endobj 0000016292 00000 n The indomitable late Victoria Mxenge who was bastion of hope and a brilliant legal mind, gunned down in front her children by hired murderers.Through the dedicated work of our Archive and Freedom of Information Program we help honour the sacrifices of these women activists and others in the pursuit of their human rights through the pursuit of truth and the ability to hold the powerful to account. Armed Struggle in Southern Africa A K Essack While Vietnam attracts most of the attention, several protracted struggles for national liberation are taking place in Southern Africa.
South Africa attacked countries that offered support to the liberation struggle in an attempt to isolate these organisations in exile, but this did not work.
Following the Sharpeville Massacre, the state banned the ANC and PAC in April 1960 under the Unlawful Organisations Act.. The aftermath of the The intensification of repressive laws and further erosion of political rights by the apartheid regime also saw the First on the PAC's agenda was a series of nationwide demonstrations against the hated “pass” laws instituted under On this fateful day, Black people congregated in Sharpeville, a township near Vereeniging, to demonstrate against the requirement that Blacks carry identity documents (under the Pass Law). The movement led by women would go on to reach a peak point from 1976 onward, in much the same fashion as it did for men. 0000013376 00000 n 0000024459 00000 n 0000014426 00000 n 0000010652 00000 n Situated in the most unproductive regions of the country, Bantustans were inhabited largely by poverty-stricken women and children since men migrated annually to work in South African cities and towns, and farms as well. SWAPO’s diplomatic offensive began with petitions brought, through various means, before the United Nations. The government's intention was to silence opposition to its apartheid policies and stop their political activity.
On the same day, in Langa, two protestors died and 49 were wounded as a result of police action. xref In response, approximately 300 policemen opened fire on the demonstrators, killing 69 and injuring an estimated 186. Younger members of the ANC and 0000021070 00000 n 0000008621 00000 n
Following the Sharpeville Massacre, the state banned the Though committed to non-violence, in the second half of 1961 the ANC took a collective decision to engage in armed struggle. The nationalist movements in the Portuguese colonies of Angola aud Mozambique notv control large sections of these two territories. The ANC had always advocated non-violent methods and debates over the use of violence were often acrimonious. <>