Civil Resistance in South Africa: Nature of the Apartheid State and the Black Consciousness Movement

Nature of the Apartheid State in the $1970s$ and $1980s$

• Apartheid became increasingly oppressive during the $1970s$ and $1980s$ as the state utilized security and military forces to stamp out resistance.

• The privilege of the white minority allowed them to reap benefits such as better schooling, higher-paid jobs, and an affluent lifestyle.

• Conversely, African, Coloured, and Indian South Africans faced systemic discrimination, deprivation, and humiliation.

• Repressive measures included forced removals, the pass system, social, economic, and political segregation, and widespread human rights violations.

• Entering its third decade of rule in the $1970s$, the National Party (NP) was confident it had crushed resistance and aimed to continue with its policy of 'separate development.'

• The state was determined to grant independence to ethnic 'homelands' (Bantustans) as a means to retain and strengthen white minority rule.

Pressures on the Apartheid Government during the $1970s$

• Economic Factors: A sharp rise in oil prices in the early $1970s$ had a significant negative impact on the South African economy.

• The economy, which had been very strong in the $1960s$, slowed down in the $1970s$ and entered a recession in the $1980s$.

• Trade Unionism: The growth of trade unionism and illegal strikes became a major concern for industrialists and businessmen, who pressured the government to review labor policies.

• Influx Control: The system began to collapse as millions of workers migrated from homelands to cities for employment and better living conditions, making it impossible for police to enforce pass laws.

• Geopolitical Shifts: South Africa’s protective barrier of white-ruled buffer states was broken when Mozambique and Angola gained independence in $1975$. This made infiltration by guerrilla soldiers possible.

Terminology and Concepts of Opposition

• Non-racialism: A mindset which states that a society will not discriminate on the grounds of race.

• Race: A social concept which attempts to divide society based on shared physical characteristics, including skin color.

• Nation: A group of people united by common history, culture, or language living in a particular country.

• Class: A system of ordering society based on economic status and ownership of the means of production (middle class) versus those providing labor (working class).

• Inferiority: A feeling of being lower in status than others.

• Exile: The state of being barred from one's own country due to political activities.

• Activists: Individuals who actively campaign for political change.

• Conscientize: To make people aware.

• Ideology: A system of ideas and ideals forming the basis of economic or political policy.

• Martyr: Someone who dies for what they believe in.

• Oppressor: A person of authority who dominates and subjugates others.

• Silent Sixties: A term used for the decade of the $1960s$ due to the absence of overt resistance after the state crushed opposition and imprisoned leaders.

Key Internal Opposition Movements

• Black Consciousness Movement (BCM): Focused on the issue of race. It challenged the Apartheid state’s identity structure that labeled black people as inferior. It was a dominant force in the $1970s$.

• United Democratic Front (UDF): Focused on the nation. Aimed to include as many people as possible to create a non-racial South African nation. It became the most popular internal movement in the $1980s$.

• Labour Movement: Focused on class. It organized the growing black industrial working class in the $1970s$ and $1980s$ regarding economic exploitation. This gained massive strength in the $1980s$ with the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

The Policy of 'Total Strategy'

• In response to internal unrest and external pressure from the UN and Commonwealth, Prime Minister PW Botha developed the 'Total Strategy' policy.

• Purpose: To protect white rule by convincing the public that South Africa faced a 'total onslaught' by communist forces and the Soviet Union.

• International Context: US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, both anti-communist, resisted UN and Commonwealth pressures to impose sanctions.

• Military Expansion: Military conscription for all white men over the age of $18$ was increased to $2$ years to bolster the South African Defence Force (SADF).

• Regional Warfare: The SADF engaged in war against the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in present-day Namibia.

• Destabilization: The government launched cross-border raids and supported groups resisting the governments of neighboring countries.

• Reforms: Attempted to win over the black middle class by removing 'petty Apartheid' laws and introducing a tri-cameral parliament (Indian and Coloured power, but African exclusion).

Opposition Underground, in Exile, and in Prison

• Banned Organizations: The ANC and PAC were banned after the $1960$ Sharpeville Massacre, leading them to abandon non-violence.

• Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK): Translated as 'Spear of the Nation,' this was the ANC’s underground armed wing. Its founding manifesto stated that the government had interpreted peacefulness as weakness and an invitation to use force without fear of reprisal.

• Poqo: Translated as 'Standing Alone,' the armed wing of the PAC.

• State Crackdown: By $1964$, MK leadership was found guilty of treason and sent to Robben Island; $3000$ Poqo members were arrested.

• The High Organ: A political structure established by ANC prisoners on Robben Island (Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, and a fifth rotational member) to manage discipline and communication.

• The 'University of Robben Island': Prisoners organized their own education, with educated inmates teaching others English and various courses.

• Mission in Exile: OR Tambo established a 'Mission in Exile' shortly after the Sharpeville Massacre. He gained access to the UN and secured funding from Eastern bloc and Scandinavian countries.

• Exile Structures: The National Executive Committee (NEC) in Lusaka, Zambia, controlled all operations. MK training camps were located in Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, and the Soviet Union.

The Philosophy of Black Consciousness (BC)

• Definition: 'A philosophy based on the belief that liberation for blacks would only be attained if they removed the shackles of inferiority and fear.'

• Core Tenet: Blacks should conduct their own political campaigns and help each other rather than waiting for whites to shape their destinies.

• Psychological Liberation: The first stage of freedom is freeing the mind from the 'inferiority complex' created by Bantu Education and oppressive laws. Biko believed the real leap consisted of 'introducing invention into existence.'

• Redefining 'Black': The BCM defined 'black' not by skin color, but as all people discriminated against by the Apartheid government, including Africans, Coloureds, and Indians.

• Exclusion of Whites: White liberals were excluded from the movement to encourage black self-reliance and self-determination and to break the 'culture of apathy.'

• Motto: 'Black man, you are on your own' (coined by Barney Pityana).

• Steve Biko Quote: 'It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.'

Student Resistance: SASO and SASM

• South African Students’ Organisation (SASO): Formed in Mariannhill in December $1968$ after Steve Biko broke away from the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) because it was dominated by white liberals who could not appreciate the conditions in black townships.

• Inaugural Conference ($1968$): Held at Turfloop; its task was to 'conscientize black communities and to instill in them self-confidence and self-pride.'

• Covert Activities: SASO used Student Representative Councils (SRCs) to access funds and equipment like Photostatting machines, using sports meetings as a cover for political organizing.

• South African Students Movement (SASM): High school youth wing of the movement. By $1973$, it had branches in $9$ schools. Its leadership, including national secretary Mathe Diseko, was later banned.

Black Consciousness in Action

• Black Community Programmes (BCP): Projects helping blacks without white assistance.

• Zanempilo Community Health Clinic: Established near King Williams Town; administered and run exclusively by black staff, notably Dr. Ramphele.

• Black Allied Workers Union: Formed in $1973$ to tap into the emerging trade union movement.

• Ginsberg Educational Trust: Formed to assist black students.

• Zimele (Stand on Your Feet) Trust Fund: Community-based project to empower self-reliance.

• Black Peoples’ Convention (BPC): Founded in $1972$ as a broader-based political organization involving students, unions, churches, and community groups.

The $1976$ Soweto Uprising

• Economic Hardships: Poverty datum line for Soweto was $R129.05$, but the average family earned only $R75$. Population in Soweto doubled between $1971$ and $1975$.

• Educational Grievances: The government spent $15$ times more on white education than black education. Classes were overcrowded ($60$-$100$ learners).

• The Afrikaans Medium Decree ($1975$): Minister of Bantu Education, MC Botha, forced black learners to learn Mathematics, Geography, Physical Science, and Biology in Afrikaans.

• Action Committee: The Soweto Students Representative Council (SSRC) and SASM organized a mass demonstration for $16$ June $1976$.

• Influence of BC: While BC was not the formal organizer, many SASO students who were expelled from universities in $1973$ had become teachers in Soweto and inspired students with BC ideas of assertiveness.

The Arrest and Death of Steve Biko

• Arrest: Biko and Peter Cyril Jones were arrested at a roadblock outside King William’s Town on $18$ August $1977$, in violation of Biko's banning order.

• Detention: Held under Section $6$ of the Terrorism Act. They were tortured at the Security Division headquarters in the Sanlam Building, Port Elizabeth.

• Result of Torture: Biko sustained a massive brain hemorrhage. He was transported naked, without medical escort, in a police Land Rover for a $12$-hour journey to Pretoria.

• Death: Biko died on the floor of a cell in Pretoria Central Prison on $12$ September $1977$, at age $30$.

• Government Response: Minister of Justice and Police, Jimmy Kruger, stated, 'it leaves me cold.'

• Police Cover-up: Official statements claimed a hunger strike caused his death; however, injuries to the head contradicted this. Friend Donald Woods and wife Nontsikelelo (Nonsikelelo) secretly took photos to expose the injuries.

• Statistics: Biko was the $40th$ person to die in police custody under detention-without-trial laws. Approximately $60$ more would die before $1990$.

• TRC Report ($2003$): Amnesty was refused to security policemen because Biko’s killing was an 'act of will' with no clear political motivation.

Suppression and Historical Significance of BC

• Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO): Formed in $1978$; its leaders, Ishmael Mkhabela and Lybon Mabasa, were quickly banned under the Terrorism Act.

• Displacement: By the end of the $1970s$, much of the BCM leadership was imprisoned or in exile (around $5000$ revolutionaries joined the ANC or PAC in exile).

• Legacy: The BCM reawakened resistance when the National Party was most powerful. It motivated blacks to demand political freedom and shaped the defiance seen on $16$ June $1976$.

• Current Legacy: The Steve Biko Foundation ($1998$) promotes values like respect for human dignity, self-determination, affirmation of diversity, and integrity.