Describe the aims, tactics and leaders of the opposition groups to apartheid. What were the similarities and differences between them?

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Describe the aims, tactics and leaders of the opposition groups to apartheid. What were the similarities and differences between them?

Apartheid was established in South Africa in 1948 by the National Party, who came to power in 1948. It ended in 1994.

The first anti-apartheid group listed is the ANC (the African National Congress). The ANC was formed in 1912 to defend freedom rights and privileges of all African people under the ‘Freedom Charter’ of 1955: multi racial, one adult one vote, socialist sympathies.

Its prominent leaders were Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Albert Lutuli.

Its major demonstrations include:

  • The 1952 Defiance Campaign.
  • MK’s 1960’s attacks on oil refineries and power stations.
  • The 1983 bombing of Air Force HQ.
  • The 1984 attack on dockyards in Durban.

Nelson Mandela was born in Thembuland in Transkei in 1918.

In 1940, he and Oliver Tambo were expelled from Fort Hare University for taking part in a student strike. He left for Johannesburg where he became a mine policeman. He met Walter Sisulu, who helped him become a lawyer. He set up the ANC Youth League in 1944 and took a leading part in the Defiance Campaign against apartheid in 1952. Nelson Mandela became well known for his skill as a lawyer, and the speeches he gave during a trial for High Treason, which lasted from 1956 to 1961.

Mandela later became the first commander in chief of the ANC’s guerrilla army, ‘Umkhonto we Sizwe’ (or ‘Spear of the Nation’), or ‘MK’ for short, which was set up in 1961. He was captured in 1962 after around 17 months on the run as an outlaw, and sentenced to five years in prison. However, evidence found at MK’s headquarters at Rivonia caused another trial to be held, for planning acts of terrorism. Mandela was sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island, but was released in 1990. He continued to campaign for the end of apartheid, and in 1994 he was elected President of South Africa.

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Walter Sisulu was born in Transkei in 1912.

He left school when he was 15 years old, and worked in several jobs, including labourer, gold miner and eventually an estate agent. Sisulu was Secretary-General of the ANC between 1949 and 1954, and travelled in Russia, China and Europe.

He assisted Mandela in setting up ‘Umkhonto we Sizwe’, and was also sentenced to life on Robben Island in 1964. Walter Sisulu was released in 1989, and took part in talks with the government, which ultimately led to the end of apartheid.

Oliver Tambo was born in eastern Pondoland in 1917.

Tambo ...

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