![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
An under-researched dimension of the exile politics of the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC-SA) revolves around how they reacted to the rising Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) during the 1970s. While much has been written about the ANC-SA’s relationship with the Pan African Congress (PAC), similar attention has not been given to how the ANC-SA reacted to BCM’s rise outside South Africa. From what has been written, the dominant narrative argues BCM was not a serious threat and that despite some early tensions was eventually absorbed into ANC-SA structures. This hegemonic narrative continues by arguing those who refused to be absorbed constituted a ‘Third Force’ that was being supported by international elements unfriendly to the ANC-SA. Both components of this dominant narrative downplay the real anxieties felt by the ANC-SA in exile concerning its own ineffectiveness in the early 1970s. At this time global recognition was not assured as BCM’s growing influence inside South Africa had many international allies of the ANC-SA questioning how relevant the ANC-SA was inside the country. My research has found that it was the ANC-SA who considered BCM a threat to its influence and in response proceeded to systematically discredit and marginalise it internationally.
Notes
1 For a brief list see T. Karis and G. Gerhart, ‘The Last Stage of Non-Violence, 1957–May 1961’, in T. Karis and G. Gerhart, eds, From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882–1964, Volume 3: Challenge and Violence, 1953–1964 (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1977), 307–324; T. Karis and G. Gerhart, ‘The Liberation Movements, 1964–1975’, in T. Karis and G. Gerhart, eds, From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882–1990, Volume 5: Nadir and Resurgence, 1964–1979 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997), 19–61; T. Karis and G. Gerhart, ‘The Liberation Movements, 1975–1979’, in Karis and Gerhart, eds, From Protest to Challenge, 279–310; S. Thomas, The Diplomacy of Liberation: The Foreign Relations of the ANC since 1960 (London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1996), 40–48; S. Ndlovu, ‘The ANC in Exile, 1960–1970’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Volume 1 [1960–1970] (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2004), 375–433; K. Kondlo, In the Twilight of the Revolution: The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa), 1959–1994 (Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2009), 49–69; B. Maaba and M. Mzamane, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement of Azanian, 1979–1990’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Vol. 4[1980-199] (Pretoria, UNISA Press, 2010], 1361–1398; A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882–1990, Volume 5, Nadir and Resurgence, 1964–1979 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997), 279–310.
2 S. Nolutshungu, Changing South Africa: Political Considerations (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1982), 149; G. Houston and B. Magubane, ‘The ANC Political Underground in the 1970s’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Vol. 2 [1970–1980] (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2007), 371–451.
3 C. Saunders, ‘The ANC in the Historiography of the National Liberation Struggle in South Africa’, in K. Kondlo, C. Saunders, and S. Zondi, eds, Treading the Waters of History and Perspectives of the ANC (Pretoria, Africa Institute of South Africa, 2014), 13.
4 Maaba and Mzamane, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement of Azanian’, 1378.
5 The internal relationship between BCM, PAC and the ANC-SA is beyond the scope of this short paper. It is a rich history full of complex dynamics that while influential to some of what was happening in exile, was not decisive in how the relationship between BCM and ANC-SA evolved abroad. Indeed, the internal movements prior to the Soweto Uprising worked very well together given the repressive conditions they faced while those in exile, governed by different rules, were pushed into more openly hostile positions.
6 R. Suttner, ‘Culture(s) of the African National Congress of South Africa: Imprint of Exile Experiences’, in Henning Melber, ed., Limits to Liberation in Southern Africa: The Unfinished Business of Democratic Consolidation (Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2003), 181–188; R. Suttner, ‘The Character and Formation of Intellectuals within the ANC-led South African Liberation Movement’, in T. Mkandawire, ed., African Intellectuals: Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development (London: Zed Books, 2005), 118–120, 135; R. Suttner, The ANC Underground in South Africa, 1950–1970 (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2009), 77–83.
7 Suttner, The ANC Underground in South Africa, 154.
8 S. Ellis and T. Sechaba, Comrades against Apartheid: The ANC and the South African Communist Party (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), 84–87; V. Shubin, ANC: A View from Moscow, 2nd edn (Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2009 [orig. 1999]); G. Houston and B. Magubane, ‘The ANC Political Underground in the 1970s’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Vol. 2 [1970–1980] (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2006), 371–451; G. Houston and B. Magubane, ‘The ANC’s Armed Struggle in the 1970s’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Vol. 2 [1970–1980] (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2006), 453–530; J. Ngculu, The Honour to Serve: Recollections of an Umkhonto Soldier (Claremont: David Philip, 2009), 85; S. Ellis, External Mission: The ANC in Exile, 1960–1990 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 89–127.
9 H. Macmillan, The Lusaka Years: The ANC in Exile in Zambia, 1963–1994 (Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2013), 133.
10 T. Lodge, ‘State of Exile: The African National Congress of South Africa, 1976–1986’, Third World Quarterly, 9, 1 (1987), 27; H. Macmillan, ‘The African National Congress of South Africa in Zambia: The Culture of Exile and the Changing Relationship with Home, 1964–1990’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 35, 3 (2009), 303–329.
11 Ndlovu, ‘The ANC in Exile’, 398.
12 Thomas, The Diplomacy of Liberation.
13 B. Hirson, Year of Fire, Year of Ash: The Soweto Schoolchildren’s Revolt that Shook Apartheid (London: Zed Books, 2016 [orig. 1979]). Note, throughout this text I will be spelling Black with a capital B while white will remain lowercase. This is a political decision born out of the reality that in South Africa the word Black became used as a means to unite those considered by the regime as ‘non-white/European’, in other words Africans, Indians and Coloureds. All those ethnic/national descriptors were more often than not written in capitals so, as Black was used as a political identity of those oppressed and exploited by racial capitalism, not one based on pigmentation or claims to cultural sameness, Black will also be capitalised. White will not be capitalised in this piece as it was not born out of the same struggle of the oppressed in South Africa. While many whites were, and still are, oppressed as a class even among other whites/Europeans, it has emerged as a descriptor of those in power not as an identity of those oppressed seeking liberation.
14 Nolutshungu, Changing South Africa, 148–149; J. Brown, The Road to Soweto: Resistance and the Uprising of 16 June 1976 (Suffolk: James Currey, 2016).
15 S. Ndlovu, The Soweto Uprisings: Counter Memories of June 1976 (London: Pan Macmillan South Africa, 2017); S. Ndlovu, ed., The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Volume 7: Soweto Uprisings: New Perspective, Commemorations and Memorialisation (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2017); A. Heffernan and N. Nieftagodien, eds, Students Must Rise: Youth Struggle in South Africa before and beyond Soweto ’76 (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2016).
16 A. Mafeje, ‘Soweto and Its Aftermath’, Review of African Political Economy, 11 (1978), 17–30.
17 M. Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (Boston, Beacon Press, 1995); M. Trouillot, Haiti: State against Nation: The Origins of Duvalierism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000).
18 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 1–30.
19 M. Trouillot and M. Past, ‘Toussaint on Trial in “Ti dife boule sou istoua Ayiti”, or the People’s Role in the Haitian Revolution’, Journal of Haitian Studies, 10, 1 (2004), 87–102. Delving deeper into Trouillot’s work on silences, during the revolution Christophe rose to become a high-ranking general in Toussaint L’Ouverture’s army. In the last years of the revolution a rivalry developed between him and an African-born maroon leader named Sans Souci. Unlike the Creole (Caribbean-born) Christophe, Sans Souci was popular with the former field-slaves and maroons who made up the majority of the revolutionary army and emancipated population. Furthermore, Sans Souci did not trust Christophe’s commitment to building a better life for the formerly enslaved after the revolution as at a critical point Christophe, as well as others, surrendered to the French. To add insult to injury, these generals decided to work with the French to stamp out various pockets of maroon resistance that continued after their surrender. Sans Souci was one of the few who successfully resisted this unholy alliance and was particularly effective fighting Christophe’s army. The resistance of guerrillas like Sans Souci eventually convinced the generals to re-join the popular resistance to the French army. Eventually Sans Souci was asked to make peace and join the newly reconstituted army; tragically, at a meeting to sign this new agreement he was murdered by Christophe. To seal his victory over the maroon leader, yet silence his name to history, upon becoming King of Haiti Christophe built a palace where he had murdered the African-born maroon leader and named it Sans Souci. According to Trouillot this can be interpreted as Christophe killing ‘Sans Souci twice: first, literally, during their last meeting; second, symbolically, by naming his most famous palace Sans Souci’: see Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 31–69.
20 For a brief list see, C. Saunders, ‘Towards Understanding South Africa’s Past: Reflections on Recent Developments in History Writing in English’, South Africa International, 19, 2 (1988), 65–73; B. Bozzoli and P. Delus, ‘Hegemony, Essentialism, and Radical History’, Radical History Review, 46, 7 (1990), 13–45; A. Odendaal, ‘Developments in Popular History in the Western Cape in the 1980s’, Radical History Review, 46, 7 (1990), 369–375; M. Legassick and G. Minkley, ‘Current Trends in the Production of South African History’, Alternation, 5, 1 (1998), 98–129; L. Witz and C. Rassool, ‘Making Histories’, Kronos, 34 (2008), 6–15; A Coombes, ‘The Gender of Memory in Post-Apartheid South Africa’, in S. Radstone and B. Schwarz, eds, Memory: Histories, Theories and Debates (New York: Fordham University Press, 2010), 442–457.
21 J. Soske, A. Lissoni, and N. Erlank, ‘One Hundred Years of the ANC: Debating Struggle History after Apartheid’, in A. Lissoni, J. Soske, N. Erlank, N. Nieftagodien, O. Badsha, eds., One Hundred Years of the ANC: Debating Liberation Histories Today (Johannesburg, Wits University Press, 2012), 30-31.
22 T. Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 (Harlow, Longman, 1983), 22.
23 M. Legassick, ‘Racism and Guerrilla Struggle in Southern Africa’, Africa Today, 15, 1 (1968), 3–5; R. Ralinala, J. Sithole, G. Houston, and B. Magubane, ‘The Wankie and Sipolilo Campaigns’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Volume 1 [1960–1970] (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2004), 435–490; L. Callinicos, Oliver Tambo: Beyond the Engeli Mountains (Claremont: David Philip, 2004), 321–324.
24 H. Macmillan (compiler), ‘The “Hani Memorandum” – introduced and annotated’, Transformation, 69 (2000), 106–129.
25 N. Ndebele and N. Nieftagodien, ‘The Morogoro Conference: A Moment Of Self-Reflection’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Volume 1 [1960–1970] (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2004), 521–544; H. Macmillan, ‘Morogoro and Africa: The Continuing Crisis in the African National Congress (of South Africa) in Zambia’, in H. Sapire and C. Saunders, eds, Southern African Liberation Struggles: New Local, Regional and Global Perspectives (Cape Town: UCT Press, 2013), 76–95; T. Simpson, Umkhonto We Sizwe: The ANC’s Armed Struggle (Cape Town: Penguin Books, 2016), 133–166.
26 ANC Archives, OTP/004/0035/01, ‘Notes on Concerns of Comrades after Morogoro’, n.d., no author, page numbers unclear; G. Houston, ‘Oliver Tambo and the Challenges of the ANC’s Military Camps’, The Thinker, 58 (2013), 20–23.
27 Macmillan, The Lusaka Years, 79–84.
28 Shubin, ANC: A View from Moscow, 78–80; R. Aminzade, Race, Nation, and Citizenship in Post-Colonial Africa: The Case of Tanzania (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 168–169.
29 Author unclear, ‘Tanzanian Treason Trial Entering Third Week’, New York Times, 30 July 1970, p. 12, http://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/13/archives/tanzanian-treason-trial-entering-third-week.html, accessed 20 December 2017.
30 Ellis and Sechaba, Comrades against Apartheid, 53–55.
31 WHP A2675/I/35, Victoria Butler interview with Joe Slovo, February 1988, 1–4; WHP A2675/I/14, Howard Barrell first interview with Ronnie Kasrils, 19 August 1989, 241–242; Houston and Magubane, The Road to Democracy in South Africa: Vol. 2 [1970–1980], 454–460; P. Landau, ‘The ANC, MK, and “The Turn to Violence” (1960–1962)’, South African Historical Journal, 64, 3 (2012), 559–560; Macmillan, The Lusaka Years, 101–106.
32 T. Karis and G. Gerhart, ‘Preface’, in T. Karis and G. Gerhart, eds, From Protest to Challenge, xxi–xxiv.
33 Callinicos, Oliver Tambo, 346–347.
34 ANC Archives OTP/004/0033/01, ‘Letter from Oliver Tambo to Unknown’, 7 November 1970, 3.
35 Ibid., 6–7.
36 Ibid., 8. On Nkrumah’s public embrace of Black Power as a global movement relevant to Africa see K. Nkrumah, The Spectre of Black Power (London: Panaf Books, 1969).
37 ANC Archives OTP/029/0248/09, ‘Suggested Tactics and Strategy in the Mobilisation and Organisation of Africans for the Revolution’, n.d., but probably 1970/1971, p. 5.
38 Ibid., p. 13.
39 ANC Archives LUM/053/0007/21, ‘Report of the Secretary-General to the July Session of the National Executive Committee’, 1 July 1971, p. 4.
40 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, A. Sibeko, ‘South African Students Protest’, in African Communist, No. 44, 1st Quarter 1971, 1 March 1971, 51.
41 ANC Archives LUM/053/0007/09, ‘Report on the A.N.C. Youth and Students Summer School held from 1–14 August 1971 in the District of Erfurt G.D.R’, 1–4.
42 Ibid., 2.
43 ANC Archives LUM/053/0007/11, ‘Resolutions of the Enlarged National Executive Committee Meeting’, 27–31 August 1971, p. 3 [possibly a draft].
44 J. Brown, ‘SASO’s Reluctant Embrace of Public Forms of Protest, 1968–1972’, South African Historical Journal, 62, 4 (2010), 716–734; J. Brown, ‘An Experiment in Confrontation: The Pro-Frelimo Rallies of 1974’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 38, 1 (2012), 55–71; A. Heffernan, ‘Black Consciousness’s Lost Leader: Abraham Tiro, the University of the North, and the Seeds of South Africa’s Student Movement in the 1970s’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 41, 1 (2015), 173–186.
45 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, D. Crowe, ‘On Black Consciousness’, Sechaba, 6, 9 (September 1972), 11 and ‘A Reply to Dan Crow on […] Black Consciousness’, Sechaba, 7, 2 (February 1973), NAHECS Collection and O. Setlhapelo, ‘Letters to the Editor: On Black Consciousness’, Sechaba, 7, 10/11/12 (October/November/December 1973), 54–56.
46 ANC Archives LUM/053/0008/03, ‘Report of the Secretary to the Meeting of the Revolutionary Council, Lusaka, 9 October, 1972’, October 11th, 1972, 1.
47 Ibid., 5.
48 Ibid., 1–14.
49 Ibid., 8–9.
50 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, A. Sibeko, ‘Students fight for freedom’, 73–87.
51 Barney Pityana would later join the ANC-SA although he has claimed this did not mean he renounced his BC politics.
52 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, A. Sibeko, ‘Students fight for freedom’, 81.
53 Ibid., 82.
54 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, ‘Unity is the key: Statement of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party’, in African Communist, No. 52, 1st Quarter 1973, 1 March 1973, p. 26.
55 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, ‘Black students unite’, Sechaba, 7, 1 (January 1973), 2–5.
56 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, ‘A New Black Movement is formed’, Sechaba, 7, 3 (March 1973), 4–5.
57 ANC Archives LUM/090/0002/07, ‘Letter to the Secretary General of the OAU from Alfred Nzo’, 2 February 1973, p. 1.
58 Ibid., p. 1.
59 In particular see ANC Archives NAHECS, O. Setlhapelo, ‘Letters to the Editor: On Black Consciousness’, Sechaba, 7, 10/11/12 (October/November/December 1973), 54.
60 Nolutshungu, Changing South Africa, 171–172, 180.
61 Gerhart, Black Power in South Africa, 260–264; Nolutshungu, Changing South Africa, 160; M. Motlhabi, The Theory and Practice of Black Resistance to Apartheid: A Social-Ethical Analysis (South Africa: Skotaville, 1984), 106–153; R. Fatton Jr., Black Consciousness in South Africa: The Dialectics of Ideological Resistance to White Supremacy (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986), 75; C. Halisi, ‘Biko and Black Consciousness Philosophy: An Interpretation’, in B. Pityana, M. Ramphele, M. Mpumlwana, and L. Wilson, eds, Bounds of Possibility: The Legacy of Steve Biko and Black Consciousness (Cape Town: David Philip, 1991), 100–110; B. Mafuna, ‘The Impact of Steve Biko on My Life’, in C. van Wyk, ed., We Write What We Like: Celebrating Steve Biko (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2007), 77–89; M. Marable and P. Joseph, ‘Steve Biko and the International Context of Black Consciousness’, in A. Mngxitama, A. Alexander, and N. Gibson, eds, Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), vii–x; D. Magaziner, The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968–1972 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010), 47–50.
62 K. Mokoape, T. Mtintso, and W. Nhlapo, ‘Towards the Armed Struggle’, in B. Pityana, M. Ramphele, M. Mpumlwana, and L. Wilson, eds, Bounds of Possibility: The Legacy of Steve Biko and Black Consciousness (Cape Town: David Phillip, 1991), 137–142; T. Karis and G. Gerhart, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement: Confronting the State, 1972–1976’, in T. Karis and G. Gerhart, eds, From Protest to Challenge, 120–155; A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882–1990, Volume 5, Nadir and Resurgence, 1964–1979 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997). Mafuna was also fleeing bannings orders he had received with other SASO/BPC members in March 1973. However, in an interview with him he made it clear he was leaving anyways, the bannings merely accelerated his plans. See Toivo Asheeke interview with Bokwe Mafuna, 7 December 2016, Johannesburg, 1–5.
63 Nolutshungu, Changing South Africa, 171–172, 178–186; M. Mangena, On Your Own: Evolution of Black Consciousness in South Africa/Azania (Braamfontein: Skotaville, 1989), 150–151; M. Mangena, Triumphs and Heartaches: A Courageous Journey by South African Patriots (Johannesburg: Picador Africa, 2015), 59–60. For a more comprehensive piece on the APLF yet to be published see T. Asheeke, ‘Arming Black Consciousness: The Turn to Armed Struggle and the Formation of the Bokwe Group/Azanian Peoples’ Liberation Front (APLF), April 1972–September 1976’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 2018 or 2019 (forthcoming).
64 ANC Archives, OTP/035/0304/01, D. Gadibone and B. Nguna, ‘The Joint Statement’, July 9th, 1977, p. 1; ANC Archives Lusaka Mission Part II (hereafter LUM) 088/0043/02, W. Nhlapo and T. Mafole, ‘The Exile: Black Consciousness Movement Students’, December 6th, 1977, p. 3; Mokoape, Mtintso, and Nhlapo, ‘Towards the Armed Struggle’, 139; W. Gumede, Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), 1–30; S. Zikalala, ‘Snuki Zikalala’, in S. Ndlovu and M. Strydom, eds, The Thabo Mbeki I Know (Johannesburg: Pan Macmillan, 2016), 320.
65 G. Houston and B. Magubane, ‘The ANC Political Underground in the 1970s’, 403. Undoubtedly, the increased activism of SASO inside the country was influential to this decision as events like the FRELIMO rallies had galvanised many: see J. Brown, ‘An Experiment in Confrontation: The Pro-Frelimo Rallies of 1974’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 38, 1 (2012), 55–71.
66 WHP A2675/I/35, T. Karis, G. Gerhart, and S. Thobejane interview with Joe Slovo, Johannesburg, 15 October 1990, p. 6
67 ANC Archives, OTP/035/0304/01, Gadibone and Nguna, ‘The Joint Statement’, 1; ANC Archives Lusaka Mission Part II 088/0043/02, W. Nhlapo and T. Mafole, ‘The Exile: Black Consciousness Movement Students’, 3; Mokoape, Mtintso, and Nhlapo, ‘Towards the Armed Struggle’, 139.
68 ANC Archives, OTP/035/0304/01, Gadibone and Nguna, ‘The Joint Statement’, 4–5.
69 T. Sellstrom, Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa Vol. II: Solidarity and Assistance, 1970–1994 (Uppsala, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2002), 398–410
70 The qualifier of ANC-SA in exile is critical here as internally, given the repressive conditions of living under the apartheid police state, the various movements (PAC, BCM, ANC-SA) worked relatively well together as they needed to rely on each other to survive.
71 Mafeje, ‘Soweto and Its Aftermath’, 17–30; N. Diseko, ‘The Origins and Development of the South African Student’s Movement (SASM): 1968–1976’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 1 (1992), 40–62; T. Karis and G. Gerhart, ‘The 1976 Soweto Uprising’, in Karis and Gerhart, From Protest to Challenge, 156–188; T. Simpson, ‘Main Machinery: The ANC’s Armed Underground in Johannesburg During the 1976 Soweto Uprising’, African Studies, 70, 3 (2011), 415–436; Hirson, Year of Fire, Year of Ash, 174–213; S. Mkhabela, ‘Action and Fire in Soweto, June 1976’, in A. Heffernan and N. Nieftagodien, eds, Students Must Rise: Youth Struggle in South Africa before and beyond Soweto ’76 (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2016), 55–64.
72 S. Ndlovu, ‘The Soweto Uprising: Part I: Soweto’, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Vol. 2 [1970–1980] (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2007), 317–350; Brown, The Road to Soweto, 160–177.
73 Houston and Magubane, ‘The ANC Political Underground in the 1970s’, 371–451.
74 WHP A2675/III/796, D. Ndlovu, ‘Amandla! The Story of the Soweto Students Representative Council’, in Weekend World, 31 July–28 August 1977 five part series, 4–7. We want to make it clear here that many of the early leaders of the Soweto Uprising did not hold such negative views towards the ANC-SA, as will be briefly shown later. In exile however these two figures, Mashinini and Seatlholo, grew to prominence given their leadership of the SSRC.
75 Karis and Gerhart, ‘The Liberation Movements, 1975–1979’, in Karis and Gerhart, From Protest to Challenge: Volume 5 (1997), 282.
76 WHP A2675/I/20, Interview with Tsietsi Mashinini on Black TV, 9 January 1977, New York City, 1–7; WHP A2675/I/20 G. Gerhart, ‘Notes/report on Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seatlholo speaking at a meeting sponsored by NSCAR (National Student Coalition against Racism) at Horace Bond auditorium’, Columbia, 25 February 1977, 1–2; WHP A2675/I/17, Interview with George Houser and Prexy Nesbitt, 30 March 1977 by Tom Karis, p. 1; ANC Archives, OTP/035/0304/01, D. Gadibone and B. Nguna, ‘The Joint Statement’, 4; G. Houston, ed., N. Ramoupi interview, ‘Mji, Sikose’, in A. Temu and J. Tembe, eds, Southern African Liberation Struggles: Contemporaneous Documents, 19601–1994/Liberation War Countries (continued), Vol. 4 (Dar es Salaam: Mkuki Na Nyota, 2014), 390–392, 404.
77 WHP A2675/I/20, Interview with Tsietsi Mashinini on Black TV, 9 January 1977, New York City, 1–7; WHP A2675/I/20 G. Gerhart, ‘Notes/report on Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seatlholo speaking at a meeting sponsored by NSCAR (National Student Coalition against Racism) at Horace Bond auditorium’, Columbia, 25 February 1977 (1–2).
78 G. Benneywort, ‘Armed and Trained: Nelson Mandela’s 1962 Military Mission as Commander in Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe and Provenance for his Buried Makarov Pistol’, South African Historical Journal, 63, 1 (2011), 78–101.
79 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, N. Dlamini, ‘The ANC is the answer’, Sechaba, 11, 2nd Quarter 1977 (April 1977), 25–37.
80 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, T. Motapanyane, ‘How June 16 Demonstration was planned’, in Sechaba, 11, 2nd Quarter 1977 (April 1977), 49–59.
81 Recent research by MK historian Thula Simpson has argued that while the ANC-SA underground was present during the Soweto Uprising, it did not cause or instigate it : see T. Simpson, ‘Main Machinery: The ANC’s Armed Underground in Johannesburg During the 1976 Soweto Uprising’, African Studies, 70, 3 (2011), 415–436.
82 Houston, N. Ramoupi interview, ‘Mji, Sikose’, 387–399.
83 This speech took place on 23 November 1976.
84 Houston, N. Ramoupi interview, ‘Mji, Sikose’, 400–404.
85 Ibid., 404.
86 Ibid, 406–407.
87 Karis and Gerhart, eds, ‘Document 108. Report on meeting of the ANC National Executive Committee, Morogoro?, July 15th – 24th, 1977 (abridged)’, in From Protest to Challenge, 700.
88 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, ‘The Way Forward from Soweto’ (Political Report Adopted by Central Committee of SACP April 1977’, African Communist, 70, Third Quarter 1977 (1 September 1977), 21–50.
89 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, O. Tambo, ‘ANC President Explains the Struggle: Oliver Tambo interviewed after the important summit meeting in Luanda’, Sechaba, 11, 4th Quarter 1977 (October 1977), 11.
90 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, A. Nzo, ‘Impact of the Underground ANC’, Sechaba, 11, 4th Quarter 1977 (October 1977, extracts from SG statement), 16.
91 University of Cape Town Special Collections: BC 1081 Jack Simons Collection, ANC – Umkhonto We Sizwe Diarised Notes; Folder P.29.10.4.
92 ANC Archives OTP/069/0717/02, P. Laurence, ‘Man of deep conviction’, in Daily Dispatch, 15 September 1977, Patrick Laurence; ‘US Urges caution in future dealings with South Africa’ (SR/65/11/21/77), 1–3.
93 ANC Archives LUM/053/0008/25, A. Nzo, ‘Statement on recent Kruger Bannings broadcast over Radio Freedom Luanda’, October 25th, 1977, p. 3.
94 ANC Archives LUM/054/0089/02, ‘African National Congress (S.A.) Programme of Action for 1978’ (date and author unclear, presumably it is the end of 1977), p. 3.
95 On some of the newer BCM formations in exile after APLF see, Maaba and Mzamane, ‘The Black Consciousness Movement of Azanian’, 1361–1398; Mangena, Triumphs and Heartaches; also see the forthcoming piece on the dynamics of BCM’s exile organisations, T. Asheeke, ‘Picking up the Pieces: Fighting for Unity under the banner of Black Consciousness, October 1976 – January 1990’.
96 ANC Archives OTP/028/0229/01, Dilinga, ‘Letter to the President-General: Urgent and Confidential’, 29 April 1978, 1–2.
97 ANC Archives LUM/008/0050/01, ‘Top Secret: Summary of Top Level Consultations between Lesotho and ANC (SA) held in Maputo on 5th and 6th June 1978’, 5.
98 ANC Archives LUM/054/0009/08, ‘A Statement by the African National Congress of South Africa at the Board and Assembly meeting of the IUEF held in Geneva on 1st–5th December, 1978’, 2.
99 WHP A2675/I/35, Victoria Butler interview with Joe Slovo, February 1988, 1–4; WHP A2675/I/14, Howard Barrell first interview with Ronnie Kasrils, August 19th, 1989, 241–242; WHP A2675/I/35, T. Karis, G. Gerhart, and S. Thobejane interview with Joe Slovo, Johannesburg, 15 October 1990, p. 6.
100 ANC Archives NAHECS Collection, ‘O.R. Tambo: January 8th Message’, Sechaba (April 1979), 2–5.
101 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/01, A. Nzo, ‘Statement of the National Executive Committee of the ANC on some questions of the unity of the Patriotic Forces of South Africa’, July 4th, 1979, 1–10.
102 Ibid., 6.
103 WHP A2675/I/13, ‘Gail Gerhart interview with Peter Jones, Cape Town, July 21st, 1989’, 12–18; WHP A2675/I/26, ‘Gail Gerhart interview with Malusi Mpumlwana, New York, November 30th, 1987’, 1–6; L. Wilson, ‘Bantu Steve Biko: A Life’, in B. Pityana, M. Ramphele, M. Mpumlwana, and L. Wilson, eds, Bounds of Possibility: The Legacy of Steve Biko and Black Consciousness (Cape Town: David Philip 1991), 66–67; N. Alexander, ‘An Illuminating Moment’, in A. Mngxitama, A. Alexander, and N. Gibson, eds, Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 157–180.
104 ANC Archives LUM/088/0045/01, ‘Memorandum on B.P.C. External Affairs Programme’, 5; ANC Archives LUM/088/0045/02, ‘Minutes of Extra-Ordinary B.P.C. Congress held in Durban’, 29 January 1977, pp, 4–7; WHP A2675/I/26, Gail Gerhart interview with Malusi Mpumlwana’, 7 August 1989, 12.
105 ANC Archives LUM/082/0010/67, ‘Letter from O.R. Tambo to Mr. Ranwedzi Nengwekhulu’, date unclear probably October 1977, pag. also unclear; ANC Archives LUM/082/0010/54, ‘Letter from M.G. Makgothi to Mr. Ranwedzi Nengwekhulu’, p. 1; ANC Archives LUM/082/0010/02, ‘Letter from Alfred Nzo to Mr. Ranwedzi Nengwekhulu’, February 7th, 1979, p. 1; ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/10, ‘Letter from Joe Nhlanhla to Mr. Randwedzi Nengwekhulu’, 23 August 1979, 1.
106 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/07, ‘Letter from B. Pityana to Zambian High Commission’, 13 June 1979, 1.
107 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/09, ‘Letter from Randwedzi Nengwekhulu to Mr. O.R. Tambo’, 8 August 1979, 1.
108 ANC Archives LUM/027/0005/02, ‘Report of ANC Delegation to Lesotho composed of Comrades J. Nhlanhla and Cassius Make’, 7/9/79–10/9/79, 2.
109 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/17, ‘Summary of Proceedings in Consultation between the African National Congress and Representatives of Black Consciousness’, 8 December 1979, 1–5; Charles Mthombeni Interview by Toivo Asheeke, Soweto, Orlando East, 30 November 2016, 20–23; Strike Thokoane Interview by Toivo Asheeke, Meyerton, 2 December 2016, 12–13; Ranwedzi Nengwekhulu Interview by Toivo Asheeke, Pretoria, 17 January 2017, 16.
110 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/17, ‘Summary of Proceedings in Consultation between the African National Congress and Representatives of Black Consciousness’, 8 December 1979, 1. Note, this seems to be honest to Biko’s original intentions according to an interview with Peter Jones. However, even Jones admitted that Biko and others who were on the inside did not know how complex the exile scene was. In hindsight, this proposal was naïve and other agreements would have been made had Biko and others gained a better understanding of the politics of exile. Bringing the organisations together the way they envisioned just wouldn’t work. See WHP A2675/I/13, ‘Gail Gerhart interview with Peter Jones, Cape Town, July 21st, 1989’, 12–13. I also wish to note that Welile Nhlapo while spending most of the 1970s as an activist for BCM, came from an ANC-SA family like many others. Hence, in his mind, going to the ANC-SA was not a betrayal of BCM or BC ideas but a way to better carry them out : see Welile Nhlapo Interview with Toivo Asheeke, Johannesburg, 14 January 2017, 1–2.
111 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/17, ‘Summary of Proceedings in Consultation between the African National Congress and Representatives of Black Consciousness’, 8 December 1979, 2.
112 Ibid., 4.
113 Ibid., 5.
114 Ibid.
115 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/15, ‘Minutes of the Consultation Meeting [pre-meeting for BCM conference]’, 7 October 1979, pag. unclear; WHP A2675/III/275, ‘The Immediate Tasks of the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania, pamphlet of the External Wing’, n.d. but probably the latter part of 1980, 1–15.
116 G. Houston, ed., B. Maaba and X. Mangcu interview, ‘Buthelezi, Sipho’, in A. Temu and J. Tembe, eds, Southern African Liberation Struggles: Contemporaneous Documents, 19601–1994/Liberation War Countries (continued), Vol. 4 (Dar es Salaam: Mkuki Na Nyota, 2014), 12.
117 Strike Thokoane interview by Toivo Asheeke, Meyerton, 2 December 2016, 12–13.
118 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/20, ‘Letter from M.S. Choabi to Comrade Thabo’, 6 March 1980, 1. This letter is interesting because apparently Choabi claims to have heard from Pityana that he was going to join the ANC-SA and break with BCM publicly. The decision was being kept under wraps because he wanted to try and bring others with him. This has not been confirmed by Pityana with me or in other documents/interviews that I have read, however, this was the impression many delegates had of Pityana during the conference. Furthermore Pityana, like many others, came from an ANC-SA background, he while at Fort Hare University in the 1960s. For information on Pityana at Fort Hare see D. Massey, Under Protest: The Rise of Student Resistance at the University of Fort Hare (Pretoria: UNISA Press, 2010), 191–204; ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/21, ‘Press Release: Statement by Interim Committee on London Conference’, 6 May 1980, 1–2; LUM/088/0043/22, ‘New BCM Leaders slam ANC, PAC, Corruption’, SANA Bulletin, No. 13 (May 1980), 1, 3; WHP A2675/I/14, ‘Tom Karis telephone interview with Ben Khoapa, Cleveland, October 11th, 1980’, 1–3.
119 ANC Archives LUM/088/0043/26, ‘Positions and Suggestions to B.C.M. Re-Organisational Conference (Isandlwana Revolutionary Effort – a B.C.M Collective’, n.d., 24–26; Mangena, Triumphs and Heartaches, 60–61; Charles Mthombeni interview by Toivo Asheeke, Soweto, Orlando East, 30 November 2016, 9–10; Vusi Mchunu Interview by Toivo Asheeke, Johannesburg, 15 December 2016, 13–21. Vusi Mchunu and Mthombeni were members of the IRE.
120 M. Mangena, Triumphs and Heartaches.
121 ANC Archives OTP/055/0521/01, O. Tambo, ‘Political Report of the National Executive Committee to the National Consultative Conference, June 1985 President by the President of the ANC’, 6–37.
122 Ibid., 9. Not that depending on different sources BC was spelled Black Consciousness or Black consciousness. My work generally follows the former to denote the political philosophy vs others who mention BC, particularly those in the ANC-SA and PAC, and spell it with a small c. Tambo in this speech in the ANC-SA archives spells it with a lower case c and that is being respected in this quote.
123 Ibid., 13.
124 Ibid., 17.
125 Ibid., 18.
126 Even top ranking ANC-SA members in the Forward Areas like Stanley Mabizela recognised this reality during the 1970s: see WHP A2675/I/16, ‘Interview with Stanley Mabizela by Dan Swansen’, more than likely early 1980, 25–26.
127 Sellstrom, Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa, Volume II, 400–413.
128 Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa since 1945, 339; Suttner, The ANC Underground in South Africa, 59; Sellstrom, Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa, 407.