THE ANC IN EXILE

Rejecting multi-racialism as ‘a pandering of European bigotry and arrogance’ and ‘a

method of safeguarding white interests’, the PAC aimed at a government of the Africans, by the Africans, for the Africans’ which would not

guarantee minority rights.

Arianna Lissoni, “Transformations in the ANC External Mission and Umkhonto we Sizwe, c.1960 - 1969

After the ANC’s banning, many ANC members and many Communists determined to continue the

struggle by the only means left to them, namely through illegality and force of arms. The result was

the formation in mid-1961 of Umkhonto we Sizwe...It was considered an autonomous

organization established by members of both the ANC and the SACP.

Stephen Ellis, The ANC in Exile, (Oxford University Press, 1991)

During its last legal conference in South Africa in

December 1959, the ANC Executive had made

provisions for its newly-elected Deputy President Oliver

Tambo to leave the country to ‘carry abroad the message of

its vision and solicit support for the movement’ in the event

that the ANC would be banned.

Arianna Lissoni, “Transformations in the ANC External Mission and

Umkhonto we Sizwe, c.1960 - 1969”,

RIVONIA TRIAL -1963 - 1964

The Rivonia raid of 11 July 1963 and the trial that followed led to the smashing of virtually the whole of the underground network...Rivonia...transformed the

ANC into an organization in exile.

Arianna Lissoni, “Transformations in the ANC External Mission and Umkhonto we Sizwe, c.1960 - 1969

THE LONDON DEBATES:A nation at war requires a Council of War...The

leaders outside the country have to do what can no longer be done at home - to formulate policy and take

practical steps to give leadership to our respective communities and the South African people as a

whole.

The overthrow of the government by armed struggle...was the stated goal.

Physically, it’s like being in South Africa again. I feel at home and elated. The climate is mild

unlike the enervating humidity of Dar Es Salaam and Luanda...Politically things are

quite different of course. Zambia is not unaffected by the existence of revolutionary

governments in Mozambique and Angola and is smack in the (middle of the) front-line

struggle with Rhodesia and Pretoria, giving us and ZAPU full support. Geo-politically this is

country is placed at the strategic crossroads of the battle to liberate Southern Africa.

Hugh Macmillan, The African National Congress of South Africa in Zambia: The

Culture of Exile and the Changing Relationship with Home, 1964 - 1990, (African Studies

Centre, Oxford University, 2009)

The greatest military problem faced by the ANC in the 1960s...was...the lack of friendly border countries in which MK could establish rear bases...nor were there any established routes through

which trained guerillas could be infiltrated in large numbers. After completing their military training in African and socialist countries, MK fighters were being sent back to the camps in Tanzania, where

they were growing more and more impatient.

Arianna Lissoni, “Transformations in the ANC External Mission and Umkhonto we Sizwe, c.1960

- 1969

HANI MEMORANDUM 3000 word document opened with:

“The ANC in Exile is in a deep crisis as a result of which a rot has set in. From informal discussion with the revolutionary members of MK

we have inferred that they have lost all confidence in the ANC leadership abroad.”

Signatories accused members of the ANC of becoming “middle class” salaried bureaucrats increasingly divorced from the ‘home

front’. The accused the commander in chief Joe Modise) of becoming preoccupied with the running of ‘mysterious business

enterprises’- Star Furniture Manufacturers.

They contrasted their treatment with the ANC leaders sons who had been sent to European universities and ‘who (were) being groomed for leadership positions after the MK cadres (had) overthrown the

fascists”

Above all they regretted the failure of the leadership to provide the opportunity for the analysis of lessons of the Wankie campaign, with

a view to the development of ‘strategy and tactics’.

The signatories demanded a renewal of the leadership and stated that “all these problems must be resolved in a conference between the ANC leadership and members of MK, and not just hand picked

individuals.”

Unbanning of the ANC, PAC and SACPFebruary 1990