‘Umkhonto we Sizwe, We are Waiting for You’: The ANC and the Township Uprising, September 1984 – September 1985

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the ANC's relationship with the youth-led township rebellion of the mid 1980s which has not received adequate attention in the existing literature on South African resistance politics. The argument made is that while the ANC lacked a physical presence in the townships and was thus unable to organise the uprisings, the appeal of its confrontational policies – and above all its armed struggle – meant it was accorded the mantle of symbolic leadership by the youths spearheading the fighting. The intangibility of mass consciousness and the difficulty of gauging it though conventional archival sources means the article relies heavily on the testimony of contemporary witnesses, and particularly journalists. The origins and dynamics of the uprising are investigated in the article and the gestation of the insurrection within the townships for almost a year before its eventual eruption is discussed, as is the manner in which the rebellion's lack of formal leadership proved to be its greatest strength by making it difficult to quell. The timeframe covered spans the first year of the uprising because it witnessed in microcosm the basic themes which dominated mass politics in South Africa for most of the following decade.

Keywords:

• Umkhonto we Sizwe
• African National Congress
• United Democratic Front
• township uprising
• South African suicide squads