The ANC rather enjoys bringing up its long history, a little like a department store chain. “Since 1912”, the sign at Luthuli House might read. As at least one ANC member has been reported to point out that the ANC existed before a democratic South Africa, as if to justify the party’s selfish priorities by pulling seniority by age. To be fair, perhaps it is a very good idea to consider that lengthy past – and what it implies.
I’ll cover a bit of history for context – if you are in a hurry, skip to the part marked “So why raise this very sensitive subject?” for just the conclusion.
In the early years as the SANNC (1912 to around 1923), the party operated legally in South Africa to campaign against unfair and discriminatory laws being passed by the government at the time. The current flavour of the party (the ANC name) came about in 1923. 1929 apparently saw the ANC support a notable militant worker’s strike, but the ANC lost momentum and became largely unimportant for a time in the 1930s.
Funny note: the ANC only allowed women in as members from 1943. Part of that proud history and worth bearing in mind, that the first third or so of the party’s existence was a study in irony, with internal gender bias in a party formed to protest against racial bias.
To be fair, the ANC Youth League was formed in 1944, suggesting at least an awareness of the importance of the youth. That notable event came at the start of a renewed campaign of non-violent protest against a growing injustice along racial lines, and the raising of international awareness at the United Nations in 1946. Good years for the ANC, despite limited success in preventing the rise of Apartheid.
The year 1948 saw the rise of the National Party and the formal codification of the policy of Apartheid. It is no coincidence that 1949 saw a jump in the membership of the ANC, as the NP’s policies started to offend and outrage the non-white population. The ANC and other parties representing the oppressed black population looked to the Indian political parties in South Africa, as well as the efforts of Ghandi in India, for guidance in their fight against Apartheid. Rather amusing, is it not, that Malema, a product of the ANC, is actively being racist towards the Indian people who worked alongside and shaped the ANC during the Struggle?
Not only did the ANC as a whole take their cues from pre-existing Indian efforts, locally against Apartheid and against the British rule in India, the iconic leader Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying the ANC needed a leader who was “willing to violate the law and if necessary go to prison for their beliefs as Gandhi had”. Mandela would, after his eventual release from prison, step forward to become the fervent leader of the ANC as Ghandi had been in the fight for the freedom of his nation.
The ANC and its partners instigated a Defiance Campaign in 1952, which ended the net year due to increased legal pressure from the NP government. The escalating situation saw the Congress of the People (jointly organised by white, Indian, coloured and black activists, including the ANC) adopt the iconic Freedom Charter. The remainder of the 1950s saw international campaigning for sanctions against the NP government; the protracted and ultimately unsuccessful trial of 156 leaders from anti-Apartheid organisations for treason; and the first major splinter faction separating from the ANC
The ANC, in its maturation and cooperation with activists of all colours and ideologies, had drifted away from the nebulous concept of “African nationalism”, which caused a splinter faction to object, break away and form the Pan Africanist Congress. It’s interesting to note that the PAC’s stated ideology implicitly considers a patriotic white South African (patriotic to a democratic SA, that is) to be an African, rather logically.
A turning point came about when outraged protests against the harsh pass laws culminated in the infamous and horrific Sharpeville massacre in 1960. The violent death of 69 unarmed protestors, and the injuring of 180 more, sparked a fundamental shift in the nature of resistance against Apartheid. Violence, the ANC leadership decided, would suit their cause better than the committed pacifism the Ghandi had employed against the British, which had served as their previous guiding ideal.
1961 saw the founding Umkhonto we Sizwe (known as the MK), a military arm of the ANC, under the leadership of Nelson Mandela and tasked with bombing and sabotage. In their early years (the 1960s), the MK targeted and sabotaged government facilities, primarily. Mandela himself was arrested in 1962, and started his famous Robben Island prison term after being convicted of sabotage in 1964, alongside several other ANC leaders. Other notable events of 1961 include the shift of South Africa to being an independent Republic, and the establishment of the PAC’s own armed wing.
While the PAC has had a minimal impact on post-1994 South Africa, the actions of their military arm, Poqo, in the 1960s may well have escalated the conflict and caused many deaths: Poqo was very active in 1962, launching attacks on anyone they could reach who they viewed as working with Apartheid, including black chiefs, headmen, supposed “informers”, and any white person. With Poqo’s successful kills climbing somewhere into the double digits in 1962 alone, the Apartheid government harshly cracked down on all political activity, and passed extensive and extreme legislation including the legalisation of arrest and detainment without a lawyer for up to 90 days for any person suspected of prohibited political activities.
The first half of the 1960s saw the start of many terrible things. The first big public bombing of the Struggle claimed one life and injured 23 at a train station. Several people are hanged for bombing and sabotage. People are detained and die mysteriously to “suicide”. Conflict was flaring up and growing.
1966 saw the assassination of Hendrik Verwoerd, the prime minister at that time, by a black messenger in the House of Assembly. One might wonder whether seeing one of their number assassinated among them spurred the politicians present to pass ever harsher laws – such as the Terrorism Act, which the NP spun as a tool for use against foreign terrorism, but was generally used to detain South Africans indefinitely in solitary confinement with no visitation. That Act illustrates the inhumane extremes to which NP government went in an effort to quash the growing unrest and terrorism.
It seems inevitable, looking back, that events built up to what is often known as the Border War. With multiple credible threats looming, from terrorism to unrest to foreign meddling to Verwoerd’s assassination, the NP politicians tightened their hold over the nation and continually worked to expand the powers of the state. Compulsory military service extensions, attempted invasions from neighbouring countries by armed militant groups, increased civil unrest, and continued terrorism fanned the flames and day by day pushed the country closer to the dangers of a true civil war.
The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970 was one of the harshest blows to the rights of black South Africans, by effectively stripping them of their citizenships. 1971 saw the death of Ahmed Timol, whose death while in custody is currently the subject of a renewed inquest. Strikes, protests and political activism grew; the infamous Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) formed as the flipside of the coin to the MK and similar organisations. Embargoes and sanctions start to seriously threaten the South African economy.
Sadly, 1976 marked a change for the worse. The Soweto uprising (and associated protests) lead to a total of 575 deaths across the nation as police fired on protesters. 2000 people were injured, arrests and deaths in detention shot up, and allegations of torture painted a horrific picture. Anti-Apartheid groups recommitted to more zealous measures – they were radicalised.
The rest of the 1970s were not an improvement: an MK street shooting killed two whites, the ANC killed a former member, Steve Biko and others died in detention, conscription was extended, a white politician and his wife were apparently assassinated, and about one thousand people died as a result of the South African Defence Force on South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) camps in what is now known as Namibia.
Prime Minister BJ Vorster was forced to resign in 1978, when it was revealed that he is funneling significant funds to an international propaganda campaign. It is disturbing to realise that, for all the inhumane laws of Apartheid South Africa, such a scandal was sufficient to unseat a Prime Minister, but that equally or more damning evidence in our supposedly modern, progressive, Constitutional South Africa is not enough to even silence Zuma’s arrogant chuckle.
Aside from general rising tensions and continued hostilities, two notable events in the ANC’s history occurred: the genesis of the infamous Vlakplaas Security Branch unit, and the severing of ties between the ANC and Inkatha, the latter under the leadership of Chief Buthelezi. For all the horror stories of what the Vlakplaas unit did, the latter might have been the more catastrophic event for the ANC.
The roll of the dead unravels quickly after that. If you find your eyes skipping past the depressingly long list, that’s fine, but keep it in mind and make sure to read the section later on under “So why raise this very sensitive subject?”.
2 bank employees, and the 3 MK operatives that took them hostage.
40 protesters in widespread protest springing from school boycotts.
1 expelled ANC official killed by ANC.
3 SADF members and 17 from anti-Apartheid militants.
1 COSAS activist dies in security police custody.
1 ANC representative assassinated.
Many SADF members and MK operatives sides die in raids across the border in both directions.
1 lawyer is assassinated by security police.
1 trade unionist dies in detention.
5 COSAS and ANC activists killed by security police.
1 police officer killed by ANC in Mamelodi.
SADF kill 42 people, including 12 Lesotho nationals and an ANC representative in an attempt to kill Chris Hani.
An MK attack on Koeberg nuclear power plant causes extensive damage, but thankfully did not result in a catastrophic meltdown or radioactive leakage.
3 COSAS activists killed after being taken for “military training” by fake MK operatives.
The infamous Church Street car bomb kills 21, including 2 MK operatives, injures 200.
6 people killed in a security forces raid.
15 people killed in violence around a boycott of Ciskei-owned buses.
Inkatha “warriors” attack students at the University of Zululand: 5 students killed, many injured.
MK mutineers are crushed: 7 mutineers executed, others imprisoned.
1 ANC official and her daughter are killed by a security police parcel bomb.
More than 9 people are killed in Sharpeville during spreading protest sparked by a rent increase.
Mandela and fellow political prisoners are offered release in 1985 if they renounce violence. Most refuse, including Mandela.
Conflict between two anti-Apartheid movements, the United Democratic Front and the black consciousness organisation AZAPO, results in many deaths over the course of a year or so.
Widespread attacks on police and community councillors result in deaths, including executions of those convicted for the killings.
18 killed, 20 injured in clashes with police in the Western Cape over a forced move.
21 people killed by police fire at a funeral at Langa near Uitenhage.
1 black councillor and 4 young relatives killed by a violent crowd – the first well known ‘necklacing’.
Total of 406 such ‘necklacing’ kills – most by angry black residents – as well as 395 deaths by burning are recorded in the 5-year period ending December 1989.
3 activists abducted and killed by security police.
12 people killed in SADF raids.
A horrific tapestry indeed. Every skin colour leaves the same crimson bloodstains. So far, despite significant civilian casualties and collateral damage, one might be tempted to argue that the ANC had some vestige of moral higher ground; a hint of conscience in the selection of targets. The second National Consultative Conference of the ANC, held in Zambia in 1985, changed that. There was a call to “take the struggle to the white areas”.
8 COSAS activists killed by booby-trapped grenades.
4 UDF activists abducted and murdered by security forces.
1 person necklaced at a funeral.
1 attorney assassinated, sparking rapid conflict escalation between the UDF and Inkatha.
31 die in protests related to the demand for the release of political prisoners.
17 people murdered by Inkatha supporters at a memorial service.
43 killed by police, 27 others die, 200 injured in attack on Gandhi settlement at Phoenix.
1 student activist shot dead by security police.
5 youths killed in the “Trojan Horse” incident by security forces.
Up to 40 people killed in ANC landmine attacks.
12 people killed by police in Mamelodi riots.
11 people killed by police in Queenstown shootings.
9 killed in security forces raid into Maseru.
5 killed, 60 injured in bombing at Amanzimtoti shopping centre. 1 MK operative executed.
Violent conflict between AmaAfrika and UDF.
17 or more killed by police in clash in Alexandra.
26 MK operatives killed by security forces in apparent ambushes.
11 killed, 200 wounded by police at Winterveld.
60 or more people killed, tens of thousands left homeless in vigilante attacks on UDF-aligned camps.
3 killed, 69 injured by a car bomb at Durban’s Parade Hotel.
4 Chesterville Youth Organisation members killed by Vlakplaas unit.
1 KwaNdebele Minister killed by a security force car bomb.
24 killed by police in riots at White City/
3 MK operatives killed in ambush as they enter the country.
2 doctors killed by security forces.
Many killed in “Midlands War” between Inkatha and UDF youth organisations.
13 killed, including 8 children, in an attack on the home of a UDF leader.
2 Transkei Defence Force troops die in failed attempt at abducting or killing Ciskei president.
1 ANC official injured in car bombing.
1 ANC activist assassinated with poisoned beer.
1 MK head and 2 passengers killed by security police.
1 ANC NEC member and 2 MK operatives killed by security police.
2 successive coups in Transkei leaves Bantu Holomisa in control.
Several killed in violence over incorporation of Claremont into KwaZulu.
1 ANC representative killed.
4 ANC member killed by Vlakplaas unit.
1 activist killed in police custody.
7 killed, 16 injured by AWB member and former police officer.
11 killed by police, with Inkatha assistance in planning.
1 activist killed.
20 people and more die during clashes over the last election for the Tricameral Parliament.
1 activit and lawyer is killed.
Thankfully, after that horrific tapestry, some sanity prevails and a turning point occurs, starting with the resignation of PW Botha and FW de Klerk becoming the State President, after which point the excessive stranglehold of the swollen national security apparatus was loosened, and racially prejudiced legislation repealed. Of course, everything was not fixed overnight.
As the Berlin wall fell, marking the end of the looming threat of communism that had plagued South African political decisions since the Second World War, de Klerk moved rapidly to unban political organisations, release prisoners and put an end to the swathe of executions that had grown common in the height of the chaos.
Many people still lost their lives in clashes with police even then, and many more lives were lost in violence surrounding local opposition to the newly formed Inkatha Freedom Party. Multiple coups occurred in the bantustans during this period as well. While conscription was ended and the SADF withdrawn from townships, vigilantes and other citizens took part in escalating violence between various factions.
Even as the white government sat down with 18 other organisations in CODESA to transform South Africa to a true democracy, 200 people lost their lives to taxi-related violence in 1992 alone, and violent and often lethal clashes sprung up between the ANC, the African Democratic Movement (ADM), the UDM, and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
Even as a 68.6% of the white South African population voted for the fall of Apartheid and continued negotiations with the ANC and other parties – despite the lingering horror of the Border War and the bombings by the MK and other anti-Apartheid groups, as well as a long and dedicated programme of censorship and propaganda by the NP – the Azania People’s Liberation Army started a campaign of racial attacks, that result in the deaths of dozens of white civilians and the horrific and enduring scourge of farm murders.
For those who might be tempted to think the ANC reformed from a terrorist organisation to a peaceful political party after Mandela’s release, here are just two examples of why that is dead wrong:
Two internal ANC commissions of inquiry found evidence of human rights abuses in ANC detention camps – Mandela accepted responsibility on behalf of the ANC leadership.
6 children were killed by ANC supporters in a bus ambush – as soft a target as it gets. The IFP followed their example, killing 10 children in a similar attack shortly after.
The IFP-ANC violence claimed 68 lives during an IFP march; in total, the estimated deaths from violence between those organisations is estimated to be above 5000 in total, not including civilians or collateral damage. The Struggle was blood-soaked, a showcase of the worst that humans have to give. Say what you will about the necessity, or lack thereof, of the Struggle – set aside whether it had the intended effect or was ultimately futile – it is clear that it changed those it touched for the worse.
So why raise this very sensitive subject?
It is for a good reason that I remind us of darker times, of lives lost pursuing the noble cause of freedom and equality, or fighting to protect home and nation, in a situation where morals and ethics were swept away all too soon.
It takes one of two things to allow a person to order the death of civilians. Most people can kill in the defense of their own life or their loved ones; soldiers can kill an enemy that would be equally willing to kill them. Planning a bombing in a public place, ambushing a bus full of children, torture and human rights violations – those require one of those two things. Either a lack of conscience, or an overriding belief in a greater cause. One or both of those is present in most ANC leaders, linked indelibly to their Struggle credentials.
The lack of conscience required to order a hit on a “soft target” – civilians – is eerily similar to the lack of care shown by Jacob Zuma, when he has a little chuckle in front of Parliament as he is confronted with ever-increasing evidence of his Constitutional misdeeds and crimes. I would wager that, the state of Zuma’s conscience aside, there are many among the ANC leaders who suffer crippling atrophy of the conscience, or perhaps even lack one due to some disorder. The bloody chaos of the Armed Struggle called such people to the ANC, and gave them the perfect opportunity to rise up through the ranks by “doing what needed to be done”.
The belief in the ANC cause is also not hard to spot. The ANC is infamous for its irreverent and conceited claim of being destined to rule “until Jesus returns” – an attitude that is in itself dismissive of the very concept of democracy, that the ANC supposedly fought for. The ANC imagines itself as the only legitimate party in a one-party state, a treasonous belief that was illustrated all too well by Zuma’s recent survival of the secret ballot no confidence vote and the un-Constitutional way the ANC itself blackmailed its MPs to ignore their oath of office and toe the party line.
Both legacies of the Struggle – the cunning sociopaths and the blind zealots – are things that are incredibly poorly suited for government positions. The very history of the ANC, the history they are so proud of, explains all too well why they are failing the nation they pretend they raised from Apartheid on their own.
The ANC is irredeemable.
With the heavy emphasis on “Struggle credentials”, the ANC attracted people with no conscience, or a conscience that could be easily subverted to the needs of the party. The heavy emphasis on seniority locked in the lack of conscience for the entire lifetime of the generation – again, see Zuma and his colleague Mugabe. Purging that broken generation would be too little, too late as well; as evidenced by the way the ANC youth league has long been Zuma’s pawn.
The ANC has history, and that history is weighing us all down thanks to their lack of conscience. We must be rid of them at the first opportunity.
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