• In 1941, Mandela moved to Johannesburg, where he worked as a mines security officer, and met his future ANC comrade, Walter Sisulu

  • Sisulu introduced him to Lazar Sidelsky, allowing Mandela to complete his BA through their law firm at the University of South Africa

• Nelson Mandela was married three times

  • In 1944, he married Evelyn Mase, Walter’s cousin who was a nurse, and had four children, although one died young, and divorced in 1958

  • 14 June 1958 he married Winnie Madikizela, a social worker, and had two daughters, but divorced in 1996

  • In 1998, Mandela married Graca Machel, the first Education Minister of Mozambique, and remained married until his death in 2013

Mandela joined the ANC in 1942, along with Sisulu, and proposed the creation of the ANC Youth League, calling for more forceful protests against white segregationist laws

What was Mandela’s role in the ANC from 1944 to 1961

• The Congress Youth League (CYL) was formed in 1944

• In 1949, Mandela, alongside Sisulu and Tambo, joined the National Executive of the ANC, calling for a Programme of Action, as the ANC had become docile in protests

• There was a major strike in Pretoria, leading to the deaths of 18 people in Johannesburg, so Mandela and the National Executive called for a ‘Day of Action’ on 26 June 1950

  • The ANC worked with the (coloured) African People’s Organisation and the South African Indian Congress, and black businesses and workers stayed home

• In 1952, Mandela was chosen as the ‘National Volunteer-in-Chief’ of the Defiance Campaign

  • Following this, Mandela and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of Communism Act

  • Sentenced to nine months of hard labour, suspended for two years

• In 1953, the government issued a Banning Order against Mandela, which would be renewed every year until 1961

• In 1956, the ANC launched the Freedom Charter, and due to the Banning Order, Mandela could not participate in the ceremony, hiding from police in the crowd

• In 1957-61 the government arrested over 150 black activists, including Mandela, and charged with treason, the trial could drag for four years, diminishing the ANC

• In 1961, Mandela and the others were acquitted

  • Before the end of the treason trial, Mandela spoke at the All-in-Africa Conference in Pietermaritzburg, resolving to write to PM Verwoerd to demand a national convention for a non-racial constitution

    • The government was warned to expect major strike action if refused, but the mass mobilisation of state security forces called this off

After Sharpeville and increasing police repression, many ANC leaders, including Mandela, believed the time for peaceful protest was over

This led to what underground resistance?

• In 1961, Mandela went underground, forming the ‘Spear of the Nation’ (MK), alongside other key figures like Sisulu and white communist Joe Slovo

  • Mandela would spend 17 months underground, organising sabotage and resistance against the apartheid regime

MK actions in 1961 was aimed at targets such as power stations and government offices, trying to avoid casualties

What was Mandela’s role as the leader of the MK

• 11 January 1962, Mandela left the country with a fake name ‘David Motsamayi’ travelling to various African countries to gain ANC support

  • In Ethiopia and Morocco he undertook guerilla training

• Mandela used various disguises, such as a chauffeur and garden boy, to escape security forces

• Back in South Africa in 1962, Mandela established regional command units, trained in bomb making techniques and clandestine operations

  • MK was involved in numerous bombings, and almost 600 people would be killed

How was Mandela arrested

• On 5 August 1962, a month after returning, his visit to KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli resulted in his arrest after a police roadblock

  • Sentenced to five years imprisonment, he was moved from Pretoria to Robben Island

In 1963, the South African security police raided the secret headquarters of the MK at Lilliesleaf Farm, on the edge of Johannesburg

• Several MK members were arrested, and they found evidence that linked Mandela directly to MK

This led to the

Rivonia Trial

• From October 1963 to June 1964, South African news was dominated by the Rivonia Trial of Nelson Mandela and the ten arrested, including Walter Sisulu

Why was the Rivonia Trial an issue for the defendants and how did they weaponise it to their advantage

• This posed a problem to the defendants, because if they participated in the trial, they were accepting the apartheid legal system, acknowledging the regime they rejected

  • The solution was to use the trial as a place to carry on their struggle against apartheid, as seen in Mandela’s four hour speech from the dock on 20 April 1964

    • He admitted his major role in the MK, denied the liberation struggle was under the communists or foreigners, recounted stories from his ancestors struggle for freedom and his humanitarian aims

      • Explained how the ANC had urged against a violent path and was left no choice

    • Warned against the danger of a civil war, but if necessary, the African people were trained in guerilla warfare, which he had learnt abroad

    • Emphasised the difference between the ANC, MK and SACP

      • Communists wanted revolution and highlighted class differences

      • Mandela sought to harmonise all people, and expressed his admiration for democracy, referencing the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights

    • Went in detail about the inequalities and indignities faced by the South Africans and all they desired was a fair share of the country’s wealth

• The prosecution argued for the death penalty, however as the trial gained massive international attention, the judge decided against it
  
  What was the outcome of the trial

• Eight leaders of the ANC were sentenced to life imprisonment, seven including Mandela and Sisulu were sent to Robben Island

The Rivonia Trial received international coverage, due to the efforts of the ANC and MK members who had escaped the country, such as Oliver Tambo and Joe Slovo

Why was this significant

South Africa’s international isolationism continued to grow as sporting and cultural boycotts steadily increased

Despite international sympathy, the impact of the Rivonia Trial was devastating

• In the short-term, the government broke the ANC and MK following the death of Chief Albert Luthuli and Oliver Tambo becoming acting head of the ANC outside of South Africa

• In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the MK established bases in neighbouring countries from which they could train and launch operations

• The 1969 Morogoro (Tanzania) Conference opened the ANC up membership to all races

• Opposition to apartheid in the country did not die, as new structures emerged to defy the regime such as the South African Students Organisation (SASO) in 1968 and the Black People’s Convention in 1972

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for over 27 years on Robben Island from November 1962 to February 1990, an oval-shaped island 7km from Cape Town

What were the conditions on Robben Island like

• Mandela’s cell was small, with only a metal bucket for a toilet, a narrow bed and a small table

  • Prisoners had to empty their own buckets and there was hard labour on Robben Island involving breaking rocks in a lime quarry

    • Prisoners were not allowed to sing or play sports

  • Some guards would make up charges against prisoners and impose punishments such as solitary confinement and denial of food

    • Mandela was able to write an autobiography, letters and political announcements by smuggling them out

      • As time went on, conditions in the prison improved, and educated prisoners could educate other prisoners

      • Books were allowed, and Mandela earned a Bachelor of Law through a University of London correspondence program, despite authorities suspending his studies momentarily

What was Mandela’s prison career from 1964

12 June 1964	Mandela entered Robben Island, his number was 466/64
September 1968	Mandela’s mother passed away and he was not allowed to attend the funeral
July 1969	Mandela’s son, Thembelkile, was killed in a car accident, and he was not allowed to attend the funeral
March 1982	Along with Sisulu, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison, his number was 220/82
February 1985	Prime Minister PW Botha offered Mandela the opportunity fo release if he renounced the use of violence, but Mandela refused
November 1985	Mandela was taken to Volks Hospital in Cape Town for prostrate surgery
November 1985	Discharged from the hospital, negotiations with the government began from Pollsmoor
August 1988	Mandela was taken to Tygerberg Hospital where he was diagnosed with TB
December 1988	Mandela was transferred to Victor Verster Prison, his number was 1335/88
February 1990	Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison

The South African government aimed to remove Nelson Mandela from public consciousness, but international pressure in 1964 saved his life

Mandela was limited to one letter a year at some stage

What measures did the South African government take to prevent Mandela and how effective were they

• Mandela became the face of the anti-apartheid movement, and his image was banned, and even uttering his name could lead to arrest

  • The apartheid regime failed in trying to deny the international ‘free Nelson Mandela’ campaign

    • In 1981, Glasgow City Council became the first authority in Britain to make Mandela a ‘freeman of the city’

    • In the 1980s, across the world, buildings, parks and streets were named after him

    • A petition of over 20,000 mayors demanded Mandela’s release

    • In 1980, a black newspaper, the Sunday Post, campaigned for Mandela’s release, and the ban started to be broken

    • These groups united people across South Africa who sought to end white minority rule, forming the United Democratic Front (UDF)

  • Prisoners who were released from Robben Island, or knew Mandela personally, were given special status by youth activists working on the Free Mandela Campaign

By the late 1980s, the Anti-Apartheid movement mobilised thousands in the campaign to free Mandela

For example…

• In 1988, the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign was organised at a major rock concert at Wembley Station in London, with performers like George Michael and Whitney Houston

• In Hyde Park, 250,000 people gathered to hear South African Bishop Desmond Tutu call for Mandela’s release

• World figures like Bertrand Russel and Simone de Beauvoir joined the cause

• The Netherlands issued a ‘Mandela coin’ in opposition to the Krugerrands coin in South Africa

• Bill Cosby led the ‘Unlock Apartheid’s Jails’ campaign in the US

Nelson Mandela was released from prison on 11 February 1990, and became Deputy President of the ANC, and from July 1991, succeeded Oliver Tambo as ANC President

What was his role in negotiating with the South African government

• Mandela would lead the ANC in negotiations with the apartheid government of F W De Klerk, transitioning into democracy and the end of apartheid

• Mandela is credited as being a key factor in the prevention of a South African civil war

Inside prison, Mandela fought for other leaders to accept his vision of the ANC, as there was concerns that activists would lose faith in the anti-apartheid struggle with their long prison sentences

How did Mandela prevent this from happening?

• To support this, leadership structure was set up to support ANC members, called the ‘High Organ’, comprised of Mandela, Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mbeki, with Mandela as the spokesperson

• Members of the High Organ spread their ideas throughout various prisons on Robben Island, during hard labour or even spread through toilet paper

  • Attempted to use code in letters to family and ANC members

• The High Organ did not attempt to influence external ANC policy, as it could not know the situation of the country, instead focused on day-to-day issues of prison life

  • Mandela insisted prisoners should not stand in the presence of a senior officer, as they were not recognised as political prisoners

  • Mandela also felt that prisoners should be addressed as “Mr”

    • Within a few years, conditions gradually improved, as prisoners were allowed their own uniforms, talk uninterrupted and pool their food

      • The worst warders had been neutralised, and more reasonable ones befriended

For many years on Robben Island, there was a leadership battle within the ANC between

• African Nationalists were led by Mandela

  • ANC should embrace all colours, ideologies and classes, aiming to unite in the fight against apartheid and racial discrimination

  • Believed there should be a negotiated settlement between the government and liberation groups

• African Communists were led by Mbeki

  • ANC should take power through military means and industry should be nationalised

  • Guilty abusers of apartheid should face trials, similar to Nuremberg

  • South African Communist Party should head any government

Mbeki was afraid Mandela might sell out to apartheid government, and accept a compromise that resulted in his freedom, smuggling out messages with these fears

What was the reality of Mandela’s actions

• Mandela replied in a similar manner, always working in best interests of the organisation

• Mbeki’s suspicions were proved unfounded

Following the Rivonia Trial of December 1963-June 1964, the South African government was successful in crushing black resistance, as main ANC and PAC figures were imprisoned or in exile, and frequently used violent methods to quash protests

What did black resistance turn to instead?

• Black resistance turned to industrial power, and the Black Consciousness Movement

  • In 1973, tens of thousands were involved in over 160 strikes

    • Strikes were effective, short mass walkouts, that avoided electing leaders who could be targeted

    • Political campaigning was avoided, and focus placed on wages and conditions

Who was Steve Biko

Steve Biko was born 18 December 1946 in Tarkastad in Eastern Province (Cape)

• His family was typically poor, his father a policeman that died in 1950 and mother a cook at Grey’s Hospital

  • His mother ensured he received a good education in missionary schools

  • In 1965, he entered the non-European section of the medical department at Natal University, which was predominantly all white

    • It was in this university setting that Biko was to become politically active

      • 14 October 1968 Biko set out invitations to black student groups to attend the South African Students Organisation (SASO) at Marianhill

      • Until then, all students were apart of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), which officially opposed apartheid, but white members accepted apartheid rules

    • In July 1970, the first General Students Council of SASO was held, with Barney Pityana as president, and Biko as Chair of SASO Publications

      • Using the pseudonym Frank Talk, he wrote articles on issues relating to apartheid

        • His article Black Souls in White Skins began his thinking on Black Consciousness

In the early 1970s, SASO leaders began to realise that student organisations were limited in effectiveness, and a broader formation was created, the Black People’s Convention

Biko was concerned that decisions were being made without talking to the African Community so…

• The BPC launched its first national conference in 1972, aiming to unite all South African Blacks into a political movement that would pursue their liberation

  • Biko was employed as the BPC’s full-time youth coordinator

Steve’s ideas of ‘Black Consciousness’ appealed to the youth, and was influenced by ANC activist Anton Lembede and the Black Power movement in the US

What did he argue for?

• Biko opposed the violent policies practised by the ANC and PAC in the early 1960s

• At first, the apartheid government approved of ‘Black Consciousness’, believing it complemented the racial separation ideas fundamental to the policy of apartheid

  • This approval vanished when Biko was not limiting this idea to the homelands

Donald Woods was a white South African journalist who initially supported apartheid, but later became critical of it and joined the Federal Party

• He was prosecuted for writing critical pieces of the government, and initially was critical of Biko for assisting apartheid in pursuit of separate development

What changed his mind?

• After the two met and became friends, Woods changed his opinion, and allowed Biko to write a column under a pseudonym

• After Biko’s death, he escaped South Africa with his family, after being placed under house arrest, where he continued campaigning against apartheid in London

What is the Black Consciousness movement

• Blacks must take matters into their own hands and have their own representative organisations

• Most importantly, it was necessary for blacks to remake themselves psychologically

  • Biko believed blacks had developed an inferiority complex and lost confidence in their own abilities, and black consciousness would allow people to believe they can and should assert what it justly theirs

  • Although many white people are well meaning, blacks must not rely on them

  • To end dependence on whites, Biko and the BCM established Black Community Programs (BCP) to allow blacks to help blacks

    • The Zanempilo Community Health Clinic run by Dr Mamphela Ramphele was a significant BCP

When and what happened after Steve Biko was banned and arrested

1973	Steve Biko was banned and arrested for encouraging terrorism by organizing the pro-Frelimo rallies Frelimo was the black resistance organisation in Mozambique, fighting against Portuguese control
1975	Government banned SASO on black campuses Biko was arrested and detained for 137 days without charge
August 1977	Biko was arrested again and held in a Port Elizabeth naked for eighteen days A five man interrogation team beat him into a coma and was driven to Pretoria, 1000kms away, unconscious and covered in a blanket
12 September 1977	Biko died from a brain haemorrhage and police said that he hit his head against a wall, avoiding murder charges
1997	Five former officers confessed to killing Biko

International outrage at Biko’s death led to the South African government receiving censure from the UN and US Congress, and the South African Justice Minister expressed his disgust

What was the government’s response

• The government did not stop resistance, and in October 1977, eighteen black organisations were declared illegal and seventy African leaders were arrested

Why was Black Consciousness significant

• Black consciousness was an inward-looking movement, allowing black people to define themselves, rather than through the values of white society

During Biko’s trial in 1975-1976, Biko spoke to the court in a similar manner as Nelson Mandela, arguing that…

• He argued that black men were subjected to two forces in South Africa, the external and internal world

  • While externally, the black man had little control, such as apartheid, wages, conditions and poor education, internally they could enact change

    • Blacks in South Africa developed a sense of alienation and rejecting themselves due to white values