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African National Congress

LEADER: Nelson Mandela

USUAL AREA OF OPERATION: South Africa

OVERVIEW

The African National Congress (ANC) was founded in 1912 under the name the South African Native National Congress. On January 8, 1912, hundreds of South Africa's educated elite converged in Bloemfontein to create a national organization that would protest racial discrimination and demand equality under the law. The membership of the organization identified itself as being moderate. While pressing for racial equality, the ANC also openly supported British rule in South Africa. Blacks in South Africa struggled under legislation that hampered rights in the workplace and restricted the areas where they could live. The ANC has evolved from what was considered to be an extremist organization under the discredited apartheid system to a mainstream governing group in South Africa. Nelson Mandela has become one of the world's most widely respected figures.

In 1923, the group renamed itself as the ANC and identified its primary goal of ensuring racial equality to blacks in South Africa. In 1943, a splinter organization was created by members in the ANC who felt the group was too passive in its resistance while racial discrimination moved closer toward apartheid. This group, the Congress Youth League (CYL), engaged in strikes, rallies, and demonstrations. Eventually, the CYL rejoined the ANC and several of its members assumed leadership roles in the ANC, including Nelson Mandela. The ANC continued to expand in the 1950s, and as a result was banned by the government and many of its leadership were imprisoned.

In 1961, the ANC established a military wing called Umkhonto we Sizwe (spear of the nation) to begin an armed struggle against the policies of the South African government. The group targeted government facilities and not people directly. However, by 1964, police investigations of the group led to raids and arrests, which ended Umkhonto. Although the militant wing had been eradicated, the ANC continued its resistance to apartheid and was implicated in incidents during the 1980s, targeting multinational corporations operating in South Africa. In 1990, the ANC was legalized, which ended its violent operations. Following its legalization and with the leadership of Nelson Mandela, the ANC continued its struggle to end apartheid. By 1994, apartheid officially ended, paving the way for the ANC to gain control of the newly democratically elected government and for Nelson Mandela to become president. Mandela served as president until 1999 when his deputy in the ANC, Thabo Mbeki was elected to the presidency.

HISTORY

The presence of gold and diamonds in South Africa has created a history of struggle between colonial powers, thus creating the environment for racial discrimination. In the 1880s, the Dutch, who were the first to settle in South Africa, struggled with the British ruling government. This struggle was exacerbated by the group attempting to establish its own South African national identity called Afrikaners. The Afrikaners argued that they possessed a unique identity rooted in their belief that they were a distinct group with their own fatherland in South Africa. After a bloody three-year conflict, the ruling British government sought to increase the number of English speakers in South Africa by encouraging large numbers of Britons to emigrate.

During this period, Alfred Milner, British high commissioner in South Africa, expressed in the report by the South African Native Affairs Commission (SANAC) the belief that blacks and whites could never be recognized as equals. However, the three-year war with the Afrikaners was under the cause of abhorring the racially discriminating policies supported by the Afrikaners. As a result, the British received support from the black Africans during the conflict. Therefore, after the war, the SANAC was established to develop a "native policy." Educated African elite testified before the commission, denouncing institutionalized discrimination. However, the commission concluded that territorial separations, as well as separate voter's criteria should be established. The commission also asserted that there should be no political equality between the races.

In the agreement created to form the Union of South Africa in 1910, the question of suffrage for blacks was left to the self-governing colonies to decide. The Cape and Natal colonies used property ownership to qualify a black person for voting rights, while the Orange River Colony and Transvaal denied the vote to all blacks. This was one of the first pieces of legislation that marked the institutionalization of racial discrimination. Three additional legislations were key in creating the environment from which the ANC would emerge to protest. The Native Labour Regulation Act (No. 15), passed in 1911, established that it was a criminal offense for Africans, but not for whites, to break labor contracts. In addition, the Mines and Works Act (No. 12), also passed in 1911, restricted the Africans to semiskilled and unskilled labor in the mines while allowing the whites to monopolize the skilled-labor jobs. Finally, the most important act in establishing a culture of racial inequalities was the impetus for the conference where the ANC was developed. The Natives Land Act (No. 27) passed in 1913 and divided South Africa into regions where either blacks or whites could own land. Although blacks made up two-thirds of the population, they were restricted to merely 7.5 percent of the land. In addition, the act made it illegal for blacks to reside outside of their relegated lands, unless they were employed by whites.

While the Natives Land Act was being debated, hundreds of South African elites met in Bloemfontein and established the South African Native National Congress. On January 12, 1912, the organization was established and its goals identified. The congress was composed of moderates such as the founding president John L. Dube, a minister and school teacher. The group acknowledged that British rule had been beneficial to South African development in creating the rule of law, promoting education, and introducing Christianity. As a result, the group sought reformation to the British policies as opposed to ending British rule. The group identified its goals as seeking an end to racial discrimination and creating equal treatment of the races under the law. In 1914, the congress sent a delegation to London to protest the Natives Land Act, where the colonial secretary expressed the inability to help. Again, in 1919, the congress sent a delegation who met with Prime Minister Lloyd George. However, the prime minister determined that the issue needed to be solved by the South African government.

By 1923, the congress had renamed itself the African National Congress and continued its moderate push for racial equality. However, during the next decade the ANC would lose much of its influence due to leadership problems and the group's passive stance. In the 1940s, a group of young leaders revived the ANC. This group included Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulo, Olvier Tambo, and Anton Lembede. In 1943, this group of leaders established the Congress Youth League (CYL) as a way to mobilize mass protests against inequality. As apartheid was being institutionalized in 1948, the ANC adopted the CYL leaders and established a campaign of defiance. As ANC membership grew in the 1950s, so did the government's reaction. The defiance campaigns led by the ANC included rallies, demonstrations, and strikes. The government responded to the campaign by arresting demonstrators and banning leaders under the Suppression of Communism Act.

By 1961, the ANC had been banned and began to operate as an underground organization. In 1961, the militant wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe, began to target attacks on police stations and power plants. Umkhonto carefully organized the attacks in order to avoid taking human lives. Its first activities occurred in 1961 with the targeting of government buildings in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Durban. By 1964, Umkhonto leaders were arrested and, along with the previously arrested Nelson Mandela, were tried for treason. The arrests, as well as an orchestrated police effort, succeeded in eradicating Unkhonto's activities. However, the violent protests of the ANC would continue.

Umkhonto and the ANC sought to economically and politically disrupt the country by targeting power plants, interfering with rail and telecommunications, and striking government buildings and symbols of apartheid. In 1982, limpet mines were used to attack the Mkuze oil depot, owned by Mobile Oil Company. In 1983, another limpet mine was used in an attack on the Ciskei Consulate. The next year saw several attacks of sabotage claimed by the ANC. In April, the ANC targeted an oil storage facility in Transvaal, causing five fuel tanks to be destroyed and several others damaged by fires. Several days later, the ANC detonated a bomb at the Transkei Consulate in Bloemfontein. In May 1984, the ANC launched a rocket attack against an oil refinery in Durban. During the attack, four ANC operatives were killed, three civilians were killed, and two police officers were injured. Also in May, the ANC struck a gold mine in Johannesburg.

By April 1985, the ANC threatened to expand operations against multinational corporations operating in South Africa. The group used explosive devices to strike the offices of the mining businesses in Johannesburg. Businesses continued to be a target of the ANC and in September of 1988, the ANC exploded a bomb in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn in East London. In October 1989, the British Petroleum Oil Company offices in Cape Town became a target as simultaneous explosions occurred. The blasts were in response to the British decision against economic sanctions of South Africa.

The 1990s brought an increased movement, both national and international, toward the dismantling of apartheid. In 1990, the president of South Africa announced that Nelson Mandela—who was serving a life sentence for his activities with the ANC—would be released and that the ANC would no longer be banned. These two actions began the process by which the ANC ended its violent activities by 1992. ANC exiles began to return to South Africa and the group faced opposition toward its reconciliatory attitude. As South Africa dismantled its policies of apartheid, Nelson Mandela and the ANC worked with the reformers to create a new government. On April 26, 1994, the first multiracial election occurred in South Africa, and the ANC won 62.2 percent of the vote. As a result, Nelson Mandela was elected unanimously as president on May 9, 1994. The ANC has remained in power since 1994.

PHILOSOPHY AND TACTICS

In his 1964 speech, "I am prepared to die," Nelson Mandela identifies the philosophy of the ANC as well as the philosophy of Umkhonto. He explained that the primary goal of the ANC since its inception was African nationalism. He characterized this nationalism as "freedom and fulfillment for the African people in their own land." He cited the Freedom charter, which calls for a redistribution of land and a nationalization of mines and banks under an economy of private enterprise.

The ANC began as a lawful way to voice opposition against government policies that marginalized blacks. It spent fifty years peacefully protesting the government actions and promoting a non-racial democracy. In 1956, after ANC leaders had been arrested, the South African courts determined that the ANC did not have a policy of violence. However, by 1960, the leadership of the ANC resolved that their peaceful protests had resulted only in increased repression. After a 1960 massacre occurring in Sharpeville, the ANC was declared unlawful. Its leadership decided that its interests and the interests of blacks were not represented in the government. As a result, the group refused to dissolve.

As police violence against blacks escalated, violent protests escalated in response. The leadership of the ANC believed that a civil war was inevitable and sought to create "controlled violence" to avoid such a conflict. The group began with operations of sabotage. It believed that creating an economic disruption through the targeting of multinational corporations and government facilities would force voters to reevaluate their positions. The group targeted power plants, sought the disrupt rail and telecommunications, and attacked government buildings. Attacks were planned in a way that would spare human fatalities. As the acts of sabotage were carried out, the ANC began to prepare for its next level of conflict—guerilla warfare. Other African states were enlisted to help finance and train militants.

As the ANC reclaimed its political standing in the 1990s, the group reasserted its original ideology of racial equality under the law.

OTHER PERSPECTIVES

Because of the ANC's long history, many groups have held opposing perspectives. While apartheid was policy in South Africa, the government considered the ANC to be a disruptive force. As the ANC embarked on its policy of violence, the group was labeled as a communist organization by both the government and other organizations. In 1971, the Afrikaner Resistance Movement declared its stance against the ANC, calling the group communists. This opposition to the ANC cited the Marxist influences on the policies and agendas of the ANC, as well as the close ties the group held with the Communist Party in South Africa. The ANC and the Communist Party promoted the same primary goal—the removal of white supremacy in South Africa. The ANC asserted that in order to offer an equal footing to blacks, banks and mines should be nationalized. This closely resembled the Communist Party's goal to have a state run on the principles of Marxism.

As apartheid came to an end and the ANC developed into a political party, the group was accused of corruption, misconduct, the misuse of private funds by party leaders, and with a lack of accountability. In 1996, the cabinet minister in charge of health was discovered to have lied to parliament regarding a public affairs program that had been mishandled. The result was a four million dollar program that had not submitted to a proper bidding process. Instead, the contract was awarded to a good friend of the cabinet minister. However, when these charges were discussed by the media, the ANC shifted the blame to a group wanting to oust the minister. In another example, the former wife to Nelson Mandela, in 1996, was under charges of extortion and misuse of private funds. However, the ANC was seen as slow to responding or punishing those found of wrongdoing. In the New York Times article "South African Scandal over 'Sarafina' spotlights corruption in the ANC," Suzanne Daley expresses the view of critics of the ANC by stating, "The party often prizes loyalty over honesty and closes ranks around the accused while slurring the accusers." The ANC does not have a viable opposition political party and, as a result, remains in power.

SUMMARY

In 1912, South Africa was in the midst of policy changes that affected the lives and livelihood of blacks. Legislation was passed that created an environment that would eventually lead to the government-advocated policy of apartheid. One such act, the Native Land Act, was the impetus for a group of educated elites to meet and form an organization to oppose the legislation and push for racial equality. As a result the African National Congress was created. The congress began as a moderate political organization that sought to peacefully bring about change. However, as violence toward blacks continued, and the policies of apartheid expanded, the ANC moved toward a policy of violence after 50 years of peaceful protests. Under the militant wing called Umkhonto we Sizwe, the ANC sought to create economic disruptions by scaring foreign investment. The group targeted utilities, rail and telecommunications, government buildings, and any symbol of apartheid. The group was banned and Umkhonto was eradicated, but the ANC moved its operations underground and continued to hit targets in what it called, "controlled violence." By 1990, the ANC had been restored as a legal organization, ANC leader Nelson Mandela was released from prison, and the policies of apartheid began to be dismantled. In 1994, the first multiracial election was held in South Africa, and the ANC became the ruling party and has remained in power ever since.

SOURCES

Periodicals

Byrnes, Rita M. "A Country Study: South Africa." Library of Congress, Federal Research Division. May 1996.

Daley, Suzanne. "South African Scandal over 'Sarafina' Spotlights Corruption in the ANC." New York Times. October 8, 1996.

Henrard, Kristin. "Post-apartheid South Africa: Transformation and Reconciliation." World Affairs. Vol. 6 No. 1 (July 1, 2003).

Web sites

African National Congress. "I am Prepared to Die: Nelson Mandela's Statement." http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/rivonia.html (accessed October 11, 2005).

MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base. "African National Congress." http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=305 (accessed October 11, 2005).

SEE ALSO

Afrikaner Resistance Movement