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Summary Oxford in Search of History, ISBN: 9780199055746 History
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Civil Resistance in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s:Before 1970s and 1980s:
• Masters and Servants Acts- one group is more powerful than the other- all years there’s been race and
separation
• 1948: National Party comes to power- Apartheid and separateness- not only separations of whites and
black but also coloureds and Indians- segregation between races
• Segregation is written into the law books and makes it a policy- White South African and other races
didn’t have rights
• First Prime Minister- DF Milan- wanted to formalise Apartheid and make lots of laws- only whites over a
certain age could vote, separation of education, separation of where different races could live
• After Milan comes Verwoed
• Townships- ‘temporary’ housing, half citizens- could live there so that they could provide labour
• Pass laws- where they could and couldn’t be
• White population- privileged- not all whites were in a powerful position.
What forms of civil resistance emerged in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s?
Civil Resistance in the 1960s:
• End of the 1960s- South African National Party Government= strong
↳ Firm political control
↳ Crushed resistance
• SA economy was good- manufacturing sector was growing
• White South Africans= increasingly wealthy and majority supported the NP
• 1960s= ‘Silent Sixties’- absence to resistance to the Apartheid state
• Military Movements moved underground after the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960:
↳ ANC military wing- Umkhonto we Sizwe/ MK (Spear of the Nation)
↳ PAC’s Poqo
• Sharpeville massacre led to the banning of the ANC PAC in the same year.
• Leadership of MK were imprisoned on Robben Island
• Poqo disintergrated after 3000 arrests
• Others left South Africa and went into exile- eg. Lusaka in Zambia became a base of the headquarters for
the ANC in exile.
• 1970s: Acting like a police state- controlling to protect the white people
• Early 1970s- change= new wave of resistance
↳ Economy started to decline→ 1973 World Oil Crisis= Oil producing countries of the Middle East raised the
price of oil
↳ Economy was effected → lack of skilled labour → direct and immediate result of the BANTU Education
system which began in 1953 →most black students were under BANTU Education (3 rs → reading,
writing, arithmetic basic education)
• 1973: Strikes → general dissatisfaction of workers
• 1975: Mozambique and Angola → Independence from Portugal
↳ Frelimo Party (Mozambique Liberation Front) → leadership of Samora Machel came to power in
Mozambique
↳ MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) in Angola → gained control
↳ Allowed the ANC and PAC to establish bases from which to operate closer to South Africa
↳ Liberation of both states → freedom on South Africa’s borders → Provided hope to many black South
Africans → evident in Soweto uprising of 1976 (one year later)
• 1978 onwards → Apartheid state under PW Botha, resorted to more repressive and brutal actions to
assert its control
• SA → more militarised and relied on police and army to crush resistance
• Repressive laws → passed to kill opposition
• Covert/ secret undercover actions took place to eliminate those challenging the government
, • Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo, Thabo Mbeki → ANC in exile gained increasing international support for
sanction against SA
• Both UN and OAU → recognised the ANC as the official representative of the people of SA
3 Important Movements of Resistance:
• Black Consciousness: focused on the issue of race →force to be reckoned with in 1970s → challenged
the Apartheid state’s racial structure which identified blacks as inferior → want to be equal → not Anti-
white but black pride
• United Democratic Front (UDF): Focused on the nation → Non-racial and accepted as many people as
it could to challenge the Apartheid state → developed into the most popular internal opposition
movement in 1980s
• Labour Movement: focused on class
• Trade Union Movement: began organising the growing industrial black working class in the 1970s and
1980s → focused on issues of economic exploitation
Phases of Resistance:
• First phase of resistance → passive resistance → petitions, letters, appealing to government = ANC
• 1940s (War breaks out): Resistance becomes more rigid → Youth League and Women’s League in ANC,
Trade Union Movement →more of a voice
• 1950s: Active resistance → marches, speeches, rallies, sit-ins
• 1960s: Armed resistance → 21 March (Human Rights Day) → Sharpeville Massacre ( PAC March →
appealing to not carry passes) → when parties are banned and the parties now had to decide what to
do → ‘Silent Sixties’
• 1970s: New ideas, leaders and parties → change in resistance, leadership is in exile → start seeing new
voice of change
More Aspects in Civil Resistance:
• Youth pushing back at what was unfair
• Armed resistance
• Education: different segments of the population coming together to fight Apartheid
• Parties being banned
The Challenge of Black Consciousness to the Apartheid State:
What was the importance of the black Consciousness Movement in South Africa in the 1970s:
• Influenced by Black Power in USA- black pride and assertiveness
• Civil society protests in the rest of the world influenced political thinking and civil society in South
Africa
• Banning of ANC and PAC after the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March 1960 had left a power vacuum in
South Africa for black liberation movement
• Was filled with the Black Consciousness Movement→ founder and leader Steve Biko
,Black Consciousness, SASO and Steve Biko:
• Bantu Stephen Biko was born in King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape on the 18th
December 1946. He did his primary schooling in King William’s Town. His secondary
schooling was virtually all done at the Marianhill Secondary School in Kwazulu.
• He entered the Medical School of the University of Natal (Black section) in 1966. He
was elected to the Students Representative Council of that university and had
attended a NUSAS Congress in 1968. Because NUSAS was a predominantly white
student body, Biko, and other black delegates felt ill at ease - the body was
dominated by whites and there did not appear to be enough room to ease black
frustrations.
↳ Biko was part of a different school(church)- he was able to get a better
education and get a scholarship to university
• As a result, he championed an all-black student university movement and this
resulted in the creation of SASO (South African Students’ Organisation) which was
founded in July 1968. Biko was its first president.
↳ Need to believe that they are worth more. Mustn’t think they are inferior.
Push that they are important and should be equal
↳ About speaking out and doing what they can to make a difference
↳ Inspired formation of NAYO and SASM(South African Student’s Movement)
• Black Consciousness promoted the dignity and integrity of black people, and
appealed to many South Africans. The movement preached the politics of self-
determination, captured in the phrase made famous by Barney Pityana: “Black man,
you are on your own”.
↳ Tried to ban but then they would just change the name of the organisation
and continue to evolve
• The image of black people had been presented in an extremely negative manner in
South Africa - so much so that many of the black people closely identified with white
society to make themselves feel acceptable.
• The challenge was to re-develop their history and image to make black people proud
of it.
• It was realised that black liberation would be found through black effort and not
having to rely on the efforts of white liberals, who could not be as committed to the
cause as black people themselves. In 1972, these ideas were carried into politics by
means of the Black People’s Convention (BPC).
↳ Their refusal to accept.
• Influenced by:
↳ Stokely Carmichael
↳ Malcolm X
↳ Black Pride and Solidarity
↳ Black Panthers
↳ Raise assertiveness
↳ Self-reliance
↳ ANC Youth League and Student Movements
↳ Anton Lembede
, • This convention called on Black people to unite because they were being
“oppressed, exploited and discriminated against”. The leaders, Steve Biko, Mapetla
Mohapi and Mthuli ka Shezi urged Black people to accept their identity; to unite in
the struggle and not to fear the whites nor to imitate them. They did not want the
whites to direct or have any part in the liberation struggle. Biko took great joy in
talking to the people about black consciousness and he travelled far and wide
throughout the country putting forward his ideas.
• Through his inspiration, the youth of the country at high school level were mobilised
and this resulted in the formation of the South African Students’ Movement (SASM)
→ played an important role in the 1976 Uprisings.
• Biko was also involved with the formation of the National Association of Youth
Organisations (NAYO), which catered for the youth generally and was instrumental in
the formation of one of SASOs projects, the Black Workers’ Project (BWP) which was
co- sponsored by the Black Community.
• Although extremely influential, Biko was severely restricted by the South African
authorities. He was first banned in 1973 and was viewed with suspicion by the
authorities, because of his ideas generally and because of the involvement of the
ideas of the BCM in the 1976 Soweto uprising. On the 18th August 1977 he was
arrested in a police roadblock with his colleague Peter Cyril Jones and detained
under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. They had been to Cape Town to lend their
weight to efforts to get all political organisations of the people to agree to a broader
programme of co-operation to advance the course of black liberation.
↳ When he was banned and detained in 1973 and 1975 under the Apartheid
legislation- he was not allowed to be with more than one person at a time
↳ August 1977: Biko was detained in his hometown
How did Steve Bike die?
• Biko died in detention in 12 September 1977 after having been tortured by the
Security Police. The Minister of Justice, Jimmy Kruger, in a callous remark, stated
that “his death leaves me cold”. Although he tried to explain this remark away over
the years, it became a tribute to the lack of feeling of the apartheid system which
stripped people of their dignity.
• Biko’s death was received with shock and horror in many areas of the African
community. In October 1977, Kruger banned all organisations connected with Black
Consciousness, such as SASO and the Black Peoples Convention.
↳ His death leads to people’s minds in international countries changing their
ideas of SA
↳ Apartheid government’s oppressive actions- violence- Tortured Biko to death
in prison
↳ Fought for equality and black Pride
↳ White government is covering up their tortures by saying that he died from
being on a hunger strike
• There were similarities between Steve Biko and Malcolm X in the United States. They
both believed in the dignity of black people, put forward their ideas amidst
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