RESISTANCE

RADICALISATION &
CONSOLIDATION OF NP
POWER 1960 – 68

WHY DID OPPOSITION TO APARTHEID

INCREASE DURING 1960 – 61?
 Split of ANC + PAC divided major African political organisation but also helped
mobilise new communities
 Rural political movements in homelands with connections to ANC, PAC
challenged government at a local level.

PEACEFUL PROTESTS:
Overview:
 In the 1950s, ANC managed to organise people into taking part in political
action in the 1950s
 The PAC challenged this as they didn’t want peaceful negotiations – they felt
that anger and violence would better help the movement.  They had an
unfocused idea of freedom than a non-racial democracy.
Key people, dates and organisations – their actions and impacts:
Robert Sobukwe and the Sharpeville Massacre 21st March 1960
 Was the leader of PAC, despite a lack of experience in politics and campaigns,
and focused on pass laws
 He knew that ANC had planned a campaign on 31st March 1960, but
announced that PAC would start their campaign on 21st March to outdo the
ANC – ultimately the Sharpeville Massacre that killed 69 people when the police
opened fire on 5000 peaceful protestors outside police station. Inexperienced
policemen were sent in to control the situation, who opened fire despite not
being given the order by the regional chief of police, Lieutenant Colonel Pienaar.
 ANC was troubled and irritated by this when they found out that PAC had also
planned a protest before them - Mandela said that they wanted to ‘sabotage
us’.
 PAC’s plan of action was also the same as the ANC’s. They also sent themselves
to risk arrest to campaign against the pass laws and clog up the Supreme Court.

21st March 1960

Similar to Sharpeville, about 6000 people also gathered around in Langa, a town in
Cape Town, to risk arrest, just as in Sharpeville. Police refused and similarly, also
attacked them with baton charges and opened fire. 20 people died. By 25 th March,
50% of Cape Town’s African workforce was on strike.
28th March 1960
 ANC held an anti-pass protest
 Organised a mass pass-burning in Pretoria for the Treason Trial
 Called a stay-away (similar to a strike – but they stayed at home to avoid police
and interaction with police) at the end of March for mourning

March 30th 1960

 Government declared state of emergency after Sharpeville Massacre and
criticism
 Philip Kgosana led some of the 30,000 Africans in a march in a non-violent
demonstration 6 miles down the main highway from Langa to central Cape
Town.
 He gathered a large group outside a police station, near where a whites-only
parliament was taking place to debate the protests that had happened
 Police told him the Minister of Justice would see them if he told the crowd to
disperse – which he did, wary and afraid of violent methods that the police
might use if he didn’t.
 Police obviously lied and the meeting never actually happened.

31st March 1960

 Protest started at Cato Manor, Durban. Activists tried to stop workers from
going to work – there were non-violent clashes between the protestors and
police alongside protestors and those who wanted to go to work.

16th December 1960 – violent approach

ANC launched Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) as an armed wing – Nelson Mandela said in his
speech that it was “wrong for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-
violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force.”

SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE
 Vaal triangle – centre of coal mining
 Bus protest staged in 1956 and 15 people killed
 Sharpeville founded 1942
 1958 – members of community angered by 10,000 people placed there from
Group Areas Act from other locations
 Little housing = Sharpeville’s population increased and so did rent
 PAC branch found in Sharpeville in 1959 by Nyakane Tsolo, trade unionist.
 PAC spread leaflets house-to-house on March 21, 1960
 20 March 1960:
 PAC threatened those who wanted to go to work
 Bus drivers banned from driving commuters
 Policeman stabbed - youth out on the streets
 Police: claimed there was a baton attack and opened fire
 2 protestors died when meeting at football stadium broken up
 Tsolo refused to order crowd to disperse and was arrested
  Afterwards:
 Protest was friendly with peaceful protestors
 200 inexperience white policemen sent to break up protest
 Opened gunfire feeling threatened by “20,000 protestors” though there
were 5000
 Regional chief of police Lieutenant Pienaar admitted they opened fire
without warning crowd.
 Pienaar – didn’t give order to fire, but another policeman without control
shouted “Fire!”
 69 people were killed and 187 injured
 Witnesses saw police placing stones in front of station to backup their claim
that the protestors started it by throwing stones.
 Police accused of kicking and killing wounded people.
 Photos of the scenes went international and SA received criticism from
overseas
 April 1st 1960 – United Nations Security Council internationally
condemned massacre and called for end of apartheid and laws. Britain and
US also later joined in saying it was a violation.
 28th March – ANC organised mass pass burning and burned their passes
then a stayaway at the end of March for mourning massacre.
 March 30:
 Whites only parliament in session debating on wars
 Government declared ‘state of emergency’ after international criticism
and protests
 30,000 Africans marched along main highway from Langa to Cape
Town – Ksogana led some of them
 Police told them Minster of Justice would meet delegates of PAC if
crowd dispersed
 Ksogana told marchers to turn back but meeting never happened and
they were double-crossed.
 Ksogana arrested later
 Cato Manor in Durban – protest of not going to work  clash between
police + protestors and protestors + people who wanted to go to work
for a few days

State of Emergency
 Declared on 30th March 1960
 Police began to detain people without fear of restriction from courts
 Thousands of political leaders arrested without warrants through Public Safety
Act
 Nelson Mandela arrested at home in Orlando while preparing for stayaway and
pass protest
 Leader of ANC Albert Luthuli arrested and assaulted
  8th April 1960 – government passed Unlawful Organisation Act banning parties
that threatened public order
 9th April 1960 – Verwoerd shot after giving a speech:
 Assassin was middle-aged English speaking white man
 Was unhappy with the conflict in SA
 Declared unfit to stand trial and sent to a psychiatrist hospital where he
committed suicide
 Verwoerd kept control of National Party and country and survived and
recovered

Results of Sharpville
Reactions from Reactions from Reactions among people
government abroad
Arrested 18,000 UN called for sanctions Huge crowds attended the
people against South Africa funerals of those killed
ANC and PAC banned Investors took their ANC and PAC abandoned non-
money out of South violence and founded militant
Africa so the government resitance organisations like
imposed currency Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)
restrictions
State of emergency Anti-apartheid groups set Africans burnt pass books in
declared after up in countries such as protests all over South Africa
receiving criticism Britain
and protests
British Commonwealth Africans held stay-at-home
Conference criticised SA protests all over country
so SA left the
Commonwealth
Young Africans left SA to train
in China, USSR and
independent African countries
ANC and PAC set up HQ abroad
with Oliver Tambo given the job
of winning international support
for ANC
The Government received much international criticism because of the photographs of
the massacre that circulated around the world. However, instead of listening to the
criticism and ending apartheid, they declared a state of emergency instead, which
imposed and strengthened apartheid laws and banned and arrested more people. ///
Significance of Sharpville
 The Sharpville massacre was very important. It was the first that triggered
international reactions because of the photos which were circulating at the
time. It was a huge step for opposition against apartheid as many countries also
stood up against it and called South Africa out for their discriminative laws.
 The accusations caused the government to declare a state of emergency, which
led to more unfair laws being passed to oppress the Africans. This led to
younger Africans leaving the countries to other independent African countries
and the USSR for military training, to also go about the opposition through
violence, since non-violent methods were causing them more harm as police
weren’t cooperating with them.
  The massacre caused loss for the government as many countries stopped
investing in South Africa. Britain also disapproved their laws, causing the
government to decide to leave the Commonwealth.

BANNING OF POLITICAL PARTIES + STATE OF

EMERGENCY
 State of emergency declared 30th March 1960 strengthened police powers
 Public meetings outlawed – police detained people without fear of restriction by
courts
 Thousands of opposition political leaders arrested using Public Safety Act
1953 without warrants
 Mandela arrested at Orlando home while preparing for an ANC stayaway and
pass protest
 Joe Slovo – leading white communist lawyer – detained just before appearing in
court for deaths of 434 black miners and 6 white who died in a coal mine
disaster in Free State which he was accused of
 8 April – after massacre, Unlawful Organisations Act passed for parties
threatening public order – aimed at ANC and PAC
 9 April – Verwoerd shot while giving a speech in Johannesburg by a white
English-speaking man unhappy with SA conflict – committed to psychiatric
hospital – Verwoerd survived and kept control of NP.

WHY SOUTH AFRICA BECAME A

REPUBLIC (61)
1. NATIONAL PARTY supported that SA should be a republic freed from British
constitutional authority where head of state was British monarch
2. Britain couldn’t do anything when apartheid was implemented or to
prevent/remove it
3. National Party managed to renegotiate its relationship with Britain 
Simonstown naval base was a focus for British naval power in south Atlantic and
Indian Ocean was passed to SA in a 1955 agreement (Britain ships could still
use the facilities).

VERWOERD’S AIMS
 1960 – whites-only referendum on question of a republic by Verwoerd
announced
 1958 election = secure majority given to nationalists – 66% parliamentary
votes, 55% white votes
 Referendum = opportunity to rally support beyond constituency that usually
backed NP
 He strengthened support in Afrikaner Christian nationalist association
Broederbond  Hendrik Thom (Dean of Uni of Stellenbosch) replaced as head of
Broederbond by Traansval radical Dr Meyer (former member of
Ossewabrandwag – organisation against supporting Britain in WW2)
 Meyer also appointed as head of SA Broadcasting Corporation so nationalists
could take control of broadcast media – didn’t introduce TV until 1976 when
they felt they could control the output

MACMILLAN’S ‘WIND OF CHANGE’ SPEECH

Macmillan  Conservative PM of Britain
 Visited SA Feb 1960 as a month long SA tour
 Started in Ghana (that was independent in 1957)
 Reason: confirm Britain’s decision to decolonise, celebrate African self-
government, strengthen Commonwealth ties and lastly, an attempt to keep
African countries on Western democracies during the Cold War
 US had become powerful – Britain was still the most important external
reference point for SA
 Gave the ‘wind of change’ speech in Ghana and SA – not effective in Ghana
since it was already independent – media more attentive in SA and speech
interpreted much differently
 He tried to celebrate 50 years of Union of SA but also respond to Verwoerd’s call
for a republic – didn’t want to polarise (divide?) his position – aware of criticism
from Indian and African leaders for visiting SA while being hosted by NP
 Keen on keeping SA on Western side – made most of his speech to white
members of parliament in Cape Town – praised SA achievements and beauty of
countryside  most of his progress in industry was from British investment –
1956 = 1 third external investment from Britain and 1 thirf trade with Britain –
said ‘our economies are now largely interdependant’ – highlighted need for
partnership + praised General Smuts as well as SA’s contribution to War and
Commonwealth
 Speech unintentionally called for a radical change and expressed the
conservative realism that was guiding his government to pursue decolonisation
 British conservatives under Macmillan and nationalists like Charles de Gaulle
in France were responsible for decolonisation in Africa
 After Suez Crisis in 1956 (British+French troops sent to Egypt to protect their
interests in Suez Canal – an important transport link between Mediterranean
and Red Sea which had been seized by new Egypt president Nassar – USSR,
USA, UN persuaded Britain and French to withdraw) he noticed the problems of
an aggressive defence of empire
 Britain was in midst wars against insurgents in Malaysia and Kenya
 Under his leadership, most of Britain’s former African territories were
promised/achieved independence – believed rapid decolonisation would help
form strong links between Britain and its former colonies as they could be
important markets and sites for investment
 He tried to present African nationalism as natural – indicated that white SA
should accept it since they were part of the ‘history of our times’ in white
parliament – told them theirs would be ‘recorded as the first of the African
nationalists’.
 Indirectly said white SA should give black SA political rights again as he
questioned ‘some aspects of your policies’ and warned SA
 Verwoerd saw it that way too and emphasised later his determination to make
whites stay in power but his speech still brought the idea of internal
decolonisation in his mind