Nyanda, Siphiwe
(1950–). Politician, political activist and military commander. Joined MK, the armed wing of the ANC, in 1974. Appointed MK chief of staff in 1992. Served on the Transitional Executive Council which oversaw the end of white minority rule. When MK was incorporated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in 1994, Nyanda rose through the ranks to Chief of the SANDF in 1998. He remained in this position until 2005. Minister of communications under President Jacob Zuma, 2009–10.
Nzo, Alfred Baphetuxolo
(1925–2000). Leading member of the ANCYL and ANC. Participant in the 1952 Defiance Campaign, and the Congress of the People. In 1962, Nzo was placed under twenty-four-hour house arrest, and in 1963 he was detained for 238 days. After his release the ANC ordered him to leave the country. He represented the ANC in various countries including Egypt, India, Zambia and Tanzania. He succeeded Duma Nokwe as secretary general in 1969, and held this post until the first legal ANC conference in South Africa in 1991. He was part of the ANC delegation that participated in talks with the De Klerk government after 1990. Appointed minister of foreign affairs in the newly democratic South Africa, 1994. Received a number of awards including the Order of Luthuli in Gold, 2003.
OR
(See Tambo, Oliver.)
Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
Formed on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with thirty-two signatory governments and eventually including all of Africa’s fifty-three states excluding Morocco, which withdrew in 1984. It aimed to eradicate all forms of colonialism and white minority rule on the African continent. It also aimed to coordinate and intensify the cooperation of African states to achieve a better life for the people of Africa and to defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of African states. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union.
Pahad, Aziz Goolam
(1940–). Politician and anti-apartheid activist. Went into exile in 1964 and became a full-time campaigner for the banned ANC from 1966. Instrumental in developing the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the United Kingdom and in Europe. Elected onto the National Executive Committee of the ANC in 1985. Returned to South Africa after the ANC was legalised in 1990 and participated in the negotiations to end white minority rule. Served as deputy minister of foreign affairs under President Mandela and his successor, Thabo Mbeki. Resigned from cabinet in September 2008.
Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)
Breakaway organisation of the ANC founded in 1959 by Robert Sobukwe, who championed the philosophy of ‘Africa for Africans’. The PAC’s campaigns included a nationwide protest against pass laws, ten days before the ANC was to start its own campaign. It culminated in the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March 1960, in which police shot dead sixty-nine unarmed protesters. Banned, along with the ANC, in April 1960. Unbanned on 2 February 1990.
Plaatje, Solomon Tshekisho (Sol)
(1876–1932). Author, journalist, linguist, newspaper editor and political publicist, and human rights activist. Member of the African People’s Organisation. First secretary general of the SANNC (renamed as the ANC in 1923), 1912. First black South African to write a novel in English (Mhudi, published 1913). Established the first Setswana/English weekly, Koranta ea Becoana (Newspaper of the Tswana), 1901, and Tsala ea Becoana (The Friend of the People), 1910. Member of the SANNC deputation that appealed to the British government against the Land Act of 1913, which severely restricted the rights of Africans to own or occupy land.
Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison
Prison in the suburb of Tokai, Cape Town. Mandela was moved there from Robben Island along with Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni and, later, Ahmed Kathrada in 1982.
Qunu
Rural village in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province where Mandela lived after his family moved from his birthplace of Mvezo.
Ramaphosa, Matamela Cyril
(1952–). Politician, businessman and trade unionist. First secretary of the powerful National Union of Mineworkers, 1982. Instrumental in the establishment of Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Chairman of the National Reception Committee which coordinated Mandela’s release from prison. Elected ANC general secretary, 1991. Played a pivotal role in the negotiations to end white minority rule for which he earned the praise of Mandela. Left government for the business world when in 1994 he lost out as deputy president under President Mandela to Thabo Mbeki. Elected deputy president of the ANC in December 2012 and has served as deputy president of South Africa under President Zuma from 2014.
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)
Implemented by Mandela’s ANC government, the RDP was designed to address the huge socio-economic disparities created by apartheid. It focused on alleviating poverty and addressing massive shortfalls in social services. It was subordinated to the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macroeconomic strategy from 1996.
Rivonia Trial
Trial between 1963 and 1964 in which ten leading members of the Congress Alliance were charged with sabotage and faced the death penalty. Named after the suburb of Rivonia, Johannesburg, where six members of the MK High Command were arrested at their hideout, Liliesleaf Farm, on 11 July 1963. Incriminating documents, including a proposal for a guerrilla insurgency named Operation Mayibuye, were seized. Mandela, who was already serving a sentence for incitement and leaving South Africa illegally, was implicated, and his notes on guerrilla warfare and his diary from his trip through Africa in 1962 were also seized. Rather than being cross-examined as a witness, Mandela made a statement from the dock on 20 April 1964. This became his famous ‘I am prepared to die’ speech. On 11 June 1964 eight of the accused were convicted by Justice Qartus de Wet at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria, and the next day were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Robben Island
Island situated in Table Bay, 7 kilometres off the coast of Cape Town, measuring approximately 3.3 kilometres long and 1.9 kilometres wide. Has predominantly been used as a place of banishment and imprisonment, particularly for political prisoners, since Dutch settlement in the seventeenth century. Three men who later became South African presidents have been imprisoned there: Nelson Mandela (1964–82), Kgalema Motlanthe (1977–87) and Jacob Zuma (1963–73). Now a World Heritage Site and museum.
Sekhukhune
(1814–82). King of the Marota people (commonly called Bapedi). Illegitimate ruler who came to power using military force. As a result, his half-brother, and the legitimate heir, Mampuru, was forced to flee from the kingdom. He built his power by entering into diplomatic marriages with various royal dynasties, by incorporating other societies into his empire and by military conquest. This increased his support base and gave him legitimacy.
Seme, Pixley ka Isaka
(1881–1951). Political activist. Received his English name from American missionary Reverend S. C. Pixley who sent him to high school in the USA. Returned to South Africa after studying at both Columbia University and Oxford University. Co-founded the ANC, 8 January 1912 (through the South African Native National Congress) and was its president, 1930–37.
Sharpeville Massacre
Confrontation in the township of Sharpeville, Gauteng Province. On 21 March 1960, sixty-nine unarmed anti-pass protesters were shot dead by police and over 180 were injured. The PAC-organised demonstration attracted between 5,000 and 7,000 protesters. This day is now commemorated annually in South Africa as a public holiday: Human Rights Day.
Sisulu (née Thethiwe), Nontsikelelo (Ntsiki) Albertina
(1918–2011). Nurse, midwife, anti-apartheid and women’s rights activist, and MP. Leading ANC member. Married Walter Sisulu, whom she met through her nursing friend, Evelyn Mase (Mandela’s first wife), 1944. Member of the ANCWL and Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW). Played a leading role in the 1956 women’s anti-pass protest. The first woman to be arrested under the General Laws Amendm
ent Act, 1963, during which time she was held in solitary confinement for ninety days. Continually subjected to banning orders and police harassment from 1963. She was elected as one of the three presidents of the UDF at its formation in August 1983. In 1985 she was charged with fifteen other UDF and trade union leaders for treason in what became known as the Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial. MP from 1994 until she retired in 1999. President of the World Peace Council, 1993–96. Recipient of the South African Women for Women Woman of Distinction Award 2003, in recognition of her courageous lifelong struggle for human rights and dignity.
Sisulu, Walter Ulyate Max (clan names, Xhamela and Tyhopho)
(1912–2003). Anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. Husband of Albertina Sisulu. Met Mandela in 1941 and introduced him to Lazar Sidelsky who employed him as an articled clerk. Leader of the ANC, and generally considered to be the ‘father of the struggle’. Co-founder of the ANCYL in 1944. Arrested and charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for playing a leading role in the 1952 Defiance Campaign. Arrested and later acquitted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Continually served with banning orders and placed under house arrest following the banning of the ANC and PAC. Helped established MK, and served on its High Command. Went underground in 1963 and hid at Liliesleaf Farm, in Rivonia, where he was arrested on 11 July 1963. Found guilty of sabotage at the Rivonia Trial, and sentenced to life imprisonment on 12 June 1964. He served his sentence on Robben Island and at Pollsmoor Prison. Released on 15 October 1989. One of the ANC team negotiating with the apartheid government to end white rule. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1992.
Slovo, Joe
(1926–95). Anti-apartheid activist. Married Ruth First, 1949. Leading member of the ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). Commander of MK. Joined the CPSA in 1942 and studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand where he met Mandela and was active in student politics. He helped establish the Congress of Democrats (COD), and was accused in the 1956 Treason Trial. Detained for six months during the 1960 State of Emergency. He assisted in setting up MK. Went into exile from 1963 to 1990 and lived in the UK, Angola, Mozambique and Zambia. General secretary of the SACP, 1986. Chief of staff of MK. Participated in the multiparty negotiations to end white rule. Minister of housing in Mandela’s government from 1994. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1994.
Sobukwe, Robert Mangaliso
(1924–78). Lawyer, anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. Member of the ANCYL and the ANC until he formed the PAC based on the vision of ‘Africa for Africans’. Editor of The Africanist newspaper. Arrested and detained following the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960. Convicted of incitement and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Before he was released, the General Law Amendment Act No. 37 of 1963 was passed, which allowed for people already convicted of political offences to have their imprisonment renewed – this later became known as the ‘Sobukwe Clause’ – which resulted in him spending another six years on Robben Island. He was released in 1969 and joined his family in Kimberley, where he remained under twelve-hour house arrest and was restricted from participating in any political activity as a result of a banning order that had been imposed on the PAC. While in prison he studied law, and he established his own law firm in 1975.
South African Communist Party (SACP)
Established in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), to oppose imperialism and racist domination. Changed its name to the South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1953 following its banning in 1950. The SACP was only legalised in 1990. The SACP forms the Tripartite Alliance with the ANC and COSATU.
Southern African Development Community (SADC)
An intergovernmental organisation of fifteen Southern African states, established on 17 August 1992, which aims to further socio-economic cooperation and integration of its members. It was a successor to the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), which was established on 1 April 1980 when nine majority-ruled southern African countries signed the Lusaka Declaration ‘Towards Economic Liberation’.
State of Emergency, 1960
Declared on 30 March 1960 as a response to the Sharpeville Massacre. Characterised by mass arrests and the imprisonment of most African leaders. On 8 April 1960 the ANC and PAC were banned under the Unlawful Organisations Act.
Stengel, Richard
Editor and author. Collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom (published 1994). Co-producer of the documentary Mandela, 1996. Editor of TIME magazine.
Suppression of Communism Act, No. 44, 1950
Act passed 26 June 1950, in which the state banned the SACP and any activities it deemed communist, defining ‘communism’ in such broad terms that anyone protesting against apartheid would be in breach of the act.
Tambo, Oliver Reginald (OR)
(1917–93). Lawyer, politician and anti-apartheid activist. Leading member of the ANC and founder member of the ANCYL. Co-founder, with Mandela, of South Africa’s first African legal practice. Became secretary general of the ANC after Walter Sisulu was banned, and deputy president of the ANC, 1958. Served with a five-year banning order, 1959. Left South Africa during the 1960s to manage the external activities of the ANC and to mobilise opposition against apartheid. Established military training camps outside South Africa. Initiated the Free Mandela Campaign in the 1980s. Lived in exile in London, UK, until 1990. Acting president of the ANC, 1967, after the death of Chief Albert Luthuli. Was elected president in 1969 at the Morogoro Conference, a post he held until 1991 when he became the ANC’s national chairperson. Awarded the ANC’s highest honour, Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, in 1992.
Terre’Blanche, Eugene
(1941–2010). White supremacist, policeman, farmer and unsuccessful politician. Founder and leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging – AWB) which swore to use violence to preserve white minority rule and stormed the World Trade Centre in Johannesburg while the negotiations for white minority rule were under way. Served three years in prison for assaulting a petrol station attendant and for attempting to murder a security guard. He was released in June 2004 and on 3 April 2010 he was murdered.
Transitional Executive Council (TEC)
In 1993, during the negotiations to end white minority rule, the ANC suggested a Transitional Executive Council which would ‘promote the preparation for and transition to a democratic order in South Africa’. The ANC had argued that the white-dominated government of the time could not act both as referee and player in the elections. The TEC was to level the playing field and create a climate for free political activity in the run-up to the elections in April 1994. The TEC was made up of seven sub-councils: law and order – stability and security; defence; intelligence; foreign affairs; status of women; finance; and regional and local government and traditional authorities.
Treason Trial
(1956–61). The Treason Trial was the apartheid government’s attempt to quell the power of the Congress Alliance. In early morning raids on 5 December 1956, 156 individuals were arrested and charged with high treason. By the end of the trial in March 1961 all the accused either had the charges withdrawn or, in the case of the last twenty-eight accused including Mandela, were acquitted.
Trew, Tony
(1941–). Anti-apartheid and ANC activist. Imprisoned, 1964–65. Left South Africa for exile in the United Kingdom. Appointed director of research at the International Defence and Aid Fund, 1980. Returned to South Africa in 1991 to work as a researcher for the ANC. Worked in communications research in President Nelson Mandela’s office, 1994–99.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
Established by Mandela in 1995 as a way for South Africa to heal after decades of brutal abuse in the apartheid era, the TRC investigated human rights abuses at televised hearings which took place between 1960 and 1994. Perpetrators could apply for amnesty from prosecution for such abuses. They we
re obliged to testify about what they did and would receive amnesty should it be decided that their testimony was true and that their actions were committed for political motives.
Tshwete, Steve Vukile
(1938–2002). Anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner, politician and MP. Member of the ANC and MK. Imprisoned on Robben Island, 1964–78, for being a member of a banned organisation. Served on the ANC Executive Committee, 1988, and participated in the talks about talks between the government and the ANC to discuss conditions about beginning formal negotiations at Groote Schuur in 1990. Minister of sport and recreation, 1994–99. Promoted the de-racialisation of South African sport. Minister of safety and security, 1999–2002.
Tutu, Archbishop Desmond
(1931–). Archbishop Emeritus and anti-apartheid and human rights activist. Bishop of Lesotho, 1976–78. First black general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, 1978. Following the 1994 election, he chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate apartheid-era crimes. Recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for seeking a non-violent end to apartheid; the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, 1986; and the Gandhi Peace Prize, 2005.
Umkhonto weSizwe (MK)
Umkhonto weSizwe, meaning ‘spear of the nation’, was founded in 1961 and is commonly known by the abbreviation MK. Nelson Mandela was its first commander-in-chief. It became the military wing of the ANC. On the eve of the 1994 elections MK was disbanded and its soldiers incorporated into the newly formed South African National Defence Force (SANDF) with soldiers from the apartheid South African Defence Force, Bantustan defence forces, IFP’s self-protection units and Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA), the military wing of the PAC.
Dare Not Linger Page 42
