Sechaba, May 1986

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Page 1 of 38 Alternative title Sechaba Author/Creator African National Congress (Lusaka, Zambia) Publisher African National Congress (Lusaka, Zambia) Date 1986-05 Resource type Journals (Periodicals) Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) Coverage (temporal) 1986 Source Digital Imaging South Africa (DISA) Rights By kind permission of the African National Congress (ANC). Format extent 36 page(s) (length/size)

Page 2 of 38 SECHABAofficial organ of the african national congress south africaMAY 1986MOSES MABHIDA 1923 - 1986

Page 3 of 38 SECHABA and other ANCpublications are obtainablefrom the followingANC addresses:ALGERIA5 Rue Ben M'hidi LarbiAlgiers.ANGOLAPO Box 3523Luanda.AUSTRALIABox 49 Trades Hall (Room 23)4 Goulburn StreetSydney NSW 2000.BELGIUM9c Rue de RUSSiC 1060Bruxelles.CANADAPO Box 302Adelaide Postal StationTorontoOntario M5C-214.CUBACalle 21aNR 20617Esyuina 214 AtaheyHa\ ana.DENMARKLandgreven 7/3 1301Copenhagen K.l1i't P 15 Ahmad I%hmat StreetZanlalckCairo.ETHIOPIAPO Box 7483Addis Ababa.I R \\('I18 Rue des Petites Ecuries75010 Parisl&ll\IA\ DLMOCRAIIC RLPI 1iLILAngerweg 2WilhehnsruhBerlin 1106.FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANYPosttach 1901405300 Bonn I.INDIAFlat 68Bhagat Singh MarketNew -Delhi I .ITALYVia S. Prisca ISa00153 Rome.MADAGASCARPO Box 80Tananarive.NIGERIAFederal GovernmentSpecial Guest HouseVictoria IslandLagos.SENEGAL26 Avenue Albert SarrautDakar Box 34 20.SWEDENPO Box 2073 S-103 12Stockholm 2.TANZANIAPO Box 2239 Dar es Salaam.PO Box 680 Morogoro.UNITED KINGDOMPO Box 3828 Penton StreetLondon NI 9PRUNITED STATES801 Second Avenue Apt 405New York NYC 10017ZAMBIAPO Box 31791Lusaka.LISTEN TO:Radio FreedomVoice of the African National Congressand , the People's Army.Radio Luandashort wave: 30 & 40 in. bandsmedium wave: 27.6 in. band7.30 p.m. daily.Radio Lusakashots wave: 31 m. band. 9580 KHz7.15-8.00 p.m. Monday to Friday10.05-10.35 p.m. Wednesday10.30-11.00 p.m. Friday7.00-8.00 p.m. Saturday8.00-8.45 p.m. Sunday, 17895 KH/.Radio Madagascarshort wave: 49 m. hand, 6135 KHz9.30-10.00 p.m. daily.Radio Ethiopiashort wave: 31 m. band. 9545 KH/9.30-16.00 p.m. daily.Radio TanzaniaShort wave: 19 m. hand. 15435 KHzSunday. Monday. Wednesday. Friday.8.15 p.m.31 m, band,Tuesday. Thursday & Saturday.6.15 a.m.Published be theAfrican National Congress of South AfricaP.O. Box 31791, LUSAKA, ZAMBIAPrinted by the Druckerei 'Erich Weinert',20011 Neubrandenburg, G.D.R.

Page 4 of 38 SOUTH AFRICAN AND MOZAMBICANSHONOUR A GREAT REVOLUTIONARYHAMBA KAHLE MOSES MABHIDA

Page 5 of 38 ECHABAMAY 1986EDITORIALLiberating Education ...... IPEOPLE'S WAR, REVOLUTION AND INSURRECTIONRonnie Kasrils speaks to Sechaba...... 2STATEMENT: COSATU, SACTU AND THE ANC ...... I IANC INTERNATIONAL ...... 13APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA DESTABILISES ZIMBABWEBy Jeffrey Khensani Mathebula ...... 14CENTRE PAGEMake May Day a Paid Holiday ...... 16BOOK REVIEWS ...... 24OBITUARYHamba Kahle Comrade Moses Mabhida ...... 28Back cover, top: (from left to right) Steve Dlamini, OR Tambo,Dorothv Nvembe, Gladys Manzi, Josephine Bhala and Jean Noel.Bottom: A guard of honour from the Mozambican Armed Forcesat the coffin of Comrade Mabhida.

Page 6 of 38 EDITORIALLIBERATING EDUCATIONThe December 1985 Consultative Conference onEducation decided that pupils should return toschools after a lengthy boycott where, in someschools, attendance was bordering on zero. Thiswas subject to Pretoria fulfilling certain demandswithin three months.The Second National Consultative Con-ference, which met in in March, was call-ed to assess and evaluate progress in this regardand to decide on what action to be taken.Before the opening of this important con-ference, which was attended by 1 500 people,the delegates stood with raised fists and observ-ed a minute of silence in memory of the recentlydeceased Comrade Moses Mabhida.The National Education Crisis Committee(NECC) had convened the conference, but themain force behind the committee was the UDF.The NECC meeting this March decided not toboycott the reopening of Black schools on April2nd. But several demands were made: free tui-tion and books for children of all race groups(free tuition in South Africa is only for Whitesup to the age of 16); the rebuilding of all schools;the unbanning of COSAS; the removal of troopsfrom the townships and that the state should pro-vide creches, nursery schools and after schoolcentres for all children.The NECC conference did not erect an ar-tificial wall between educational and politicalmatters. It went further and called for a stayawayon June 16th, 17th and 18th to mark the tenthanniversary of the uprising. June 16thwas declared a National Youth Day. The con-ference came out with a call for a May Daystayaway to celebrate the centenary of the day.It condemned Reagan's support for UNITA anddemanded the release of all political prisonersand detainees, including students and teachers.New and creative techniques were discussedand adopted, such as taking control of schools,using them as a base for political organisationand introducing a liberation-oriented "people'seducation." The consumer boycott of Whitebusinesses, refusal to pay rent and work andschool stayawys were all part of thesetechniques.There were disturbing incidents at the con-ference -the Buthelezi-Muzorewa option. Gat-sha Buthelezi said the NECC did not concernitself with educational matters, and indeed theychose Durban as a venue because they wanthdto mobilise Black pupils there to do their politicalwork for them. Rather full of himself and ex-pressing an inflated and exaggerated opinion ofhis importance, he said the conference was aim-ed at giving evidence that it was possible "to at-tack me from bases very near my home."The NECC conference suffered sporadic at-tacks by Gatsha's Inkatha; people who were arm-ed with sticks, rocks and assegais; people whowere ferried by two PUTCO buses hired by In-katha to storm the delegates four hours beforethe start of the conference. These Inkatha peo-ple are supposed to be as concerned about theirchildren's future as any parent should be. Twoof them died during the attack, and the conferencedeclared that Inkatha is an "enemy of the people"which has to be exposed, isolated and foughtagainst because it is in league with the racists.This conference was not just another meetingat which political slogans were shouted.7herewas a recognition of the link between nationalliberation and a liberated education; an educa-tion system initiated by the people and accoun-table to the people. The students, parents andteachers do not want an education equal to thatof the Whites, but are fighting for a new educa-tion system that is free, equal, democratic anddynamic. This is all the more so because theBlacks see the present education system aspreparing them for subservience and dividingthem into classes and ethnic groups. No visionof a better society. The future of Black educa-tion must be decided by Black parents, teachersand pupils rather than by the state. This unity inaction helps to destroy social stereotypes suchas young rebel street fighters versus confused,conservative parents.It is this unity in action that the ANC calls for.We must fight the enemy on all fronts. Theeducation front is an important battlefield.

Page 7 of 38 PEOPLE'S WAR.,REVOLUTION 8INSURRECTIONRonnie Kasrils speaks to SechabaRonnie Kasrils, a member of Umkhonto weSizwe from its beginnings, spoke to Sechabaabout the development of MK and the unfoldingof the people's war.What can you * tell us about the growth ofUmkhonto we Sizwe over 25 years, in numericalstrength, arms and training and influence amongthe people of South Africa?MK has made tremendous strides in admittedlya long period, but a very difficult period of ourhistory. It has grown out of a few small sabotageunits which were based in the main centres of ourcountry in 1961. A couple of hundred bravecadres constituted the vanguard of the people'sarmy-to-be, and performed heroic deeds. Severalhundred more were recruited in that period fortraining abroad, and left the country.We were based inside our country, rootedamong our people. We had the political base ofthe ANC and the SACP to rely on. We were link-ed to the people and to the political organisationsand the leadership. This was a. great advantageof that time.Those first units received rudimentary train-ing inside South Africa. We made our own ex-plosives from chemical powders; dynamite stickswere smuggled out of the mines, or we stole ex-plosives in raids on quarries. We embarked withhigh hopes on the first phase of our armed strug-gle, and that was sabotage action.Our leadership had decided to embark on themode of armed struggle because all forms ofpeaceful struggle had been exhausted, and it wasnecessary to demonstrate that we were embark-ing on a new form of struggle. The sabotage cam-paign was intended to give us experience in thisnew form of struggle, and to enable us to strikeblows at the regime and its economy (which isvulnerable to such actions); it was meant to in-spire our people, and build our forces, thenucleus of a people's army to be. This was aperiod of armed propaganda, propaganda byforce.We waited expectantly for the return of thosewho had gone abroad to acquire the advancedskills of warfare. On their return, it would be timefor the launching of the armed struggle proper.There were actions against the lines of com-munication in the country - the railways, elec-trical installations - pylons were a key target- and on occasions cities were plunged intodarkness. There were audacious blows againstgovernment buildings, like pass offices, and in

Page 8 of 38 1962 the office of the Minister of Agriculture inPretoria, the heart of the government centre, wasblown up and demolished.We shall never forget some of those earlyleaders of MK, such as the great Vuyisile Mini,Zinakile Mkaba and Wilson Khayingo, who wereexecuted for their activities, Looksmart Solwan-dle Ngudle, who died in detention, comrades likeJack Hodgson, who taught us the skills he hadlearned during the war, and the redoubtable JoeGqabi.Of course our early hopes and expectationswere dashed by the ferocity of the enemy'scounter-attack. We had to learn the hard wayabout mastering clandestine methods. It is historythat with the Rivonia arrests in 1963 our leader-ship was imprisoned or forced into exile, and ourmovement at home crippled. To a certain extent,the people were demoralised as a result, and inthose ensuing years, the mass struggle was cer-tainly at a low ebb. The regime thought they hadsmashed the movement, and repeatedly boastedabout it.Of course they were to be proved wrong; butall this was a great setback to our plans. Therewas no surrender; we strove to push on with thestruggle. At the most difficult period a comradelike , heading Umkhonto in theperiod 1963-64, managed to carry on with someactions, but in the end he and his group were alsoarrested.The spirit of determination and commitmentto the struggle was best demonstrated in the Zim-babwe campaign of 1967-68 and the deeds of theLutholi Detachment. Their aim, of course, wasto reach home and begin guerrilla-type actionsthere. Our comrades fought gloriously, and manydied; among them, comrades who shall never beforgotten,like Delmas Sibanyoni, JamesMasimini, Paul Petersen (Basil February),Patrick Molaoa, Michael Pooe.Many of the comrades who fought in that cam-paign are leaders of MK today; and, though wefailed in our objective of getting home, our com-rades gained invaluable experience. This was anhistoric milestone in the struggle, and a true bap-tism of fire.One problem of the time was the fact that wewere a long way from our country. Also ourinderground inside the country had virtually-eased to exist, and the situation at home was cer-tainly no stormy period of mass struggle.We still kept trying over the next few years,however, and never stopped the process of in-filtration. But the going was slow.It was the upsurge of struggle at home in theperiod 1973-74, the big strikes, and then the newmood of the youth, the of 1976,that changed the situation. The Soweto uprisingwas like a flash of lightning that showed an en-tire generation the need for arms, and it herald-ed a period when mass struggle was once morein the ascendant. This struggle of our people hasgrown dramatically year by year, and now monthby month, virtually week by week. Hundreds andeven thousands of recruits have joined Umkhontoas a result. Our people's army has grown tremen-dously. We now possess many skills and, thanksto our friends in the socialist world, especiallythe Soviet Union, we have at our disposal allforms of modern weapons suited to our struggle.This period has witnessed a great and dramaticincrease in the combat actions at home, includingmany brilliant and brave ones. There have beenthe attacks on SASOL and Voortrekkerhoogte,Koeberg, the bomb blast outside the SouthAfrican Air Force headquarters in Pretoria, theattacks on the enemy's communications, thelimpet and land mine attacks on his borders anddeep in the country. Most significantly, there wasthe land mine action in Mamelodi recently, wherean armoured vehicle full of soldiers wasdestroyed. Grenade attacks are now taking placein many of the townships from the Cape to theReef, and there was the recent audacious bombblast at Square. There have beenphysical attacks on soldiers and police, so wenow see mounting casualties on the side of theenemy. All these demonstrate the effectivenessof our combatants, and some of the actions showtremendous skill.MK has never been so popular among youngand old as it is now, and we witness at thedemonstrations and funerals the people clad inkhaki uniforms and berets, carrying wooden AKrifles and singing MK songs. Hamba Kahle,Mkhonto! has become the song of the streets andbarricades, and it's clear that the stone throwers,the hurlers of petrol bombs, all regard themselvesas would-be soldiers of Umkhonto we Sizwe.I would like to mention the names of some ofour outstanding combatants, who, by their deedsand sacrifices, wrote glorious pages in the com-

Page 9 of 38 New Brighton, Port E7i7abeth, March 1986.bat record of Umkhonto We Sizwe during thisdecade of rebellion, and have contributed to therevolutionary upsurge of our people. They werecomrades such as Solomon Mahlangu, JerryMosololi, Marcus Motaung, Simon Mogoerane,who bravely faced the Pretoria hangmen. Therewere those who fell at Matola, Maseru. Gabaroneand elsewhere, such as Motso Mokgabudi,Mduduzi Gurna, Krish Rabilal, Zwelakhe Nyan-da, Nomkhosi Mini (daughter of Vuyisile),David Skosana, Titus Jobo and Harold Dantile(Morris). There were many who fought it out tothe last bullet or hand grenade, comrades suchas the Silverton heroes, Thami Makhuba,Wilfred Madela and Fanie Mafoko, LindaJubane, the "lion of _ Chiewelo," KhudugaMolokwane, the Dobsonville schoolteacher.There was Richard Molokoane (Barney), one ofour most outstanding commanders, who diedwith Victor Khayiyane and Vincento Sekete on-ly last December, after a daring bid to attackSasol once again with rockets, Linda Khuzwayo,who fell in Ingwavuma in 1984, LivingstoneGaza, Vincent Tshabalala, Lucas Njongwe,Eldridge Yakiti, Jerry Nene and Samuel Segola(Elias Banda), courageous fighters all, the lastfalling valiantly in a shoot-out with police asrecently as March this year in Katlehong.Martyrs like these, and our leaders and com-batants imprisoned for years for MK and otheractions, performed indispensable tasks, and willnever be forgotten. Their brave deeds inspire ourarmy and our people, and their spears have beenpicked up by others.You have described how MK played its role inpopularising the idea of armed revolutionaryforce. Of the other aims of MK itself, what stillremains to be done''One aim was the training and organisation of ourpeople as'armed combatants; to arm them. Thatis now our central task. Our army exists; we havea nucleus of trained combatants who are fightinginside the country, or receiving training abroad.But of course when we see our people, the peo-ple of South Africa, still largely confronting theenemy with stones in hand, we have to admit thatour aim of arming the people has a long way togo. That army of stone-throwers has to betransformed into an army with weapons. Ourpeople have the mood and spirit; every stone-thrower wants a gun. We have to put guns in theirhands.

Page 10 of 38 Another aim was to present an effectivemethod for the overthrow of White supremacyand the state. Without an instrumentof force we would be like the proverbial toothlessbulldog - all bark and no bite. So, for us, anotheressential task is the building up of our revolu-tionary army of the people.We're also achieving the merging of our com-batants with our people - that, after all, is aprerequisite for successful armed struggle andrevolution.We will only have achieved all our goals whenwe have achieved the seizure of power.Not all acts of revolutionary violence in SouthAfrica today can be attributed to NIK; many havecome from among the people. How do youevaluate these?In the last two years the insurrectionary moodof our people has grown; we've seen the peopleresorting to acts of force. Such acts have beeninspired by the example of MK, and by theANC's call to the nation, and our people show-ed their readiness to follow such a lead. Of coursethe people are reacting to their conditions of life,they're showing that they demand change. Wherepeople have no forms of democratic political ex-pression, then they must - it's only natural -find other ways to express their urge for chang-ed conditions of life. even to the point of sacrific-ing themselves, even to the point of death.We've seen the development among our peo-ple of forms of warfare, and our people are show-ing tremendous creativity. We've seen thegrowth of barricade tactics; we've seen the dig-ging of ditches and traps for the Hippos andCasspirs; we've seen barbed wire being strungacross the roads to catch the enemy forces; we'veseen the development of street fighting in themost tactical sense, the most skilful sense, withthe people using the labyrinth of township lanesand streets to lure the enemy into ambush. We'veseen the stone being transformed into the petrolbomb and hand grenade; we've seen the peopleusing knives to kill police and soldiers; we'veseen the people seizing the enemy's own weaponsto use against them. There was a story in the CapeTimes last year of a boy in Fort Beaufort whoused his catapult to damage a helicopter flyingoverhead - this is a wonderful example of theweapons our people are able to improvise anduse, and, side by side with limpet mines and handgrenades and AKs, home-made weapons have avery important part to play in our struggle.We've also seen people counter-attacking inthe White suburbs and city centres, creating con-fusion and fear in the enemy's ranks.We've seen them attacking the communitycouncillors and the informers - and here they'vehad to resort to rough justice, for the state relieson its loathsome army of sell-outs and informers,and, unless a people arisen can purge its com-munity of the enemy within, it is not possible toadvance.In this way the townships have been made po-go areas for the enemy. The first line of theenemy's control in the townships has beendestroyed. The enemy can only enter thosetownships in massive convoys, and all the timethose armoured convoys are being pelted bystones and are under fire from petrol bombs, sothat it's only for those fleeting minutes, as theconvoy passes the street, that a state force is pre-sent. In the vacuum that's left we've seen therudimentary organs of people's power beingcreated. This is a significant development,because our people are beginning to take con-trol of their lives, whether it's the question ofkeeping the streets clean or the question ofresponding to the death squads of the enemy andthe izimpimpi. In that situation we're seeing apeople's militia, a people's self-defence force,emerging; this is in its embryonic stage, too.Such developments are of tremendous revolu-tionary significance, and are part of the wholeclimate, the mood of insurrection.

Page 11 of 38 At present, we see the people with improvisedweapons fighting the army and the police, andon the other hand we see MK carrying out a dif-ferent kind of operation. You spoke earlier aboutMK "merging" with the people. How is this tobe done? Is MK a people's army or the nucleusof a people's army?With the transformation of the situation at home,our base is once more inside our country,amongst our people. What has been a low-intensity war over 25 years is now taking off in-to fully-fledged armed struggle and people's war,involving our people in their hundreds ofthousands. The mass struggle and the armedstruggle are merging in the sense that the armedstruggle is being situated among the masses, andour trained combatants are now able to mergeamong our risen people, more and more of whomare being brought into MK units at home.We have never held the view that an elite forceof guerrillas, of full-time combatants, wouldalone be the instrument of victory. It is the peo-ple who make history, who make revolutions,not an elite force. Our movement has alwayslooked to the people; our aim has always beento gain the active support of the people, and theirinvolvement. That is why we say ours is a peo-ple's war..Now a people's war surely needs a people'sarmy. What we are seeing at present is thepreliminary form of that revolutionary people'sarmy.As you say, at present we see MK actions onthe one hand and on the other the sometimesspontaneous, sometime organised, violence ofthe people. While the mass struggle shows theelements of revolutionary violence we have refer-red to, we cannot yet say it fully represents arm-ed force - after all, stone-throwing is stone-throwing, not skilful military operations. So thegap you mention is there.Our people are aroused for action, and whatthey really represent is an aroused political force.Our task is to transform the political force intoa revolutionary people's army. Lenin referredto this as transtormmg the "political army of therevolution" into the "revolutionary armedforces" or "the people in arms." This is what ourmovement has been calling a "people's army."Comrade, can you clarify further the concept ofa revolutionary people's army?I would say a revolutionary people's army mayconsist of three parts. First, there are the organis-ed advance detachments - the vanguard; second,the revolutionary armed people, and third, thoseelements of the enemy forces which may be wonover to the side of the revolution. The first andsecond parts alone would constitute a people'sarmy, but where elements of three are presenta much-sought-after third dimension is achiev-ed, as with the Bolshevik, Chinese and Cubanexperiences.. The organised vanguard detachment - in ourcase, MK - is, in terms of your previous ques-tion, the nucleus of the people's army. This isthe element that is organised initially into com-bat units of various types, which may be urbancombat groups, sabotage units, assassinationsquads, and other special forces situatedanywhere in the countryside, town or city, andacting, of necessity, in a clandestine, secret way.The guerrilla units of the countryside are part ofthis vanguard - they may operate more openly,depending on the terrain of the country, becauseit's the terrain that determines the size of a group,its mode of operation and so on. By the way,since rural guerrilla warfare is often taken to bethe main form of armed struggle. I would liketo stress that it may be only one element, andmaybe not even the leading or dominant mode.Another element of this vanguard will be thepeople's self-defence militia, based in the fac-tory, township and village; these units may belegal, semi-legal or illegal, depending on the con-ditions and possibilities.The second component, the revolutionary arm-ed people, is an active, conscious part of thepolitical army, ready with arms in hand to unitewith, and under, the organised command andleadership of the advance detachments of therevolutionary army, to take part in the armedstruggle for political power.The third component, the units of the enemyarmed forces, that join the revolution, may bea difficult section to organise, but neverthelessthis remains a vital ingredient. Of course, the ex-tent to which such elements may be won overdepends on the situation in a particular country.But I would like to deal with this a little later,if I may.

Page 12 of 38 How is this army formed? How is it built up?Let's deal first of all with the vanguarddetachments. We began in 1961 to form ourvanguard detachment, which is Umkhonto -we've seen how over 25 years various elementshave developed and grown, showing that the pro-cess is not completed overnight. This is par-ticularly true of the self-defence groups; we'veseen how only lately the conditions have maturedfor these to emerge as, for example, theamabutho of the Eastern Cape, or the YoungLions of Alexandra and elsewhere. The organisa-tion of the vanguard detachments will start withthe creation of the leadership organs for combatwork; it will involve the training of speciallyselected cadres and recruits; it will involve thecreation of the various combat units I've refer-red to, and it will involve the early operationsof this vanguard, which in time develops andgrows, as MK has.Concerning the building of the "revolutionaryarmed people" - this is an even more complexand advanced problem than the first task of for-ming the advance organs, and the actions of theadvance detachments play a vital role in ac-complishing the task.We are here talking firstly about the develop-ment of mass political consciousness, and con-sciousness of the need to fight with arms. We aretalking about the task of bringing military skillsand training to the people, and building upreserves of arms inside the country so that sideby side with the developing armed struggle (car-ried out in the first instance by the advancedetachments) we have the schooling of the peo-ple in the use of arms, building on their own useof rudimentary forms of warfare and the im-provisation of weaponry; being able to bringweapons into their hands, being able to organisethem into disciplined groups. As the struggledevelops, so more and more of the popularmasses are brought into organised forms of peo-ple's war and swell the ranks of the people's ar-my, In this way the nucleus - or the vanguard- bridges the gap between itself and the masses,and finds ways of arming the people and creatingthe revolutionary army we speak about.The question of how to win over the third ele-ment, some sections of the enemy's army andpolice, is an extremely important one. We arenot talking about winning over huge numbersfrom the enemy army, but certainly affecting itin such a way as to render it less efficient to thestate.In our situation, where we now have bantustanarmies and where the state needs more and moreBlacks to do their dirty work for them, we havethe chance of working within the enemy forces,and winning over at least some Black soldiers andpolice, if not some progressive-minded WhitesWe see that there are certainly possibilities of af-fecting the troops in the White conscript army.This would mean the organisation of specialis-ed structures dealing with work within the enemyforces; for that work needs to involve the crea-tion of underground groups and organs of themovement within the enemy forces, the creationof patriotic and democratic groups and organisa-tions affecting the enemy forces, such as the arm-ed forces movement in Portugal, and also theconduct of agitational and propaganda workamong the enemy forces and among the civilianpopulation.Where this work is successful, the enemy arm-ed forces and police will be undermined, anddecomposed from within; elements will beneutralised, and, at crucial times, the revolu-tionary army of the people may find its ranks in-creased by some elements of the enemy forcesready to pass over to the side of the revolution.During the process, we gather our forces, buildour combat units, and develop from a nucleusto a fully-fledged people's army waging a peo-ple's war.The stage of an armed uprising maywell arise during this process, where the goal ofseizing political power will be achieved.The time scale may be protracted, or morerapid than we imagine.From what you say, comrade, it seems we'vecome quite a way from the classical form of guer-rilla warfare. The task of MK in South Africahas always differed from the task of guerrillamovements elsewhere in Southern Africa and theworld - the terrain isn't thickly wooded; there'san absence of friendly borders; much MK workhas to be done in the cities. To what extent havethese conditions constituted problems for MK,or to what extent have they determined MK'smode of working?It would be helpful to remind ourselves that thereare various forms of revolutionary violence, not

Page 13 of 38 only guerrilla warfare. Comrade Mandela citedfour at the : armed uprising or in-surrection; sabotage, civil war, terrorism. Arevolutionary people's army can use any one orany combination of these forms of force, and thechoice will depend on the existing conditions ina country.Guerrilla warfare in its classical sense conjuresup images of liberated zones, friendly borders,rear bases, large detachments, forest and moun-tain sanctuaries, which do not appear to be readi-ly attainable in our situation.This is not to rule out the possibilities of guer-rilla actions in the rural areas or . SouthAfrica is large, has lengthy borders, some moun-tainous areas and plenty, if inextensive, areas ofbush. For most of 1984, some of our combatantsmanaged to live and organise among the peoplein the Lebombo Mountains in the Ingwavumaarea, and this example gives us the understan-ding and the inspiration to repeat such activities.The countryside offers us possibilities ofdeveloping guerrilla actions, although the con-ditions and the terrain will of necessity reducethe size of our units operating in such areas.It's a question of getting the correct balance.Of course, the urban areas are vital terrain of ourstruggle, and the decade of rebellion has certainlyreminded us of this. At the same time, we mustbe aware of our weakness in the countryside andin the bantustans particularly, though it is en-couraging to see that the revolt of the townshipshas spread to many rural settlements. Onlyrecently we've seen the struggle develop inBophuthatswana, in the northern and easternTransvaal, as it had already developed in thesmall villages and dorps of the eastern Cape.For the development of our people's war wehave to move forward side by side, the peopleof the towns and the people of the countryside.The enemy's great weakness is his numbers,which are so few compared to the people's, hisisolation and the vast tracts of our country andits borders that he has to police and control, sothat activity anywhere in our country, armedblows anywhere in our country, people'sresistance anywhere in our country, stretches theenemy's resources and manpower to a tremen-dous degree. This, indeed, is his Achilles' heel,and our strategy must be imbued with an ap-proach that forces him to disperse his forcesthroughout the country.At our National Consultative Conference, thecommission dealing with strategy and tacticsmade what I think was an important contributionby stating that, given our situation, in the wholequestion of advancing the armed struggle weshould situate our strategy within two keyrealities, the one unfavourable, the otherfavourable. The negative is that we have not un-til now had the possibility of a friendly borderwith rear bases in the fullest sense of the term,and this has been an unfavourable condition forus. The positive, favourable factor is our strengthin the urban areas, based on the people of thetownships, the working class, the youth.These urban centres have a thousand and onelinks with the bantustans and the rural areas, andwe should utilise our urban strength, ourtownship strength, our working class strength,as a springboard to develop our organisationalstrength and our armed strength within the coun-tryside itself. For example, Mdantsane, That greaturban township of the eastern Cape is the mainspringboard into the Ciskei; KwaMashu andUmlazi have the same relationship to KwaZuluand so on. The urban bases could become the rearbases of our struggle in the countryside.Of course we will use whatever possibilitiesexist to reach the bantustans and the countryside,but surely the urban situation allows us this otherway to develop our struggle. We shouldremember that in Cuba, for example, the guer-rilla struggle, which was based largely in thecountryside, in the mountains, had itsspringboard in the urban centres, in the city,where the movement had its strongholds in thefirst place.But we must never lose sight of the fact that,whether in the course of a guerrilla war of thebush, or a civil war, or through urban guerrillastruggle, armed insurrection must figure as thekey way in which power may ultimately be seiz-ed. For, unlike FRELIMO or the MPLA, we arenot fighting a bush war against a colonial powerthat may ultimately grant independence afternegotiations, and withdraw. In our situation, ifreal change is to be achieved, we have to faceup to the question of state power. How will theexisting state structures and instruments of forcebe destroyed? How will the revolution bedefended?

Page 14 of 38 What conditions are necessary for the armeduprising, the insurrection? How do you see it tak-ing place? Is it possible in South Africa, with itspowerful military machine?Armed insurrection, in some form or other,rather than guerrilla warfare, but often as aculmination of guerrilla warfare, is the classicmethod of making a revolution. There appear tobe two main categories into which insurrectionsfall - the spontaneous mass uprising, as in Iran,and the planned uprising, as in Petrograd, Oc-tober 1917. These stand at either end of a scaleof varying possibilities.In the first category there is no prearrangedplan or date, with an entirely unexpected, evenextraneous event sparking off the conflagration.In such a situation, revolutionaries struggle togain control, and organise the seizure of power.In the second category, insurrection isdeliberately timed as the final move in a careful-ly prepared plan of revolutionary action - inwhich the balance of forces has been finelycalculated. The Bolsheviks struggled to gain con-trol over the forces unleashed by the FebruaryRevolution, an unexpected event, and directedthese forces to the planned seizure of power inOctober 1917. What we can be sure about is thatevery revolution which must depend for itsultimate success upon popular support demandsan active revolutionary situation before insurrec-tion can be safely launched. It also needs a move-ment which has the forces and means powerfulenough to overthrow the existing order.Now, we have been working over the yearsto bring about that revolutionary situation andto build the forces necessary for victory. Ourshas indeed been a difficult and protracted strug-gle. How much more time is required before anactive revolutionary situation matures cannot beexactly predicted. A Bolshevik has stated of theFebruary Revolution: "The idea of going into thestreets had long been ripening among theworkers, only at that moment nobody imaginedwhere it would lead."We must remember that we do not controlevery act of the people's, or the response of theenemy authorities. But the mass struggle is ad-vancing at such a pace that we must prepare totake advantage of any swing in the situation, andwork with utmost speed to build the type oforganisation ready to take control and direct anyuprising, which may well begin fairly spon-taneously. Above all, this means the presence ofa Political Army of the Revolution (the ANC andthe popular mass organisations) and the Revolu-tionary People's Army.If we are to learn from our people, the townshiprevolts, the decade of rebellion of 1976-86, thensurely we need to devise a strategy based on an'insurrectionist' approach? This would consistof a meshing of political and armed struggle ofall types, guerrilla warfare in the countryside andthe remarkable phenomenon of popular uprisingsin the cities and towns. Such a strategy wouldhave to plan for perhaps a succession of local andgeneral uprisings, as well as for the unexpected.The unexpected will also involve reformist orultra-right attempts by sections of the ruling classto divert or block the path of the revolution.These might very well be unexpected shifts inthe political situation, which could present uswith a revolutionary situation or a grave threat.We must also remember that history does notoften present revolutionary situations.Turning to the SADF and SAP, the pillars ofWhite supremacy - history shows that, in thelast resort, success or failure hinges upon the at-titude which the armed forces of the status quogovernment will take towards an insurrection.Revolutionary movements seldom achieve theirobjectives unless they can convert the soldierswhose duty it is to uphold the existing regime,or weaken their spirit.I have already indicated that while we may notexpect to convert large numbers of Whitesoldiers, we can succeed in weakening the spiritand morale of a good proportion, and that we canwin over Black soldiers and police.While the Bolsheviks could concentrate onundermining the already discontented Russian ar-my, persuading wavering troops to their side, wewill have to weaken the SADF and perfect astrong insurrectionary fighting force. The lateDavid Rabkin wrote in Urnsebenzi:"Although the SADF is a powerful militarymachine, it needs political direction in order tofunction. But politics has to consider other fac-tors beside force. We can paralyse the politicaldirection behind the SADF so that it becomesunable to act."The SADF is a largely conscript army, subjectto all the pressures and tensions of South

Page 15 of 38 African society - political, moral and material.Just as they are not impervious to MK bullets (andunfortunately this is the main way in which WhiteSouth Africa's eyes will be opened) neither arethey ultimately impervious to the mass, struggleand the policy of the ANC. The SADF is nomonolith, and during a revolutionary crisis itsfabric will be placed under tremendous strain.Differences between the conscripted 'troopies'and the officer corps will be accentuated, as wellas the old English-Afrikaans language divisionsand the differences between those officers andmen following Botha-Malan-style reform andthose whose allegiances lie with the unpredic-table HNP-CP rebels.Under the conditions of a revolutionary crisisit is quite conceivable that the security forces ofthe state will not be operating at full strength,will be suffering from desertions and demoralisa-tion, from mutiny among Black troops, from in-decision and differences at the top. and will notbe able to cope with the situation.At that time, when the civil machine andmilitary machine are not powerful enough towithstand the rising revolutionary pressures, ourstruggle will triumph.Thank you, comrade.Thank you, and my revolutionary greetings toall our combatants, in this the year of Umkhon-to We Sizwe, the People's Army.

Page 16 of 38 STATEMENTCOSATU, SACTU & THE ANCThis conununique was issued jointlYby COSATU,SACTU and the ANC.t.h iegalions of the Executive of the Congress ofSouth African "trade Unions (COSATU) the Na-tional Executive Committee of the South AfricanCongress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and the Na-tional Executive Committee of the African Na-tional Congress (ANC) met in Lusaka on 5th and6th March 1986.The respective delegations were led by Com-rade Jay Naidoo, General Secretary ofCOSATU, Comrade John K Nkadimeng,General Seoretary of SACTU and ComradeOliver Tambo, President of the ANC. During thecourse of the discussions COSATU and SAC-TU held a separate session to discuss matters ofcommon interest as trade unionists.The meeting resulted from the common con-cern of all parties arising from the fundamentaland deep-seated economic, social and politicalcrisis into which the Botha regime and the apart-heid system of national oppression and class ex-ploitation have plunged our country. There wascommon understanding that the Pretoria regimeand the ruling class of South Africa are powerlessto provide any real and meaningful solutions tothis general crisis, that lasting solutions can on-ly emerge from the national liberation move-ment. headed by the ANC. and the entiredemocratic forces of our country, of whichCOSATU is an important and integral part.In this regard it was recognised that the fun-damental problem facing our country, the ques-tion of political power, cannot be resolvedwithout the full participation of the ANC, whichis regarded by the majority of the people of SouthAfrica as the overall leader and genuinerepresentative.The meeting recognised that the emergence ofCOSATU as the giant democratic and pro-gressive trade union federation in our country isan historic event in the process of uniting ourworking class and will immeasurably strengthenthe democratic movement as a whole.After extensive discussions on the current in-ternal and international situation, characterisedby a warm spirit of comradeship. the threedelegations agreed on a number of importantissues. They agreed that the solution to the prob-lems facing our country lies in the establishmentof a system of majority rule in a united,democratic and non-racial South Africa. Further,that in the specific conditions of our country itis inconceivable that such a system can beseparated from economic emancipation. Ourpeople have been robbed of their land, deprivedof their due share in the country's wealth, theirskills have been suppressed and poverty and star-vation has been their life experience. The cor-rection of these centuries old economic injusticeslies at the core of our national aspirations. Ac-cordingly they were united not only in their op-positon to the entire apartheid system, but alsoin their common understanding that victory mustembrace more than formal political democracy.COSATU PositionThe Cosatu delegation explained that the prin-cipal tasks facing their fexleration is to consolidatetheir membership and affiliates. rapidly effectconversion of the general unions which are partof Cosatu into an industry-based union, withineach industry bring about mergers in order torealise the principle of one industry, one unionand to unite the entire working force of our coun-try under the banner of Cosatu. At the same time,as a representative of our working class, Cosatuis seized with the task of engaging the workersin the general democratic struggle. both as an in-dependent organisation and as an essential com-ponent of the democratic forces of our country.In this regard, the advancement of the interestsof the workers and the democratic struggle of ourpeople requires that Cosatu. in working togetherwith the other democratic mass organisations,seek to build disciplined alliances so as to ensure

Page 17 of 38 that the mobilisation of our people in united massaction also deepens the organisational basis ofall democratic organisations of the people.ANC PositionsThe delegation of the ANC also reported to themeeting on its policy, its programme, its strategyand tactics. The ANC emphasised the need forthe greatest possible mobilisation of all the peo-ple of our country to join in united political ac-tion against the apartheid regime, equally and incombination with the mass political struggle. TheANC also stressed the importance of the armedstruggle to defend the people against the enemyarmed forces and to give the people the possibilityto seize power from a White minority regimewhich holds on to power by the use of force.The three delegations agreed that it is of cen-tral importance that the campaign for the im-mediate unconditional release of all politicalprisoners, including , shoulddevelop with even greater intensity. They agreedthat the three organisations would do their utmostin pursuit of this goal.As the crisis of our country deepens, so toodoes the resistance, anger and the will of our peo-ple to fight back. In the process many issues haveemerged and will continue to emerge as centralcampaigning issues.At this very moment the entire democraticmovement is confronted with the task of findingthe correct campaign basis to destroy BantuEducation and establish in its place one singledemocratic, non-racial, free and compulsorysystem of education for all the children of ourcountry.Campaigning TogetherSimilarly it has become imperative that theworkers of our country, together with all thedemocratic forces, work together to destroy thepass laws - the badge of slavery - and the wholesystem of influx control and prevent the Botharegime from re-introducing this hated system inany guise whatsoever.In these and all other campaigns facing ourpeople it is the duty of the democratic forces towork together and consult one another in orderto establish the maximum unity in action by allour people. The delegations further agreed thatthe obstacle to any negotiated solution is theBotha regime. They concluded that no negotia-tions are possible while the leaders of the peo-ple are in prison and while the Pretoria regimerefuses to accept that our country should begoverned by all its people, both Black and white,as equals, as brothers and sisters. In this contextthe national liberation movement, headed by theANC, explained that neither negotiations nor"talks about talks" have taken place and that theANC is committed that any negotiations, if andwhen they should take place, must be public andinvolve the entire democratic movement.In the discussions between COSATU andSACTU, both agreed that the widest possible uni-ty of trade unions in our country is of utmost im-portance in our people's struggle against theapartheid regime and the bosses. Both agreed thatthere was no contradiction whatsoever arisingfrom their separate existence.The meeting between all three organisationswas characterised by an overwhelming optimismthat despite all the manoeuvres by the Botharegime and its allies, despite the heighteningrepression, victory over the system of whiteminority racist rule is not far off.The meeting reiterated the commitment of thethree organisations to fight for a society free fromthe chains of poverty, racism and exploitationwhich would require the restructuring of the pre-sent economy.7th March, 1986

Page 18 of 38 ANC/INTERNATIONAL/US COMMUNISTS SUPPORT THE ANCAt the invitation of the People's World, theCalifornia-based organ of the Communist Partyof the United States (CPUSA), Comrade Fran-cis Meli, editor of Sechaba had the occasion tovisit the area. The week-long speaking engage-ment was part of the People's World campaignand ideological work in preparation for and incommemoration of the merger of two papers:the Daily World of the East Coast (New Yorkarea) and the People's World of the West Coast(California area). The new daily - People's Dai-ly World - will be launched on May Day.This occasion - a rare occasion - affordedthe ANC the opportunity of addressing theAmerican public on the problems of the press inSouth Africa and on the unfolding struggle in thatsouthern part of Africa.While he was in the US, Francis Meli spoketo trade unions and workers, students at univer-sities, artists and activists of the Free SouthAfrica Movement. CPUSA functionaries such asKendra Alexander, state chair, Communist Partyof California, were helpful in organising suchmeetings. Francis Meli visited party bookshops.and the press and radio were ever present.The interest in our struggle end the commit-ment to supporting it were unmistakable. Sowrote the United Transportation Union:"On behalf of the San Francisco School BusDrivers of United Transportation Union 1741.we send greetings to the African National Con-gress in its struggle against the forces of apart-heid. Your victory is ours."And Northern California Newspaper Guild statedthat:"We applaud your efforts, through the pages ofSechaba and other actions of the African NationalCongress, to inform the people of the world ofthe mass upheavals taking place in South Africa."The Newspaper Guild has an honourable recordof supporting the just struggles of South Africanpeople against apartheid. We trust that yourdistinguished presence in the Bay Area will en-courage others to do so as well."And the International Longshoremen's andWarehousemen's Union pledged their continuedsupport for the ongoing struggle against the evilsystem of apartheid. Many and similar messagesof support were received.At a banquet in Los Angeles, Comrade Melispoke to over 1 000 people, who had come tolisten to him and to exprl'ss their solidarity withthe struggling people. The question of interna-tional solidarity with our people became the cen-tral theme. This solidarity is in the interests ofthe American people, because the fall of theapartheid regime will definitely weakenAmerican imperialism - "and this will be ourcontribution to the struggles of the American peo-ple," Comrade Meli said.At the party headquarters in New York, theANC met Comrades Gus Hall, Charlene Mit-chell, James Jackson and the workers and staffof the Daily World.. Again sentiments and feel-ings of solidarity with our people were express-ed, this time by Mike Zagarell, the editor.KOREAThe Korean Committee for Afro-Asian Solidarityin Pyongyang, North Korea, issued a statementon March 21 st, the anniversary of the Sharpevillemassacre. We quote part of it here:"Today, the South African people, under theleadership of the African National Congress ofSouth Africa, the legitimate organisation of theirstruggle, are waging a vigorous struggle invarious forms, including armed struggle, to dealtelling blows at the imperialists and racists."The final victory belongs to the South Africanpeople, who are striving for their just cause."

Page 19 of 38 By Jeffrey Khensani MathebulaAPARTHEIDSOUTH AFRICADESTABILISESZIMBABWEFollowing the explosion of a number of landmines planted by combatants of Umkhonto weSizwe in the border areas of the north-westernTransvaal last December, the P W Botharegime, supported by the South African massmedia and its counterpart in the West, has onceagain accused the ANC of killing 'poor innocentcivilians' and going for what the enemy pressterms 'soft targets.' The South African Ministerof Defence, General Magnus Malan, went fur-ther and falsely accused Zimbabwe of threaten-ing South Africa's security by allowing ANCguerrillas to use its territory as an infiltrationroute, for which he threatened to launch 'hotpursuit' raids against the neighbouring country.But when one examines the facts of the matter,the opposite turns out to be the case: South Africais threatening the security of Zimbabwe.Long before the explosion of these land mines,the illegal South African racist minority regimedecided to go on the warpath against indepen-dent Africa by expanding its military and policeforces in response to the challenge that theachievement of independence by African coun-tries in the 1960s may pose against it in the future.Among the first steps it took in expanding itsforces was the construction of three militarybases for the South African Air Force (SAAF)in the northern and north-eastern Transvaal in1966. One was established in the Pietersburgdistrict, not very far from the border with Zim-babwe, and equipped with a squadron of Sabrejets and three S247 super-sensitive surveillanceradar systems supplied by the British company,Marconi Avionics Ltd, a subsidiary of GEC.Another was established at Nelspruit for use byborder ground and air patrols, and another atDunnottar as the headquarters of the 40th AirSquadron and major training centre for Harvardplanes. The authoritative Jane's Weapons Sys-tem Yearbook once mentioned the highlysophisticated radar system installed at thePietersburg military air base, which allows theplanes stationed there and at the nearby air forcebases to carry out operations in all kinds ofweather, and described the S247 as a "high-powered static radar system used for defencepurposes.'

Page 20 of 38 Ground Attack SquadronsIn 1977, the South African regime began to con-struct another military base, this time atHoedspruit in the eastern Transvaal, under thepretext of the need to deploy reconnaissance andinterceptor planes in order to "defend South Afr-can air space. " However, it later turned out thatthe first air unit to be permanently stationed therewas in fact the No. 1 Squadron, which wasrecently joined by the No. 2 Squadron, both ofwhich are ground attack squadrons equipped withMirage F-1 supersonic fighter planes. The airbase, which is located within 15 miles of theMozambican border and lies within 15 minutes'flying time from , the capital of the Peo-ple's Republic of , became fullyoperational in 1981. According to the comman-ding officer of the No. 1 Squadron, theHoedspruit air force base will enable the SAAF"to cover all borders from northern up tothe Zimbabwe border," and will also provide itwith "strategic depth.~, 2In 1981, the regime opened another militarybase at Phalaborwa in the north-easternTransvaal, to serve as a training centre for the7th Infantry Battalion. The military base cost R6million to construct. Speaking at its opening,Magnus Malan issued one of his many threatsagainst the sovereignty and territorial integrityof the Front Line States, declaring that "everycountry that harbours terrorists must know itstands to lose in this struggle," and that SouthAfrica is "determined to wipe out terrorists evenif" it has "to cross borders to do it. "3At the beginning of 1982, the South AfricanMinister of Manpower Utilisation announced thatplans were afoot to construct a new military airbase for the SAAF in the Louis Trichardt district,close to the border with Zimbabwe, in the nor-thern Transvaal. Later, when asked to elaborateon the new military base, the Minister referredto it as a "tactical air force base. " He further add-ed that, when complete and opened, the new basewould serve as the focal point for the entire nor-thern border system, and it would be bigger thanthe one located 100 kilometres jaway inPietersburg. To drive the point home about theaggressive intentions of the regime towards Zim-babwe and the rest of the Front Line States, theSouth African prime minister, P W Botha,declared later. in September 1982, that, "SouthAfrica's sphere of influence extends to all itsneighbours. "sMilitary Bases and Forced RemovalsIn various parts of the country our people havesuffered both directly and indirectly as a resultof this military build-up in the border areas. In1977, an undisclosed number of our people,mostly peasants and rural workers, were forciblyremoved from their traditional homes, in an areacovering 24 000 hectares around the Sibasadistrict in the north of the Venda , toanother in the north-western district of the sameterritory, in order to make way for a military buf-fer zone completely under the control of theSADF south of the Limpopo River and close tothe border with Zimbabwe.Again, in 1979, more than 1 000 of our peo-ple were forcibly removed from their traditionalhomes at Kliplaatdrift, in the north-westernTransvaal just outside the Lebowa bantustan, toKromhoek near the town of Alldays, for militarystrategic reasons. More than 3 000 of our peo-ple have been forcibly removed from SodwanaBay and St Lucia, nearly 20 000 from ReserveFour are still under the threat of forced removals,and many others have been removed in northernNatal in order to make way for the constructionof a missile testing range and setting up ofmilitary camps in the area. When one considersthese, then it becomes clear that the remark madeby the commanding officer of the No. 1 Squadronabout the range covered by the Hoedspruit airforce base and the Zimbabwe border was not ac-cidental nor without foundation.The latest example of such removals is the onewhich about 3 000 of our people have sufferedat Mogopa village near Ventersdorp and towardsthe border with Botswana. To prevent any infor-mation on the magnitude of the violence involv-ed in removing the village from reaching the out-side world, the South African regime initiallydeclared it an 'operational area' which no oneexcept a specially selected group of journalistswere allowed to enter, and then only under policeescort. However, White farmers were allowedto have free access to the area to purchase thevillagers' livestock, which, by 1980, consistedof 4 000 cattle, 1 000 sheep, 300 goats, 100donkeys, 50 horses and a large amount ofpoultry, at a tenth of its value. In order tofacilitate this operation, the racist regime sent atask force of 90 armed policemen under a cer-tain Major A Scheepers from Potchefstroom,Continued on page 1815

Page 21 of 38 Below: Dramatisation of workers' lives,SACTU anniversary, KwaThema, 1985.

Page 22 of 38 National Union of Mineworkers' delegates tothe launch of the half-million-strong COSATU.

Page 23 of 38 Continued from page I Sostensibly to protect the removal squad sent bythe Department of Co-operation and Develop-ment. Such and many other types of removalsconstitute a serious violation of international law,which, among other things, clearly states that:"Starvation of civilians as a method of combatis prohibited. It is therefore prohibited to attack,destroy, remove or render useless, for that pur-pose, objects indispensable to the survival of thecivilian population, such as foodstuffs, crops,livestock, drinking water installations and sup-plies and irrigation works. The displacement ofthe civilian population shall not be ordered forreasons related to the conflict unless the securi-ty of the civilians involved ... so demand. Shouldsuch displacements have to be carried out, allpossible measures shall be taken in order that thecivilian population may be received under thesatisfactory conditions of shelter, hygiene,health, safety and nutrition. Civilians shall notbe compelled to leave their own territory forreasons connected with the conflict." 6Seen in the above context, the recent attemptsmade by the South African Foreign Minister, PikBotha, to equate the just and legitimate struggleof the South African people under the leadershipof the ANC with international terrorism, as defin-ed and understood by the international communi-ty and particularly the United Nations, is as farremoved from the truth as fantasy is from reality.The untold misery that these and many otherforced removals has caused to our people is com-parable to the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazisduring the Second World War against mainly,but not exclusively, the Jews, and those of theZionists against the Palestinian people since1948. Our people have lost good agricultural andgrazing land, which is compensated for withreduced and less fertile land (if there is any com-pensation at all); they have lost water resources,material possessions and, employment oppor-tunities; their family life has been disrupted; thereis a high infant mortality rate caused by malnutri-tion and lack of adequate medical and health care.Computerised AggressionIn order to ensure that the military and air forcebases spread across South Africa's borders withthe Front Line States function smoothly, theregime has installed a highly sophisticated systemof radar units with the help of mainly Britain andIsrael along the borders of the country. In 1981the British company, Plessey, supplied SouthAfrica with a highly sophisticated mobile radarsystem, code-named AR3D, which, accordingto Jane's, facilitates "control of up to foursimultaneous computer-assisted ground-to-airstrikes. "The British Government was accused of col-laborating with the South African regime in itsmilitary build-up against the South African peo-ple and the neighbouring countries by allowingPlessey to supply the radar system and thusviolate the United Nations arms embargo aganistSouth Africa It both defended itself and justifiedthe sale by claiming that the equipment had "agenuine civilian application." But later, in1982, it transpired that the British Government,following the defeat of Argentina in the Malvinas(Falklands) Islands war, had installed a similarsystem on the main island in its transformationinto a huge Anglo-US military and air force basein the South Atlantic. The radar system, install-ed at Mariepskop in the north-eastern Transvaal,constitutes the main link of South Africa's airspace command, and is ideally located forguiding South African military jets during theircriminal and murderous raids against Mozam-bique and Zimbabwe, as well as droppinglogistics and weapons for the counter-revolutionary bandits of the MNR.In 1983, the Thatcher Government used thesame argument to defend and justify the supplyof equipment to update the 8 millions' worthof the old tropospheric scatter communicationssystem which Marconi Avionics Ltd had sold toSouth Africa and which had been installed inPietersburg in 1966. The British Governmentgave Marconi Avionics Ltd the go-ahead, in spiteof strong opposition and condemnation by theBritish Anti-Apartheid Movement and otherdemocratic and progressive forces, and in spiteof abundant evidence that the South Africanregime intended putting the equipment to militaryuse, in its programme of military expansion andmodernisation. As the 1982 Defence White Paperput it, "fighter support on the borders of the areaswhere the main threat exists ... will improve asprogress is made with the expansion and moder-nisation programme. "Israeli ComplicityIt was recently reported 7 that as part of the pro-cess of the militarisation of large areas of the

Page 24 of 38 north-eastern and western Transvaal, a delega-tion from Pretoria has successfully negotiated thepurchase of an electronic warning border fencefrom Israel. The equipment, called the GaderHama Arekhet, is identical to the Jordan Valleyelectronic border fence used by Israel against thePalestinian liberation movement.In demanding that the sale of this equipmentto South Africa be put immediately on the agen-da of the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament), MrK Matti Peled condemned it, and declared thatthe sale of the equipment, which will be used "inthe cruel war against South African Blacks,would be a most serious act of support to theracist apartheid regime."The recent acquisition of such electronicdevices by Pretoria is intended to complementand modernise the "border wall," which consistsof a complex of electronic sensors, commandposts and dozens of highly sensitive electronicsurveillance devices, as well as the deadly andhigh-voltage electric border fence, which wereall put up with Israeli help some years ago alongsome stretches of the border with Zimbabwe,particularly between Beit Bridge and Sand River,and are monitored by the South African DefenceForce (SADF) 24 hours of the day.9Without this string of military and air forcebases and camps, as well as the highlysophisticated radar network spread along SouthAfrica's borders with the neighbouring countries,the effectiveness of the regime's ground forceswould be severely curtailed and the air superiori-ty of the South African Air Force reduced. Thisin turn would have made the regime's murderousraids into the Front Line States much more dif-ficult to carry out.Searching for a PretextBeginning with the eve of Zimbabwe's in-dependence in March 1980, the SADF issued a24-hour standby order to all members of the 81Armoured Brigade, loin preparation for militaryintervention during the election, should condi-tions prove favourable. Since then, the SouthAfrican regime has been searching for a pretextto invade Zimbabwe. After it had failed to finda pretext for launching direct military interven-tion against Zimbabwe during the elections, itresorted to the recruitment into the SADF of largenumbers of former members of the RhodesianArmy, particularly from the Rhodesian SpecialForce units such as the SAS, the Selous Scouts,the Rhodesian Light Infantry, the RhodesianAfrican Rifles and even from Bishop AbelMuzorewa's rag-tag 'army' of auxiliaries.Together with some disgruntled and misguid-ed elements from within both the ZAPU andZANU guerrilla forces, the South African regimeused Muzorewa's 'army' of auxiliaries toestablish what has come to be known as the'Matebele Brigade' and 'Super-ZAPU.' In thisway, the SADF succeeded in adding well over5 000 troops, together with their weapons andother equipment, into its ranks, It is from theseelements that the regime has infiltrated trainedbandits back into Zimbabwe to wreak havoc andchaos against the Zimbabwean people.Criminal AttacksThese bandits have been responsible for coward-ly and criminal attacks against schools, farms,homesteads and the transport system in Zim-babwe. Although Zimbabwe has not borne themain brunt of attacks by such bandits - in com-parison with Angola and Mozambique - it hasnevertheless suffered an incalculable loss interms of human lives, mostly civilian, andeconomic damage.During 1982, 120 people were killed in coldblood by these bandits and by South Africansoldiers. Amongst those murdered by racistSouth African soldiers was 19-year-old EmmaHlungwane, shot dead on the 18th May 1982while doing her washing on the Zimbabwean sideof the Limpopo River. On the same day, a groupof South African soldiers crossed the LimpopoRiver and kidnapped a number of Zimbabweanwomen in another incident. During a trial of twomen accused of murdering a constable in theMwenzi district in 1982, it was revealed that atleast 300 Zimbabweans had undergone militarytraining that year in the various SADF trainingcamps situated in the north-eastern and westernTransvaal. Again, in 1982, three White SouthAfrican soldiers were shot in southern Zimbabwewhile on a mission the SADF claimed was"unauthorised."During 1983, the Zimbabwean security forcescaptured a total of 400 bandits and seized a hugequantity of South African-made weapons. 200of the bandits confessed to having been trainedin South Africa. In the same year, the Zimbab-wean security forces captured a group of armed

Page 25 of 38 men, with bombs and explosives in their posses-sion, on their way to blow up the Beit Bridgepetrol depot. In October of the same year, twoSouth African-trained bandits confessed that theywere on a mission to "destroy everything" insight under the instructions of the SADF. Theyconfessed to having undergone four months'training in South Africa, murdered eightcivilians, destroyed property, includingbulldozers, and distributed pamphlets entitledPeople's Power, printed in South Africa and call-ing on villagers to rebel against the ZimbabweanGovernment. The two were part of an eight-manbandit group infiltrated from South Africa.Then, in November 1983, the ZimbabweanGovernment accused the South African regimeof using trained bandits dressed in Zimbabweanuniform to attack and harass Botswana citizensin order to cause conflict between the two FrontLine states. This was confirmed by a clash bet-ween a group of unknown armed men, usingSouth African-registered cars, and a Botswanasecurity patrol during the same month. Referr-ing to the incident, an editorial in the ZimbabweHerald said "the discovery that a gang of armedmen with weapons and walkie-talkies who clash-ed with a Botswana patrol last week used twoSouth African-registered cars has finally expos-ed the Botha regime for what it is. "'odissident organisation on the model of Renamo... they have taken several steps to achievethis.Among those steps, he mentioned the con-tinued broadcasts of "Radio Truth" against thegovernment of Comrade Robert Mugabe, beam-ed from the northern Transvaal; the existence ofa training camp specifically for Zimbabweandissidents; and the continued and growing cam-paign of kidnapping school children inMatabeleland fo be trained in this camp. In ad-dition, Dr Nathan Shamuyarira declared thatZimbabwe is "living under the South Africanthreat all the time ...(and Zimbabweans) ...believe this threat to be real.""Shortly before this, the Zimbabwean Ministerin charge of Security, Mr EmmersonMunangangwa, had accused South Africa of hav-ing violated the national sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity of Zimbabwe when SouthAfrican jet fighters and helicopters crossed into100 kilometres of Zimbabwean air space in thesouth-eastern corner of the country. In spite ofpersistent denials by South African officials,there exists more than enough evidence to showthat Pretoria has over the years not only beenthreatening the neighbouring countries withdirect military aggression but has also been mak-ing concrete preparations for such action.Zimbabwe Accuses South AfricaSince then, there has been a series of accusationsby various Zimbabweans that South Africa is in-volved not only in training and infiltrating arm-ed bandits into Zimbabwe to wreak havoc andchaos against that neighbouring country, but alsothat at least a third of the so-called dissidentsoperating inside the country have been trainedand armed by the SADF. Following the recentland mine explosions in the north-westernTransvaal and Pretoria's threat to attack theneighbouring countries, particularly Zimbabwe,under the pretext of pursuing ANC guerrillas,the President, Prime Minister and Minister of In-formation of Zimbabwe have all made yet moreconvincing accusations against the South Africanregime for planning to launch an armed invasionagainst their country. The most categoric accusa-tion against South Africa came from Dr NathanShamuyarira, who declared that his "... govern-ment is fully informed about plans of the SouthAfricans to set up an independent ZimbabweanFarmers Integrated into Military StrategyIn 1979, the illegal South African regime pass-ed the Promotion of Density of Population inDesignated Areas Act, No. 87, in an attempt tostem the exodus of White farmers, caused bothby economic factors and by guerrilla incursionsinto the north-eastem and western Transvaal, andincrease the White farmer population in order tocreate a physical barrier against the infiltrationof the cities by guerrillas. As the Survey of RaceRelations in South Africa put it: "economic andagricultural policy has to be tailored to the needsof. (military)- survival."It is therefore not accidental that the SouthAfrican Agricultural Union, together with theSADF, Departments of National Security andTransport and the-SA Police, participated direct-ly, actively and fully in the deliberations of thesub-committee which was appointed by the SteynCommission to look into how the White farmerpopulation could be included in the defencestrategy of the racist regime. In order to en-

Page 26 of 38 courage the White farmers to stay and attractmore to settle in these areas, the regime madeat least R100 million available over a period offive to six years for the provision of loans andother assistance, under the stipulation of theAgricultural Credit Act No 28 of 1966, to thoseprepared to settle there, and for the renovationand construction of new strategic roads in theareas. 13The renovation and construction of new roadsincludes the conversion of some parts of nationalroads on South Africa's north-eastern andwestern borders (including northern Natal) intoaircraft runways, in order to provide the SADF,particularly the air force, with 'strategic mobili-ty.' By 1983 the SADF, in conjunction with theDepartment of Transport, had constructed twosuch dual-purpose airstrip-roadways, one atSwartwater, about 20 kilometres from theBotswana border and the other in northern Natal.With a width of 1.2 kilometres, the Swartwaterairstrip is big enough to accommodate aircraftup to the size of a Dakota transport plane.The Promotion of Density of Population inDesignated Areas Act stipulates that in recruitingor attracting potential White farmers to theseareas through the provision of loans and othereconomic incentives, special attention should bepaid to ex-servicemen. The Act further stipulatesthat the loans be given on condition that the farmsand any other property in these areas be manag-ed according to the directives of the SADF.Under these terms, the SADF is empoweredto enter any property within a 10 kilometre zoneof the borders with Botswana, Mozambique,Swaziland and Zimbabwe, and demolish or erectmilitary facilities or any other structure withoutthe consent of the owner, or compensation.In addition, the Act stipulates that all the Whitefarmers in those areas must undergo militarytraining and be members of the regional and areacommandos as well as make themselves available

Page 27 of 38 to the SADF and Department of National Securi-ty to carry out reconnaissance and intelligencetasks whenever called upon to do so. The farmersare also to be instructed in the use and handlingof security equipment such as security fences andalarm systems. Already, some farmers have beensupplied with sub-sets to link them up with themilitary area radio network known as Marnet.Farms, Towns Are Military BasesMost, if not all, of the farm buildings have beenconstructed in such a way as to constitute a chainof defence strongholds along the borders readyto be used as bases by the SADF whenevernecessary.Under the regulations of the Act, the Ministryof Defence and Department of Transport are bothempowered to penalise any contravention orfailure to comply with the SADF directives.Failure to comply with, or contravention of, theseregulations carries a minimum penalty of R2 000fine or two years' imprisonment. Subsequentcontraventions of the regulations can result in aRS 000 fine or five years' imprisonment.Messina and Louis Trichardt in the northernTransvaal, Alldays, Ellisras, Thabazimbi andZeerust in the north-western Transvaal, PietRetief and Amsterdam in the south-easternTransvaal, and others, are all key towns in themilitary strategy of P W Botha's regime tolaunch armed aggression against the neighbour-ing countries and to militarise the border areasin a futile attempt to keep out ANC combatantsfrom infiltrating the urban areas. At this stage,it is important to point out that during theparliamentary debate on the Bill that led to thepromulgation of the Promotion of Density ofPopulation in Designated Areas Act, the Pro-gressive Federal Party, New Republic Party andthe South African Party all strongly supportedit. Given the fact that the PFP and NRP repre-sent the political interests of that section of SouthAfrican capital whose companies are under con-tract to supply ARMSCOR with component partsfor the production of military weapons and at thesame time are among the biggest exploiters ofBlack labour, this is not surprising at all.Contempt for Human LifeThe extent to which the illegal regime is preparedto go in the militarisation of White areas and theWhite population in the border regions atwhatever cost, even if it means putting theprecious lives of young children at risk as targetsof guerrilla attacks, is shown by the inclusion ofWhite school children between the ages of 13 and17 in military programmes.Recently, it became clear that the regime in-tends to continue with such programmes, whenthe College of Education for Further Training,which falls under the Transvaal EducationDepartment (TED), organised an eight-day"Youth Preparedness in Perspective" course for300 teachers and their pupils at a veld school call-ed Schoemansdal near Pietersburg. During thecourse, which forms part of a two-year in-servicetraining programme organised and sponsored bythe TED, the teachers were given lectures "onmilitary tactics, taught to use weapons, andengaged in camouflage and other militarytechniques" by military and police officers. isAfterwards, the teachers had to run the samecourse for the pupils at their schools. All this isbeing carried out in spite of the fact that manyWhite parents have expressed their concern, andsome have complained, about the manner inwhich their children are being indoctrinated dur-ing these programmes.The contempt with which the regime holds thelives of both White adult civilians and children(not to mention Black lives) can perhaps beunderstood better if one recalls that Geneva Pro-tocol of 12th August 1949 explicitly states that:"The presence or movements of the civilianpopulation or individual civilians shall not be usedto render certain points or areas immune frommilitary operations, in particular in attempts toshield military objectives from attacks or toshield, favour or impede military operations. TheParties to the conflict shall not direct the move-ment of the civilian population or individualcivilians in order to attempt to shield military ob-jectives from attacks or to shield militaryoperations. "In addition, Article 13 of the same document goeson to state that such:"civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded bythis Party, unless and for such a time as they takea direct part in hostilities."' SNo wonder the South African racist minority hasalways refused to sign this international conven-tion in whose formulation 109 governments, 11

Page 28 of 38 national liberation movement organisations and50 international organisations took part andwhich undoubtedly constitutes one of the bestmonuments to world statesmanship.Puppet Forces in the BantustansAs if this was not enough, the P W Botha regimehas established Bantustan armed forces in Ven-da, Gazankulu, Bophuthatswana and the otherbantustan territories. This was in addition to thesetting up of military units consisting of Blacks(Africans) and organised along 'ethnic' lines inthe SADF. Already, the following military unitsare in existence: the I 1 th Battalion composed ofSwazis, the 112th Battalion (Vendas), the 113thBattalion (Shangaans) and the 121st Battalion(Zulus).Although Blacks represented a mere 5 % of thetroop strength of the SADF during the late 1970sand early 1980s, they nevertheless constituted20% of all the troops deployed in the 'operationalareas.' Speaking at a Nationalist Party publicmeeting in the north-eastern Transvaal town ofHoedspruit, the South African Minister ofDefence, General Magnus Malan, recentlyrevealed that "according to the latest figures,66.16% of all the soldiers deployed against ter-rorism in (Namibia)" areBlack. 16According to General Malan's thinking, thisis proof that the SADF is representative of allSouth Africa's people. But looked at fromanother perspective this is a clear indication thatthe P W Botha regime, true to its racist nature,intends using Blacks as cannon fodder in the frontline of its defence. This is completely in line withthe creation of tribal regiments (arnabutho) andsecret death squads, along the style of LatinAmerica, by its puppets and security and in-telligence services, in an attempt to' Lebanonise'a struggle which is essentially anti-colonial innature, and for national liberation, and after-wards present it as 'Black on Blackconfrontation.'As for the explosions of landmines planted bythe combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe in thenorth-western Transvaal, in which some farmersand their relatives as well as soldiers lost theirlives and others were injured, it is only detrac-tors of our struggle, if not people of the same ilkas P W Botha and General Malan who dare ac-cuse the ANC of killing'poor innocent civilians.'They know very well that it is the regime thattook the first step towards obliterating the distinc-tion between the civilian and military, when itdeliberately decided to declare those areasmilitary zones, and proceeded to incorporate theWhite farmers into its military defence andsecurity network.The threats to launch a military attack againstZimbabwe and the other neighbouring countriesis a pretext through which the illegal SouthAfrican racist minority regime intends forcingthe Front Line States into 'helping' it to curbANC activities inside South Africa, somethingwhich it has failed to do itself. The ANC is thepeople.References:1. The Observer, UK, 24.4.83.2. Resister, April/May 1981, No. 13, p.9.3. The Star, 21.11.81.4. The Star, 22.2.82.5. Resister, Feb/March 1983, No. 24, p.18.6. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Convention,12th August 1949, Relating to the Protection of Vic-tims of International Armed Conflicts, Protocol 1,Articles 14 and 17.7. BBC Monitoring Report/Capital Radio, Um-tata, 20.11.85.8. The Progressive List for Peace, 18.11.85.9. BBC Monitoring Report/Johannesburg,20.4.85.10. The 81 st Armoured Brigade forms part of the8th Armoured Division, a Citizen Force formationwhich is specifically trained for conventional war-fare. With a troop strength of 7 000, and equippedwith tank, armoured car, artillery, infantry andengineer regiments, the 81 st Armoured Brigade isundoubtedly the most heavily armed of the six con-ventional warfare brigades in the SADF.11. Rand Daily Mail, 26. 11.83.12. Weekly Mail, 20-26.12.85.13. The Star, 10.7.89.14. The Star, 4.8.85.15. Geneva Protocol, op. cit.16. Business Day, 15.11.85.

Page 29 of 38 BOOK REVIEWSLABOUR AND THE UNIONSEditor: R Southall, South African Labour(Special Issue) Labour, Capital and Society,Vol. 18 No 2, 1985, Centre for Developing AreaStudies, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec,Canada.This special edition of an international Journalon labour studies in South Africa coincides withthe centenary of May Day. About the same timethat the first migrant miners entered the SouthAfrican gold mines in 1886, a labour organisa-tion in the United States of America called uponAmerican workers to refuse to go to work onMay 1 st and to demonstrate for an eight hour day.In two cities, Milwaukee and Chicago, this ac-tion led to a general strike, which the police mer-cilessly put down. In Chicago six workers wereshot on May 3rd in response to which a massivedemonstration took place at the ChicagoHaymarket Square. Police attacked thedemonstrators and a dynamite bomb was thrownand several policemen killed. Eight leaders wereput on trial and sentenced to death, not for hav-ing been involved in the throwing of the bombbut for having spread "ideas which causedanother, unknown, person (possibly an agentprovocateur) to throw the bomb".International protests from the working classled to the reduction of three of the sentences tolife imprisonment. A fourth man killed himselfprior to the hanging of the four remaining mar-tyrs on November 11th 1887. Two years later,the Socialist Congress, meeting in Paris, adopteda resolution to regard May 1 st as an internationalday of struggle for workers' rights, solidarity andpeace. And so it has been celebrated by theworkers of the world since then, South Africaincluded.ANC and May 1stDespite the continous repression over the cen-tury since the Chicago shootings, the labourmovement in South Africa has stressed both theinternational and national message of May Day.In the teeth of State repression in the mid fifties, called upon the oppressed peopleand democrats to celebrate the InternationalWorkers' Day at a time when the State "throughfalse race theories, apartheid measures andeconomic and social bribes" was doing its utmostto eradicate the idea of May Day. Yusuf Dadooexhorted the workers to strengthen working classand trade union unity. In a reference to thewomen, he urged them to stand firm and fightthe attempts of the regime to degrade andhumiliate them under the Pass Laws. In the sameyear, 1956, the ANC stressed the need forworkers' unity and called upon the South Africanworking class to redouble its efforts to secure animprovement in their living conditions. Earlier,SACTU had adopted May 1 st as its day, WorkersDay, which had long become part of an annualtradition for workers' unity and the social eman-cipation of the working class internationally.Over the years the Communist Party, the ANCand the trade unions have combined to com-memorate the international day of the workingclass and to use it to resist the state's assaults onthe workers and their organisations. It was in thiscontext that May 1 st was celebrated in 1950. TheCommunist Party, South African Indian Con-gress and the ANC declared a stay-away on theRand in protest against unjust laws and the Sup-pression of Communism Act, which was design-ed to outlaw the Communist Party and threatenworkers, trade union activists and the nationalliberation movement. The strike was largely suc-cessful despite the strike-breaking activity of thepolice, the killing of four workers in Benoni andthe injuring of at least 17 protesters on the EastRand. In Pretoria, the army surrounded thetownship; in Alexandra a cinema was burnt downand in demonstrators were firedupon. In total 18 people were killed and 30seriously injured.May Day thereafter assumed a newsignificance. It was more consciously combin-ed with working class internationalism andresistance to national oppression in South Africa:June 26th was the date first chosen to honour thefallen of May Day 1950 and has been observed

Page 30 of 38 as Freedom Day for over 30 years since then.In the 1980s May Day has been retrieved by thedemocratic trade union movement and fittingly,100 years after the Chicago massacres, the Na-tional Union of Miners have won May 1st as apaid workers' holiday. The demand for May Dayto be conceded as a national day of the SouthAfrican workers is currently high on the politicalagenda of COSATU and SACTU. The heritageof May Day and the struggles that have accom-panied it, cannot be easily eradicated. They arepart of the history of the South African labourmovement.Editing Out ANC's ExperienceIt is this history which the authors of the essayson the South African trade union movement inthis special volume of the journal, Labour,Capital and Society, too easily ignore - notspecifically the history of May Day but thehistorical effect on the working class of the for-mative organisations for national liberation andworking class emancipation. Despite thetransformation of the economy, the size andnature of the work force, changes in the labourprocess, and the restructuring of the labour rela-tions system by the State between the 1960's and1980's, the working class are not a clean, slateawaiting the imprint of a workers' movementremoved in outlook, concern and content ofstruggle from the ANC and its allies. But theworking class is reinforced in its conflict withemployers and the state as they see their unionsdevelop in strength and confidence as a result oftheir collective energy and trade union activity.The latter is one of the sites of struggle in a warof resistance and challenge that is raging allaround them.Organising Workers: Sactu's DetractorsTwo of the essays respectively trace the develop-ment of the democratic trade union movementand "theorise" the 'political unionism' of SAC-TU. The latter by Rob Lambert entitled PoliticalUnionism and Working Class Hegemony:Perspectives on the South African Congress ofTrade Unions 1955-1965 claims to situate Sactu"within the great strategic debate in the Euro-pean worker's movement at the turn of thecentury" that is Bernstein and revisionism. Thethrust of Lambert's thesis is that in its combina-tion of economic and political struggles SACTUadopted an organisational form that was distinctfrom the major historical traditions of workingclass organisation but similar to working classexperience in countries where the workers areexcluded from the political process. As a conse-quence SACTU was not constrained by a con-sciousness confined to the shop floor and did nothave the limitations of structure which conven-tionally tied trade unions to capitalism. On thecontrary, its political unionism prevented it from"spillage into instrumentalism" (that is being us-ed by any other body in the wider process ofSACTU anniversary meeting - Kwa7hema, Springs, 1985.

Page 31 of 38 social emancipation) because its form oforganisation created the basis for politicising theworkers and "giving them a sense of their ownleading role in the struggle to create a socialistsociety".The flaw in the argument is that SACTU hadno separate ideology from its allies; it was deep-ly integral to the Congress Alliance and as suchdirected its energies to the development ofdemocratic trade unionism and the winning ofthe workers to the side of national liberation asa necessary step towards economic emancipation- as defined in the .Johan Maree's The Emergence, Struggles andAchievements of Black Trade Unions in SouthAfrica from 197.?-1984 is generally a succinct butcomprehensive overview of the development ofthe democratic trade union movement in SouthAfrica. Organisationally, it begins rather belated-ly in the 70's and thereby omits the impact ofSACTU and the level of state repression in the1960's. The changes (over two decades) inagriculture, mining, services and manufacturingindustry, however, create the basis for industrialunionism in the seventies and eighties and,though thin, provide an appropriate introductionto the essay. The cautious development of thecontemporary trade union bodies from non-tradeunion umbrella structures into bona fide federa-tions, is instructive and an important reminderof the relative infancy of the Black trade unionmovement as currently constituted. Its formal andprocedural agreements (as well as its current uni-ty in COSATU, unfortunately achieved subse-quent to the presentation of these essays) are in-dications of the extent of union mobilisation andtheir confrontation with capital.Roger Southall's Monopoly Capital and In-dustrial Unionism in the South African Motor In-dustry describes the profound transformation ofthe South African economy since World War 11.According to his analysis, South Africa has mov-ed from competitive to monopoly capitalism.This involved the merging of firms, a greater cen-tralisation of capital and by implication a re-ordering of alliances and a closer nexus betweenmulti-nationals, local monopolies and the state.The increased intervention of the South Africanstate and its activist economic role in the adop-tion of import substitution strategies to develop(strategic) local manufacturing capacity, was aconsequence of the shift to monopoly capitalism.It had the effect of deepening South Africa'sdependence on foreign funds and at the same timerequired repressive state measures against theBlack working class in order to secure thecheapness of the cost of labour.A boom (accompanied perhaps rather thancaused by) the suppression of the "nationalistmovement" facilitated rapid industrial growthand continuing dependence on the advancedcapitalist powers. All this entailed a programmeof diluting traditional craft skills, historicallymonopolised by Whites, and the employment ofstabilised urban workers rather than a large com-ponent of migrants. The latter argument howeveris more pertinent to the motor industry than themetal sector generally, as the two final essaysshow.Southall's essay is potentially the most in-teresting and analytical in so far as it treats withthe changes in the economy and the state'sstrategies to deal with the "billowing disorder"resulting from the widespread strikes and stop-pages after 1973. One of the consequences of thestate's restructuring of the relations betweenlabour and capital (the Wiehahn reforms), wasthe space it gave for the development of industrialunionism as the model for which Southall takesan extended and illuminating study of theautomobile industry.Isolating Workers From The StruggleEddie Webster and Ari Sitas address differentaspects of workers in the foundries on the EastRand. In his Work, Worker Organisation andLabour Market Segmentation in South AfricaFoundries, Webster analyses the changes in thelabour process using oral history techniques tosupplement a complex analysis of the changesin the racial division of labour and segmentationof the labour market. The testimonies of theworkers interviewed - two "labour aristocrats"(Whites) a (Coloured) machine productionmoulder, and two African shop stewards - en-capsulate the decline of the craft industry, the in-equalities of the apartheid labour system and theimpact of the democratic trade unions on the livesof the migrant metal workers. These for the mostpart are valuable contributions to the growingbody of literature on South Africa's rich labourhistory. But it seems surprising that the A.N.Cor the Freedom Charter should not feature inthese illuminatine interviews.LNM

Page 32 of 38 The Sharpeville Six, SATIS, London, 1986, 50p.The campaign to save the lives of the SharpevilleSix, sentenced to death for the murder of a LekoaCommunity Councillor, Khuzwayo Jacob (Sam)Dlamini, is being led in South Africa by theUnited Democratic Front and the Vaal branchof the Detainees' Parents' Support Committee.People who wish to support the campaign shouldread this carefully researched and factual pam-phlet. It has been produced by the South Africathe Imprisoned Society Committee, which is con-vened by the British Anti-Apartheid Movement,and which campaigns in Britain on behalf ofpolitical prisoners in South Africa.The six people are: Mojalefa Reginald Sefat-sa, aged 30; Reid Malebo Mokoena, aged 22;Oupa Moses Diniso, aged 30; TheresaRamashamola, aged 24; Duma Joshua Khumalo,aged 26, and Francis Don Mokhesi, aged 28.7They were tried with Motseki ChristiaanMokubung, aged 23 and Motsiri GideonMokone, aged 21, who were acquitted of themurder but sentenced to eight years for 'publicviolence.'The events leading up to the trial, the arrestand detention of the accused, the charges, the trialitself, the sentences, all illustrate the nature ofthe racist South African regime - its repressivecharacter, its terrorism, the tortures it inflicts onits prisoners, the way it manipulates the legalsystem and the courts in order to destroy itsvictims.The death of Dlamini arose out of a protestagainst rent increases in September 1984. Amarch was planned to the offices of the OrangeVaal Development Board; the policy arrived inthe township and began shooting early in the mor-ning, before people had begun to assemble. Thecouncillors were invited to join the demonstra-tion, but they refused, and, borrowing the tac-tics of the police, fired on the people. At the endof the day, there were said to be over 250 deadand wounded (official statistics are not available,as the police forbade the hospitals to publishthem) and Sam Dlamini was among the dead.The whole story follows a familiar, sickeningpattern. The eight people were arrested at theirhomes a few days later. They were tortured indetention, and some of them showed the marksINOAPARTHEIDXECUTIof it afterwards.They pleaded not guilty to all charges, and con-tinued to protest their innocence. TheresaRamashamola said she had withdrawn from themarch after being hit on the head by a rubberbullet; Sefatsa said he hadn't reached Dlamini'shouse until after Dlamini was dead; Khumalosaid he hadn't got to Dlamini's house at all, hav-ing stopped to help someone who had been shotin the ankle; Mokhesi said he hadn't even goneon the march, but had been kept at home by afootball injury.When they were finally convicted, it was main-ly on the evidence of two state witnesses, refer-red to as Mr X and Mr Y. It was clear that MrY had been assaulted by the police before heagreed to testify. The testimony of Mr X was con-tradicted in part by another witness, and worstof all, a statement he had previously made to asolicitor, saying that the police had told him toincriminate one of the accused, could not be us-ed as evidence in court because the judge ruledit 'privileged.'All over South Africa, township people, whonow reject the community councils and regardthe councillors with contempt and hatred, haveexercised their votes to elect leaders andspokesmen in their own democratic organisations- residents', parents', women's and youthorganisations affiliated to the United DemocraticFront. It is these organisations that township peo-ple regard as their own decision-making bodies,representing their interests and expressing theirwishes. Some of these leaders and spokesmenhave been found murdered - sometimes horribly- in mysterious circumstances. The police havenever brought anyone to court for these murders.Meanwhile, at the time of writing, the Six areon death row. All except Theresa Ramashamolahave young children.JM

Page 33 of 38 OBITUARYHamba Kahle Comrade Moses MabhidaMoses Mabhida, the General Secretary of theSouth African Communist Party, member of theNational Executive Committee of the ANC andVice-President of the South African Congress ofTrade Unions, was buried in Maputo on March29th. At the funeral, President Samora Machelsaid:"Dear comrades, the whole of Africa, of pro-gressive mankind and all revolutionaries bow inhomage to the personality and exemplary life ofMoses Mabhida. Moses Mabhida has bequeath-ed us his example as a determined fighter for theideals of freedom, justice, equality, democracy,socialism and peace."We know him thus since the start of our na-tional liberation struggle. Moses Mabhida wasan elder brother to us. Patiently and modestly hepassed on to us his long experience of struggle.His advice was always valuable."In all his dealings with us he displayed hissimple, modest and fraternal nature and showedhis love of mankind."We remember the long nights when under thestarlight we shared the dreams of the future wewere building in combat. What would our coun-tries be like. How would our children grow up.How would our peoples' aspirations be achiev-ed. His vision of the future revealed the profoundhumanism that underlay his thinking."In the most difficult moments we wentthrough together he radiated always his calmness,the breath of hope and the certainty of victory.Symbol of Fraternity of Peoples"Moses Mabhida, our brother, our comrade,felt as his own our freedom, our independence.He was an integral part of the Mozambican peo-ple. Moses Mabhida will remain as a symbol ofthe indestructible fraternity of the South Africanand Mozambican peoples, of the profound iden-tity of our peoples' struggles."Moses Mabhida leaves a part of his life inMozambique. He chose to live out his last dayswith us, he chose to bid farewell to life on thefrontier of his country. In other parts of the worldwhere he would have been welcomed with equalsolidarity and comradeship, he would have foundmore comfort and more sophisticated medical at-tention for his failing health. He preferred to re-main here in a free country, close to his own."He was denied his soil in life and it is deniedto him after death. But he will not be buried ina foreign land. Mozambique is his country too.The Mozambican soil which he also loved andof which the struggle made him a brother willenfold him with love and respect. We shall bethe guardians of his body, which is a banner ofvictories. Men who die fighting, who refuse tosurrender, who serve the people and their idealsto the last breath. are the victors. Moses Mabhidais a victorious combatant. His immense per-sonality rests in the heart of all Africans, in theheart of all revolutionaries and lovers of peace. ", Chairman of the South AfricanCommunist Party, said:"The racists hate South African communists witha special venom. To discredit what we stand for,they spread the myth that the communists are astrange people from faraway places, who importforeign ideas from Europe which are dangerousfor Africa."Comrade Baba Mabhida, the leader of SouthAfrica's communists, personified the realessence of our land and its people."Other speakers included John Nkadimeng,Secretary-General of SACTU; Dan Tloome,member of the National Executive Committeeof the ANC, and Archie Gumede, President ofthe United Democratic Front in South Africa.Moses Mbheki Mcane Mabhida was born onOctober 14th, 1923 at Thornville, in the districtof Pietermaritzburg, Natal. Under the influenceof , now serving life imprisonmenton , he was introduced into tradeunionism, and joined the Communist Party andthe ANC. This was in 1942.Since then, he has been involved in all thesethree fronts of our movement, and rose to seniorpositions. He died of a heart attack on 8thMarch. The coffin was draped with banners

Page 34 of 38 of the ANC and the SACP and at its head wasa potrait of Comrade Mabhida while in the backstood four flags - those of the ANC, the SACP,the Frelimo Party and of the People's Republicof Mozambique. A guard of honour from theMozambican Armed Forces stood motionlessbeside the cofffin while guests and diplomatssigned the book of condolence.On March 29 the Mozambican governmentprovided a state funeral with full militaryhonours. The pall bearers from the MozambicanArmed Forces carried the coffin out of theMaputo Town Hall where it had been lying instate. To the mournful strains of three bugles,the coffin was placed on a military vehicle, andthe funeral cortege proceeded slowly to Maputo'sHlanguene Cemetery.Banners of the ANC, SACP and of the UDFwere carried and ANC cadres sang freedomsongs. Slogans proclaiming "Long Live theFriendship between the Mozambican and SouthAfrican People" reflected the spirit of the day.Below, we reproduce President Tambo'sfuneral oration."Comrade President Samora Machel, Presidentof Frelimo, of the Republic of Mozambique,members of the Frelimo Politburo, Central Com-mittee and Ministers, Comrade Joe Slovo, Chair-man of the South African Communist Party,members and leaders of the South African libera-tion movement, our sister Lena Mabhida, yourfamily, relations and friends, leaders of SAC-TU, Your Excellencies and friends, we havegathered here today to bid farewell to a warrior.We have converged from all corners of the globeto pay homage to a revolutionary. We have con-vened on this grieving piece of earth to salute apatriot.A Colossus Supremely Human"We who have walked with giants know thatMoses Mbheki Mabhida belonged in that com-pany too. We who have filed among the ranksknow that he was proud to count himself as a footFrom right to left: Samora Machel, O R Tambo, Joe Slovo, Steve Dlamini,Archie Gumede, Curnick Ndlovu and Dan Tloome (at the microphone).

Page 35 of 38 soldier. A colossus because he was supremelyhuman, Moses Mabhida has departed from ourmidst."A seeming void occupies his space, the airso still without his voice, without that quiet voice,that quiet laugh, like the pure note of a bugle.That voice rose from the depths of the Valley ofa Thousand Hills and it multiplied, rose and grewand multiplied, reverberating from Durban'sCurries Fountain until it was heard in Dar esSalaam and Havana, in Moscow and Managua,in London and Djakarta, in Peijing and Rio deJaneiro, in Prague and Washington. And inPretoria, the centres and symbols of oppressionand repression which are the Union Buildings andthe Voortrekker Monument heaved and trembl-ed as they received his message: 'An end tofascism, down with racism, freedom for mypeople.'"It is rarely given to a people that they shouldproduce a single person who epitomises theirhopes and expresses their common resolve asMoses Mabhida did. In simple language, hecould convey the aspirations of all our people intheir magnificent variety, he could explain thefears and prejudices of the unorganised, and hecould sense the feelings of even the most hum-ble among our people. Moses Mabhida could doall this because he was of the people, a productof the stern university of mass struggle, a pro-duct of the life experience of the exploited anddowntrodden workers and peasants of our coun-try. It was that university, that education, thatexperience, which inspired Moses Mabhida tojoin the ANC, the South African Communist Par-ty and the trade union movement, a trade unionmovement which ultimately coalesced in theSouth African Congress of Trade Unions.Unity of Great Movements"In the ANC, Moses Mabhida rose from thelowest ranks to become a national leader whoserved on the National Executive Committee ofthe ANC, as a commander and commissar of thePeople's Army, Umkhonto we Sizwe, secretaryto the Revolutionary Council, one of thechairpersons of the Political Military Council,who served as an international representative andas an underground organiser. He rose throughthe ranks of the Communist Party to become itsGeneral Secretary while he served as Vice Presi-dent of the South African Congress of TradeUnions. This combination of functionssometimes surprised and puzzled our friends. Forthey wondered why Comrade Mabhida had toserve in so many senior positions in differentorganisations. But above all it was a combina-tion of functions which enraged our enemies.This combination of functions in one leader ofour people upset our adversaries because itreflected the permanence and acceptabilityamong our people of the idea and the practice ofthe unity of the revolutionary democratic, thesocialist and the trade union movements in theSouth African struggle for national liberation."It was part of Comrade Mabhida's greatnessthat having quite early on understood the impor-tance of the unity of these great movements, hesucceeded in ably serving each one of them in-dividually, and all of them together. He servedthem together as a collective front for nationaland social emancipation. Throughout MosesMabhida's lifetime, international reaction trieddesperately hard and consistently to separate thethree movements we have spoken of. It tried toseparate the one from the other and to set themagainst one another. In this contemporary periodwe have seen determined efforts to separate thetrade unions from the broad democratic move-ment and to persuade them to be nothing morethan an agency to bring material benefits to aworking class which remains enslaved. ButMoses Mabhida knew that the very dignity oflabour demands that those who toil should notonly enjoy the fruit of their sweat, but should doso as free men and women. Accordingly, hefought against all attempts to turn the trade unionsinto appendages of the property-owning classesand he resisted all efforts to emasculate the work-ing class as a leading social force for politicalchange in our country. Likewise, he was fierce-ly opposed to all manoeuvres which sought toeducate the working class to repudiate its ownhistory and to allow itself to be turned into a basefor the creation of a new political formationseparate from and opposed to the ANC and theCommunist Party.ANC and SACTU: The Spear and Shield"Moses Mabhida could take no other position,because he had learnt and absorbed the lessonspassed on to him and to us by the late Chief AlbertLuthuli. That lesson was that the ANC and SAC-TU were to each other a spear and a shield.

Page 36 of 38 Moses Mabhida knew that the durability of thealliance between the ANC, the Communist Par-ty and the trade union movement lay instrengthening each as an independent formationand in securing their co-operation on an entirelyvoluntary basis. He therefore always worked toensure that these formations respected oneanother and that they developed among them adeep-seated feeling of revolutionary unity andinterdependence."Moses Mabhida knew it, as clearly as he wasconvinced of the certainty of our victory, that thehistoric and urgent issue of the day in SouthAfrica is the question of the transfer of powerto the people. He saw in the ANC the unique andauthentic vanguard to mobilise and lead our peo-ple to victory. None among us was more con-scious than he that the African National Congresscould only carry out its historic mission if it main-tains the character it has come to assume. Thatcharacter was that of a parliament of all the peo-ple of our country, representative of our future,the negation of the divisions and conflicts thatracial arrogance and capitalist greed have impos-ed on our people. That is why Comrade Mabhidafought hard and long to ensure that nothingshould turn the ANC into a rabble of blackchauvinists or a clique of leftist demagogues. Hebattled against all conspiracies designed toweaken the ANC as a fighting organisation ofthe people, as a true national movement loyal tothe great principles which inspired its creationand have guided it to this day.Tradition of Resistance"What an experience it was to listen to Madevu,as he was fondly called, as he spoke in Zulu, ashe spoke, drawing on our heroic past, to fire thetimid with enthusiasm, to encourage the braveand correct those who had erred. Images he sovividly portrayed were of a Shaka and a Dingane- great giants who ifthey were alive today wouldbe with us as commanders of the People's Ar-my, Umkhonto we Sizwe and not arrogant localgovernment functionaries of a regime thatdespises everything African. The deep well fromwhich he drew strength and courage, the undy-ing tradition of our people's resistance to col-onialism and racial tyranny, these enabled himto teach a whole generation not to fear the tyrants,however powerful they might seem. It gave himthe foresight to recognise the enemy clearly, toconcentrate his fire upon the adversary, andnever to turn his weapon against the people."Yet, comrades, today there are some in ourcountry who claim that they drink from the samewell, but, their manhood having deserted them,they are so petrified of the enemy, that they seeits brutal armed strength as a superhumanmachine - a machine in front of which we mustcower and cringe. Moses Mabhida will not bewith us on the glorious day of liberation. He willnot be there when the voice of the liberation pro-claims from the heights of the sign of our land,from the Sacred mountains of Ulundi, when itproclaims that the cause for which so manyperished has triumphed. Yet there is an error inthose statements, because, wherever MosesMabhida is in the end laid to rest, his grave shallbe like a place of pilgrimage, a place ofpilgrimage to all those who love freedom as hedid, a beacon to the future for all those who valueliberty more than their own lives."Moses Mbheki Mabhida will he there whenthe trumpets sound the salute to freedom. He willbe there because the Young Lions who fed onhis courage and daring, offspring of the lions andlionesses that our fathers and mothers are, theywho have dared to rebel as Bambata rebelled 80years ago, these Young Lions are his peers, theyare the relay team to whom he has handed thetorch that he carried for so long. He will be therebecause his sudden death on March 8th, Inter-national Women's Day, outside the borders ofthe country for whose happiness he had sacrificedso much, because that death was but Mkhize'scall on us to do what remains to be done and weshall do it together in unity. Together we shallsee victory.Mabhida: Anti-Imperialist"Mozambican men and Mozambican women,you looked after our comrade and brother dur-ing the last days of his life. Comrade PresidentSamora Machel, you have done more than yourduty, you have exceeded our highest expecta-tions, in the way you have gone out of your way,taking your people with you, to tend and honourone who was to you a comrade of long standing,a fellow combatant, a leader of the people ofSouth Africa, a leader recognised by the pro-gressive movements throughout the world, anti-imperialist. When Moses Mabhida departed, hewas at peace because we too were in this city of

Page 37 of 38 revolutionary change. We were here as yourguests and fellow fighters for peace, freedom andsocial progress. We had come, as we must alwayscome, to a liberated zone of humanity, to a cor-ner of our continent that arouses the anger andthe envy of our enemies because it is a liberatedcorner."Our common enemies are on all sides. Theythink they have surrounded us together. They im-agine that they will pierce us with the pincers ofan enveloping action, an action originating fromthe Nyasa province and the Cape province. Whatthey do not know is that we are in their rear andon their flanks. It is their cause that is doomed.It is they who are in a hopeless position. It is theywho are in a crisis moment which is withoutprecedent in the history of southern Africa- thesignal that death is for us but a renewal of life,that death is for us a defeat in battle, a rehearsalfor a victorious war. Today Mabhida walks inthe company of Magigwane and Ngungunyane.With these as our standard bearers, we can neverbe defeated. We cannot but be victorious."We wish to express our heartfelt condolencesto the family of Comrade Mabhida, to all our peo-ple who feel bereaved by his departure. His fami-ly loved him, but they surrendered him to therevolutionary struggle because they lovedfreedom even more. Today, as we grieve withthem, they can be justly proud of him and of hislife. Farewell dear brother, uhambe kahlemfowethu."Those who have gathered here to make theirpledge in public or in the silence of their heartswill be with you on the Maluti Mountains whenyou toll the bell of freedom. They will be withyou from all the corners of the globe because yourpresence here signifies their own resolve to con-tribute all in order to wipe out a.crime againsthumanity. You have been ordered to assert thedignity of all men and women across the oceans,on all the continents, permanently and une-quivocally - Moses Mabhida lives. The strug-gle continues. Victory is assured.Amandla! "The living close the eyes of the dead; the dead open the eyes of the living.

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