African Group at the United Nations Observes 70th Anniversary of African National Congress of South Africa (ANC)

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Alternative title Notes and Documents - United Nations Centre Against ApartheidNo. 10/82 Author/Creator United Nations Centre against Apartheid Publisher United Nations, New York Date 1982-05-00 Resource type Reports Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa, Africa (region) Coverage (temporal) 1981 - 1982 Source Northwestern University Libraries Description This issue is published at the request of the Special Committee against Apartheid which decided to promote the observance on 8 January 1982 of the 70th anniversary of the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC) and the 20th anniversary of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the military wing of the ANC, on 16 December 198l. It contains statements made at the meeting organized by the African Group at the United Nations in observance of these two anniversaries as well as messages received so far on these occasions. Format extent 44 page(s) (length/size)

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http://www.aluka.org N-. 10/82.. NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* may 1982

N-. 10/82.. NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* may 1982 '7 - I982. .. AFRICAN GROUP AT THE UNITED NATIONS OBSERVES 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOUTH AFRICA (ANC) /Note: This issue is published at the request of the Special Committee against Apartheid which decided to promote the observance on 8 January 1982 of the 7Oth anniversary of the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC) and the 20th anniversary of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the military wing of the ANC, on 16 Decenber 1981. It contains statements made at the meeting organized by the African Group at the United Nations in observance of these two anniversaries as well as messages received so far on these occasions.7 82-14330 * All material in these notes and documents may be freely reprinted. Acknowledgement, together with a copy of the publication containing the reprint, would be appreciated.

Contents I. COMORATIVE MEETING OF THE AFRICAN GROUP OF THE WHOLE UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTES, 16 December 1981 Statemnt 1. We salube the ANC for their twenty years of resistance to the apartheid r6gima R.I. Alhaji Yusuff Maitama-Sule, Permanent Representative of Nigeria tothe United Nations, Chairman of the Special Comittee against Ap- l ...... 1 2. We renew our call for support to the florces of national liberation in South Africa H.E. Mr. Frank Abdulah, Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations and Chairman of the Special Cozeittee on the SItuation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples . . . 3 3. We pledge our co-operation in the struggle for the restoration of the legitimate rights of the people of South Africa H.R. Mr. Massamba Sarr6, Permanent Representative of Senegal to the United Nations, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People ...... 5 I . The Non-Aligned Movement fully supports the African National Congress (ANC) H.E. Mr. Ra1l Roa Kouri, Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, on behalf of H.E. Mr. Fidel Castro Ruz, Chairman of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries ...... 6 5. The combined efforts of the ANC and Uikhonto we Sizwe must prevail H.E. Mr. C. G. Mama, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations and Representative of the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity . . T 6. To fight for freedom for seventy years is not a small matter H.E. Mr. Legwaila Joseph Legwaia, Permanent Representative of Botswana to the United Nations inhis capacity as Chairman of the African Group fbr the mnth of December 1981 ...... 8 7. The struggle of the ANC is also our struggle because our ideals and aspirations are the same HE. Mr. Anders Thunborg, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the Mdiited Nations ...... 11 iT. 8. ThepeopleofIndiasupportthehopesand aspiraticns of the struggling people of South Africa H.E. Mr. Nat jan Krishnan, Pernanent Representative of India to the Uniged Nations ...... 13 9. We stand in solidarity vith the struggle of the people of South Africa for freedom, human dignity and progress H.E. Mr. Peter Florin, Permanent Representative of the German Democrttic Republic to the United Nations ...... 1 10. We advocate the adoption of decisive measures to eliminate racism and apartheid H.E. Mr. Oleg Troyanovsky, Permanent Representative of the Union of Soviet Socialitt Republics to the United Nations ...... 15 11. Our struggle ill not cease or lag until ve achieve the total eradication of the odious system of apartheid Mr. Abdelkader Messahel, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Algeria ...... 17 12. The valiant struggle of the oppressed in South Africa merits the translation of active support into practical action Ms. Nabeela Al-Mulla, Attach6, Permanent Mission of Kuwait to the United Nations on behalf of the Arab Group at the United Nations . . . . . 18 13. We vill figt relentlessly to end colonialism, repression and exploitation i n South Africa Mr. Theo Ben-Gurirab, Permanent Observer of the South West Africa People's Organization to the United Nations ...... 19 li. The ANC has pledged that it will strive to ensure ever greater unity of action among all democratic forces in South Africa Mr. Oliver Tabo, President of the African National Congress of South Africa...... * 20

Pal Closing remarks by the Chairman or the Special Committee againt Apartjeid ...... 28 II. MESSAGES A. Messages from the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheidonthe70thAnniversaryoftheANc ...... 30 B. Messages from Heads of State and Government . . . . * ...... 32 C.OtherMessages...... 3 Annexes I. APPEAL BY MR. OLIVER TAMBO, PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS ...... 36 II. NATIONAL OBSERVANCES ...... 38

I. Commemorative Meeting of the African Group of the Whole, United Nations Headquarters, 16 December 1981 A. Statements 1. H.E. Alhaji Yusuff Maitama-Sule, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid We salute the ANC for their twenty years of resistance to the apartheid r6gime We are gathered here today to observe the seventieth anniversary of the African National Congress of South Africa, as well as the twentieth anniversary of its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizve ("Spear of the Nation"), to congratulate and salute them for their great contribution to the cause of freedom and dignity of Africa and the principles cherished by humanity as a whole; and to assure them of our full support in their struggle to destroy the evil and criminal system of apartheid and build a democratic society in which all the people of South Africa, irrespective of race, colour or creed, will enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms. We must inevitably place these anniversaries in the context of both the centuries- old struggle of the African continent for its redemption, and of the resistance by the African people of South Africa - ever since alien settlers landed in the Cape in 1652 - against occupation, dispossession, discrimination and oppression. The African people of South Africa, under the leadership of their traditional kings and chiefs, fought heroically for their land and for their freedom. It was only after more than a century of wars that they were subdued by the superior armour of the colonizers. We recall with great respect the leaders of the African people such as Dingean, Shaka and Cetshwayo, the Zulu Kings: King Moshoeshoe of the Sotho; King Sekhukuni of Eastern Transvaal. We recall Ndlambe, Hintsa, Makana, Moletsane, Sekwati - to mention but a few. That phase of resistance came to end with the Zulu rebellion in Natal, led by Mambata in 1906, which was put down with the massacre of thousands of people.

-2- Soon after, in the aftermath of the Anglo-Boer War, the white communities of the four provinces came together to form the Union of South Africa. They not only ignored the rights of the African majority but conspired to take away even the few rights that the black people enjoyed. It was at that time that Pixley Ka I, Seme and others convened a congress of African kings, chiefs and leaders in Bloemfontein which established the South African Native National Congress, later renamed the African National Congress of South Africa. The foundation of this organization, uniting all the African people of South Africa irrespective of tribal and other differences, was an important event in the history of South Africa, and indeed in the history of the struggle for freedom in Africa as a whole. For half a century, the ANC tried through innumerable petitions, deputations, demonstrations, boycotts and all forms of non-violent resistance to induce the minority regime to consult with the leaders of the majority, to recognize the inalienable rights of the African people and to move toward a democratic society. The successive minority regimes proved to be deaf to all appeals to reason, and relied on brute force to impose total white domination. But the struggle of the African people, joined by other oppressed people and a number of white men and women of conscience, inspired Africa and the world. In the wake of the non-violent "Campaign of Defiance against Unjust Laws" in 1952, in which 8,000 people courted imprisonment, the United Nations recognized the international significance of the struggle in South Africa. Today, all governments of the world without exception denounce apartheid and recognize the legitimacy of the struggle of the oppressed people to remove that scourge. By 1961, the brutality of the racist regime, its massacres of peaceful demonstrators and its banning of African organizations persuaded the national liberation movement to undertake underground activities and armed resistance. I would recall that twenty years ago, on Human Rights Day, 10 December 1961, the late Chief Albert J. Lutuli, President-General of the African National Congress, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of the historic non- violent movement led by the ANC.

-3- Six days later, when Umkhonto we Sizwe undertook sabotage actions in several cities under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, the international community squarely laid the responsibility for violence on the apartheid regime. Today, we recall, therefore, the half a century of non-violent resistance, as well as the two decades of a complex struggle, combining legal and underground activities, peaceful protests and armed resistance. We rejoice that this struggle has greatly advanced, despite all the odds. During this year alone we have witnessed an unprecedented upsurge by the South African people, demonstrating a total rejection of apartheid, defiance of terror and loyalty to the national liberation movement. We have also witnessed a series of courageous attacks by freedom fighters on police stations, military installations and other carefully chosen targets. We have been particularly impressed with the training and discipline of these freedom fighters who have invariably tried, unlike the oppressors, to avert the loss of innocent human lives. We cannot but recall today the many South African martyrs who have given their lives in the struggle for freedom - the numerous victims of massacres, those who were killed in battle or executed by the racist regime, those who were assassinated inside and outside South Africa and those who were tortured to death in detention. The memory of these martyrs serves to reinforce the determination of the freedom fighters and their friends around the world to destroy the evil system of racist domination in South Africa. I would, therefore, invite you to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of these martyrs. (Minute of silence) 2. H.E. Mr. Frank Abdulah, Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations and Chairman of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples We renew our call for support to the forces of national liberation in South Africa As we pause anew, to reflect on the plight of the people of South Africa and to express our solidarity with them in their valiant struggle against the abhorrent policy of apartheid, we should once again take stock of what has been accomplished and how much more there is to be achieved to put an end to the inhuman system of apartheid and rampant racial discrimination in southern Africa. In the same context, it is a most fitting occasion to underscore once again the collective responsibility of the international community to assist in the restoration to the people of southern Africa, still under colonial and alien domination, of their legitimate rights to freedom and selfdetermination. They are fighting for the very principles which the United Nations is pledged, by its Charter, to uphold and that is the equality of peoples and the right of men and women of all races to live in dignity, to enjoy all fundamental human and political rights. This meeting, which commemorates the seventieth anniversary of the African National Congress and the twentieth anniversary of National Heroes Day, comes at a time when the policy and practice of apartheid is challenged more vigorously than ever, by the forces of national liberation from within South Africa itself and by the renewed determination of the international community. The evils of apartheid and racist colonialism in southern Africa and the suffering it brings to the peoples in that part of the world are all too well known to need elaboration. As we deeply deplore the sufferings of all who are victims of the evil regime of Pretoria, we pay on this solemn occasion a particular tribute to those who have been beaten, tortured, imprisoned, detained or restricted for no reason other than their opposition to the inhuman system of apartheid, as well as to those who have fought and sacrificed their lives in the struggle for the legitimate rights of their peoples and the independence of their countries. Programmes of action designed to bring this intolerable situation to an end have been formulated, improved upon and proclaimed time and again in a number of decisions adopted by this Organization. The reason for the failure so far of the Organization to implement those programmes is patently clear; the intransigent attitude of the apartheid regime of South Africa, its contemptuous disregard for the will and desire of the world body and the collaboration which the regime receives from certain Governments. This manifest contempt shows without a doubt that the racist regime continues to be the principal adversary of the United Nations in its efforts to promote freedom, human dignity, equality and justice. Today's meeting should remind us that until apartheid, racial discrimination and colonialism are eradicated, the realization of international peace and understanding will be difficult to attain. - 4 -

-5- It is self-evident that the international community is duty-bound to increase its assistance to the oppressed peoples of southern Africa and to their national liberation movements fighting for the principles embodied in the United Nations Charter. At the same time, we must strive, not only to promote the application of those provisions of the Charter of the United Nations which call for full respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms, but also and most important, the rapid and complete elimination of colonialism which is a major source of racial discrimination in the world today. 3. H.E. Mr. Massamba Sarr6, Permanent Representative of Senegal to the United Nations, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People We pledge our co-operation in the struggle for the restoration of the legitimate rights of the people of South Africa On behalf of the United Nations Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and on my own behalf I would like to convey to you our deep gratitude for inviting us to this meeting in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of National Heroes Day and the 7Oth anniversary of the African National Congress. In your very eloquent statement you invoked the names of the distinguished sons of Africa who gave their lives for Africa to ensure that their children, in the future, may live in a better world of peace, dignity, fraternity and understanding. Today's commemoration also gives us an opportunity to focus the attention of the international community to the need for this community to devote itself increasingly to the eradication of an evil, which is incompatible with the principles of the Charter to which we have solemnly subscribed. In the course of recent weeks, we have witnessed a debate which has been very moving, a debate on the Namibian question, a question I am deeply concerned about, and a debate on apartheid. All of this is underpinned by racial discrimination vhich, in our view, is a political, cultural and social challenge not only to the people of Africa but to all human beings who love peace and justice and who believe, in any sense, in a religion. This is why on behalf of the Committee, it is our view that as long as this scourge is not eradicated, as long as the racist regime of South Africa persists in its policy of apartheid, in its policy of contempt for the human person, the credibility of our Organization will be seriously challenged and subjected to serious shocks. This is the opportunity for us once again to focus the attention of the international community to the need to put an end to this hateful policy.

-6- If you will allow me now, Mr. Chairman, on behalf of my country, Senegal, and on behalf of the Head of State, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Senegal, I would like to assure the ANC of our full and active sympathy and our full co-operation in their very just struggle and their very daring struggle for the restoration of the rights of men In Africa and in southern Africa. 4. H.E. Mr. Rail Roa Kouri, Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, on behalf of H.E. Mr. Fidel Castro Ruz, Chairman of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries The Non-Aligned Movement fully supports the African National Congress I should like to read to you a message we have received from the President of the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba, and Acting Chairman of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, Comrade Fidel Castro. I would like to read this statement to you with your permission. "Your Excellency, the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid United Nations, New York "Mr. Chairman, "Allow me to convey, to you and through you, our deep congratulations to the militant and valiant fighters of the African National Congress, the ANC, this 16th day of December, on the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the armed wing of this distinguished organization and on the 70th anniversary of this organization to be commemorated on 12 January. "Since the establishment of the African National Congress in 1912 and its armed wing a half-century later, many victories have been achieved over an enemy endeavouring to increase its genocidal and aggressive policies. It is policy that has evoked the rejection of revolutionary and democratic forces throughout the world. "The path traversed by the African National Congress in its struggle for the liberation of the people of South Africa from the odious policy of apartheid has been long and arduous. On so significant an occasion, we praise the leader of the ANC, Albert Lutuli whose memory we cherish with respect as we do the memory of other distinguished sons of Africa who have given their lives for this just cause. "Together with Albert Lutuli and Solomon Mahlangu we recall today the memories of countless fighters for the human rights of the peoples of Africa among whom the outstanding ones are the heroic figures of Nelson Mandela and many other heroes who have gone by without note.

-7- "Throughout the decades, the racist Government of South Africa has launched its repression against defenceless masses who are only claiming their legitimate right to be freemen in their own homeland. Hundreds of South African citizens have fallen victim to this policy. They have been imprisoned. They have been locked away in the prison camps of the racist minority of South Africa in an evermore futile attempt to quell the clamour for justice by the African peoples. Many others have been tortured and massacred at peaceful protests such as those at Sharpeville and Soweto. "Very rightly the Non-Aligned Movement has taken up the cause of the peaceloving and progressive forces of South Africa as its own banner, condemning the policy of apartheid as a crime against humanity. In each of its meetings the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries has lent sustained support for the struggle of the ANC. In the plenary meeting of the Heads of Delegations and Heads of State of the Non-Aligned held in New York on 25 and 28 September last, we heard praise for this Organization, for its increased work in mobilizing the masses and for its successful armed actions against the strategic facilities of the racist regime. Our peoples will not cease in their noble efforts to give moral and political support to the valiant struggle of the South African people. And with this purpose in mind, the Non-Aligned Movement reiterates its unshakable position to stand by the side of justice and human rights recognized as just and legitimate by the concert of nations, by peace-loving and progress-loving peoples and by all those who love the well-being of mankind. "Signed: Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Non-Aligned Movement." 5. H.E. Mr. C.G. Maina, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations and Representative of the Chairman of the Organization of the African Unity The combined efforts of the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe must prevail Today we celebrate the founding of the African National Congress seventy years ago. None of us here today was born then. It follows naturally that most of those who lived then are gone the way of all human flesh. The struggle continues and must. continue with greater intensity and determination. The founding of the African National Congress must have struck the colonialists as a dangerous thing, dangerous to their domination of the African people because it speeded the beginning of the creation of the source of strength of the African people. That source has always been the unity of the people. The activities of the colonialists in South Africa over the past seventy years can be summed up as the effort to destroy any semblance of unity the African people have sought to create. The catalogue of those activities of the colonialists is long and well known.

-8- The restriction of movement of the African people which was started long ago and enforced through the pass laws was the first major thrust against the unity of the people. The prohibition of the creation of organized labour or trade unions was and still is a major drive against unity of the African people. The prohibition of permanent settlement in cities and the separation of families are just a variation of the same drive to inhibit unity. The whole machinery of apartheid and the creation of bantustans are the highest peaks of the policy of destroying any possibility of unity for the African people. So you can see it was not just a passing event when the Africans established the African National Congress. It was and remains a gigantic event which the colonialist is still fighting to destroy and avoid the consequences of the unity of the African people. This is not the time to assess success and achievements even though these are many and self-evident. It is enough to say - Long Live African Unity. Long live African National Congress! It is not surprising that we celebrate today also the twentieth birthday of Umkhonto we Sizwe. As an independent arm of the African nation of South Africa, we congratulate its founders and wish them success in their effort. There is no way a determined foe like the creators of apartheid will listen to words of peace or the pleas of humanity alone. Their hearts are long dead. They have lived with evil so long; they teach the evils of apartheid as the holy road to salvation. They have inverted all goodness man knows to be, to evil, and the evil to be the good so that we speak different languages. There is no means of communication these circumstances the only answer is the Umkhonto we Sizwe. We need to resolve to give this Umkhonto we Sizwe strong and unwavering support. We know the foe is many times stronger than the unarmed people of South Africa but the combined effort of the African National Congress and Umkhonto we Sizwe in the end, however distant that end is, must prevail. Long live Umkhonto we Sizwe! 6. H.E. Mr. Legvaila Joseph Legaila, Permanent Representative of Botswana to the United Nations in his capacity as Chairman of the African group for the month of December 1981 To fight for freedom for seventy years is not a small matter. We are gathered here on this momentous occasion to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the African National Congress and the twentieth anniversary of the Unkhonto we Sizwe ( Spear of the Nation). Important as these two anniversaries are to all of us, the fact is that they do not tell the whole story of the struggles of the people of South Africa over the centuries for the right to live in freedom and peace in their own land. When the ANC came into being in 1912 the people of South Africa had already been fighting for their freedom for more than two hundred years.

-9- In other words, nowhere in the history of South Africa can we find'a period during which the black South Africans accepted their miserable lot and abandoned their determination to free themselves from the yoke of internal and external colonialism and racial oppression and persecution. South African black history has its epics which will remain indelible in the memories of black South Africans, as well as in the consciousness of the people of Africa as a whole and the world at large. We cannot forget Umgugundlovu and Blood River. Those heroes and heroines who fought guns with assegais sacrificed their lives so that future generations of black South Africans may live in peace and freedom in their own land, the land of their birth, to preserve the land for which their forefathers would have willingly shed their blood and sweat. To some, this day, December 16, is regarded as the day that the nineteenth century black South African's resistance to subjugation and persecution was crushed once and for all. To this day, December 16 is celebrated by the Afrikaaners in a prayerful renewal of their covenant with the Almighty God who supposedly ga'them the power to defeat the Zulu warriors at Blood River in 1838. But to black South Africans Blood River only marked an epoch in their history. There was no ceding of their country to their conquerors, not an inch! On the contrary, the setback at Blood River could only serve to stiffen black South Africa's resolve to fight even harder for their freedom. Hence this day, this momentous day has come to be known and solemnized as Heroes Day. Appropriately so, Mr. Chairman, because that is what it is. And there are black heroes in South Africa despite the absence of black holidays on the calendar of that country. Every century of South African history had its black heroes - the Shakas, the Cetshwayos, the Makanas, the Sekhukhunis, etc. But it is the present with which we are here to reckon, not the past as such. Seventy years of the ANC have been years of endless struggles, most of which, as we all know, have been peaceful and passive. To be exact, the ANC spent fifty years before 1961 practising satyagraha, passive resistance, despite the fact that white South Africa has always practised violent confrontation. We cannot forget Sharpeville, Soveto and others. To know why the ANC raised the "Spear of the Nation" in 1961, one has, first and foremost, to understand the mentality of the racist white governments that have ruled South Africa particularly since 1948. One has to understand that in South Africa the black man is not even allowed to speak of freedom and liberty unless, of course, he is a black who has opted to become a soulless puppet of the white rulers. For a genuine black man in South Africa, to speak of freedom and liberty is to express defiance against white authority. So is resistance to white authority in a passive, peaceful way. The Sharpeville massacre was not caused by violent demonstrations on the part of the blacks at that police station. The pictures of that tragedy are there to attest to the fact that the crowd simply stood silent, unarmed and unthreatening only to be gunned down in cold blood.

- 10 - The coming into power of the National Party in South Africa in 1948 spelled disaster for that country. Not only was apartheid transformed into a state ideology but even token tolerance for the political aspirations of Africans, which had been practised by previous regimes, was discontinued. The fifties saw the enactment of the most brutal and evil laws aimed at putting Africans in their right place and at insuring that South Africa was ruled by whites in their own interest and for their own good. Apartheid and racial discrimination affected every level of society and scarred every South African whose colour was not white. And yet the ANC persisted in its commitment to peaceful change and passive resistance in spite of the fact that it was clear that the white rulers of South Africa had set themselves on a course from which there was no return. Indeed, it was clear that the racist white regime in Pr6toria was conmitted, beyond redemption, to the balkanization of South Africa to put the Africans in their right places, in the so-called Bantu homelands. The 1950s saw the introduction of the so-called Bantu education - education for the Africans who, according to Verwoerd, then Prime Minister of white South Africa, should not be shown the green pastures of white society where they are not allowed to graze. As passive resistance increased, state violence escalated. State terror became the order of the day in South Africa. Prisons were filled with political prisoners, pass law offenders, influx law offenders, etc. The banning of Africans whose only crime was to want to be free in their own land, to live and die with their families in peace and freedom, became a popular weapon in the hands of white authority. And yet, Mr. Chairman, the ANC still believed there was hope somewhere - that passive resistance would in the final analysis win the day. But the 1960s began with the Sharpeville massacre, one of the South African tragedies which will always remain fresh in our memories. White State terrorism had reached a level which even the most fanatic believers in passive resistance would not endure. Thus after fifty years of peaceful protest, passive resistance and gentleman politics - the ANC was compelled to raise the "Spear of the Nation" (Umkhonto we Sizwe). Thus the people of South Africa have been forced to shed the innocent blood of their innocent children so that freedom may once again be restored to all the people of that country. Yes, both black and white children of South Africa are being sacrificed in a conflict which could have been avoided nad white South Africans realized early in the history of South Africa that that country is an African country and not a piece of real estate property bought by Jan Van Riebeeck in 1652 for the exclusive use and enjoyment of whites. South Africa is a big enough country to accommodate all its people. It is rich enough to satisfy the needs of all its 28 million people. Seventy years is a long time in the history of a liberation movement. To fight for freedom for seventy years is not a small matter. It is a very serious matter indeed. And so we are all being called upon not simply to wish the people of South

- 11 - Africa well in their struggle for freedom but most importantly to do everything in our power to ensure that that unhappy country does not drown in its own blood, in the sacred blood of its innocent young children. 7. H.E. Mr. Anders Thunborg, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations The struggle of the ANC is also our struggle because our ideals and aspirations are the same. It is my honour and privilege to address this solemn meeting organized to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the African National Congress. The forces behind the creation of the ANC were rather similar to those that led to the establishment of other political movements in different parts of the world at the time. Inspired by the ideals of freedom and democracy and by the conviction that a privileged minority could have no birthright to economically and politically suppress a majority of the people, men and women got together to organize themselves in unions, movements and parties. They had realized that by organizing themselves they got better equipped to fight the minority-dominated systems that deprived them of their rights as individuals. This was also the incentive to the creation and development of democratic parties as well as trade unions in Sweden before the first World War. It is therefore quite logical that the political parties, the labour unions and other popular movements in Sweden have been instrumental in forming a strong opinion of solidarity with the less fortunate and more drawn-out struggles for political and economic rights in other countries. The solidarity with the struggle of the black majority in South Africa has through the years got deeply rooted in the popular movements of wl country. The real spark was ignited - as I believe in many other part& of the world - by the outrage caused by the Sharpeville massacre. The situation prevailing in South Africa became evident to everybody, as it was dramatically illustrated by poignant reports in the Swedish and the international press. Swedish trade unions, political parties and youth movements reacted by launching a consumer boycott against South African imports. The Swedish Government as well as the popular movements took initiatives at the national and international level for actions to isolate South Africa and thereby increase the pressure for change in that country. There was a widespread interest in seeking ways and means to support the South African liberation movements. Against this background the Swedish government and solidarity groups in Sweden developed their relations with the ANC and manifested their support by giving it economic assistance and by spreading information around Sweden about its struggle in South Africa as well as on the international level. About this time ANC established an office in Stockholm to facilitate its contact with the Swedish authorities and the Swedish public. Through the 1980s and the 1970s our contacts on the personal and political level have steadily increased.

- 12 - The Swedish people believe in principle in the peaceful solution of international conflicts. But considering the repressive and uncompromising attitude of the minorities in southern Africa, we can understand that in a certain situation it might be difficult not to resort to other means of struggle. We have followed the phases of the long, patient struggle of the ANC with great sympathy and we have repeatedly urged the authorities in Pretoria to release Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners as a first step towards establishing a dialogue with the political leaders of the majority in the country. We have urged them to do it before it is too late and violent confrontation becomes the only alternative - a tragic alternative for the whole population. Even members of the National Party have gone public in establishing the fact that ANC probably has the support of millions of blacks and that the Pretoria regime one day will have to sit at the conference table with the ANC, which it banned 21 years ago. It might be prohibited in South Africa to quote the leaders of the ANC, but you can rest assured that they are quoted all over the world outside South Africa. Today we commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the ANC. We also commemorate the twentieth anniversary of National Heroes Day. It is now almost twenty years ago that Nelson Mandela was convicted for the first time, a sad recognition on the part of the authorities of his leading role in the movement. From the statement he made when he was sentenced to life imprisonment a couple of years later, I will make the following quotation: "Above all, we want equal political rights, because without / them our disabilities will be permanent. I know this sounds revolutionary to the whites in this country, because the majority of voters will be Africans. This makes the white man fear democracy . "But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which will guarantee racial harmony and freedom for all. It is not true that the enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. Political division, based on colour, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the domination of one colour group by another. The ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism. When it triumphs it will not change that policy". The struggle of the ANC - expressed in its Freedom Charter as well as in this quotation from Mandela's statement at the dock in Pretoria - is also our struggle because our ideals and aspirations are the same. We are fighting for a nondiscriminatory society and equal rights for all citizens. It is a struggle for democracy. It will continue until our common objectives are achieved, for the single reason that the eternal ideals we are fighting for can never be suppressed by brutal force.

- 13 - 8. H.E. Mr. Natarajan Krishnan, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations The people of India support the hopes and aspirations of the struggling people of South Africa. Earlier this month, while addressing the General Assembly on the "Policies of apartheid of the Government of South Africa", the Member of Parliament from India, Honourable Mr. H.S. Hanspal, had conveyed the greetings and good wishes of the people of India to the President of the African National Congress, Mr. Olivei Tambo, and to his comrades in arms, both within South Africa and outside, on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the establishment of the African National Congress of South Africa. I consider it a privilege this morning, to be able to participate in this special meeting to commemorate the historic occasion and to reiterate our support for and solidarity with the brave and courageous people of South Africa in their relentless struggle against the racist regime of South Africa. I should like to express M appreciation to the African Group for having organized this commemorative meeting under your distinguished chairmanship. I also take this opportunity to extend our felicitations to the members of the people's army, Umkhonto we Sizwe, whose twentieth anniversary is also being celebrated today. The birth of the national movement in South Africa, under the inspiring leadership of the African National Congress of South Africa, seventy years ago has indeed been an event of great significance in the history of the liberation struggle in South Africa, in particular, and in the continent of Africa, in general. During this period, the world has sympathized with and admired the perseverance, determination and courage of the people of South Africa in their fight against the evil system of apartheid, as also with their struggle for the achievement of their inalienable rights, including the establishment of majority rule in South Africa. During this span of time, the African National Congress of South Africa has produced emirient leaders deserving respect from people all over the world for their devotion and dedication to the cause of freedom, equality and human dignity. With the involvement of the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, in the fight against the white minority regime of South Africa earlier in this century, the people of India have particular reason to identify themselves with the hopes and aspirations of the struggling people of South Africa. Having themselves gone through a long and arduous struggle for freedom against alien domination during which their revered leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru spent precious years of their lives in jails, the people of my country have a special niche in their hearts for the leaders of the people of South Africa, who are undergoing long prison sentences and many other deprivations in that country. The recent conferment of India's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding on Mr. Nelson Mandela, the undisputed leader of the African National Congress of South Africa, is a clear demonstration of the esteem and affection the people of India have for the freedom fighters of South Africa.

On this solemn occasion, our thoughts go to the six freedom fighters of the African National Congress of South Africa who have been sentenced to death by the racist regime and whose appeals are pending. The freedom loving peoples of the world must act quickly to bring pressure on the Government of South Africa to spare the lives of these freedom fighters. The international community must also intensify its efforts to secure the release of the leaders of the people of South Africa like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki. It is well known to the distinguished delegates who are present here today that India was one of the first countries to accord full recognition to the African National Congress of South Africa. The ANC maintains an office in New Delhi and the Government of India is happy to extend to it all co-operation in its work. A few months ago, we were happy to welcome in our midst Mr. Oliver Tambo, President of the ANC. During his visit to India, Mr. Tambo received on behalf of Mr. Nelson Mandela, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. We look forward to a closer and more fruitful relationship with the organization in the years to come. I would like to conclude by reiterating, on this solemn occasion, By country's total moral and material support for the valiant people of South Africa in their hour of trial and tribulations., We have no doubt whatsoever that the sacrifices and suffering and unflinching determination and courage of the African National Congress of South Africa will be rewarded soon and that the people of South Africa will be able to achieve their cherished goal of freedom, equality and human dignity before long. Long live the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and more power to their elbow! We look forward to the day when they and their colleagues will take their rightful place with us in the United Nations as representatives of a South Africa which is truly free and rid of the cancer of apartheid. 9. H.E. Mr. Peter Florin, Permanent Representative of the German Democratic Republic to the United Nations We stand in solidarity with the struggle of the people of South Africa for freedom, human dignity and progress Neither bestial terror nor persecutions nor the imprisonment of patriots, nor the banning of the orgaization itself have succeeded in forcing the courageous and firm freedom fighters of the African National Congress to give up their struggle for freedom and human dignity. The African National Congress has inscribed a glorious page indeed in the chronicles of the historic struggle of the African peoples for independence. The African - 14 -

- 15 - National Congress is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its founding at a time when almost all the peoples of Africa have thrown off the yoke of colonialism and have embarked upon a course of national independence. The fascist apartheid rfgime in South Africa would have become a relic of the past long ago if it had not been supported by all possible means by the imperialist powers who consider this regime to be the best defence for their interests in southern Africa. They are not concerned with the inhuman living conditions of the African people in South Africa. Their actions are dictated only by their interest in profit and gain. In October 1955, Nelson Mandela wrote that "the spectre of Belsen and Buchenwald, the fascist concentration camps, haunts South Africa and this can be overcome only by the forces of the people of South Africa standing together in solidarity". The force, the strength of the people of South Africa derives from their desire, their aspiration to freedom as well as the certainty that the days of the last bulwark of colonialism in Africa are already numbered. And the source of this is world-wide solidarity with the struggle of the people of South Africa which, under the leadership of its national liberation movement, is carrying forward the struggle against the apartheid regime through all possible means. The German Democratic Republic is proud that it is one of those standing in solidarity with the struggle of the people of South Africa for human dignity, freedom and social progress. Today, we salute the members of the African National Congress and the courageous, indefatigable fighters of Umkhonto we Sizwe. We salute and send a greeting to Nelson Mandela and all the patriots in prisons there whose spirits have not been broken by cruel torture. We also wish to express our deep compassion for the women and children of the people of South Africa who are living in inhuman conditions and suffering under the oppressive yoke of the apartheid regime. We promise that we will continue firmly to support them and to do everything on our power to ensure that they can throw off the yoke of apartheid and live full and happy lives. 10. H.E. Mr. Oleg Troyanovsky, Permanent Representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the United Nations We advocate the adoption of decisive measures to eliminate racism and apartheid Please permit me, on behalf of the delegation of the Soviet Union, to thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak at this solemn meeting which is

- 16 - devoted to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the national liberation movement of South Africa, the African National Congress, and the 20th anniversary of National Heroes Day. Since the founding of the African National Congress, it has become a major political organization carrying out selfless, devoted work for the national and social liberation of the oppressed people of South Africa. This struggle is going on in very difficult and complex conditions. The racist regime of Pretoria, in order to maintain the system of merciless exploitation enslaving the indigenous population of the country, is resorting to the cruelest possible methods of massacres and terror. Everyone will recall the events in Sharpeville, Langa, Soveto and other regions of South Africa where the racist authorities unleashed the most extreme means in order to suppress the mass manifestations and actions of the African population. In the struggle for the most fundamental basic human rights, many of the best representatives of the racial and national groups of the country have lost their lives or fallen into the dungeons of the South African prisons. Throughout the world and here in the United Nations, the names of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Steven Biko, Govan Mbeki and many other fighters against apartheid are well-known. They have become a symbol of the struggle for freedom and human rights. The policy of apartheid carried out by the South African racists has repeatedly been branded by the United Nations as a crime against humanity and it has firmly condemned the racist regime of South Africa for its mass repression of the opponents of apartheid. The General Assembly has reaffirmed the just nature of the struggle of the oppressed peoples of South Africa and their national liberation movement using all means available to them including armed struggle - for the people to seize power to eliminate the apartheid regime! It has reaffirmed the right to self-determination of all peoples of South Africa. At the same time the General Assembly has called upon all States to give all necessary aid to the oppressed people of South Africa and its national liberation movement in its just struggle. The Security Council has also firmly condemned the racist regime in Soath Africa for continuing to exacerbate the situation and for its mass repression of all opponents of apartheid as well as for its murders of peaceful demonstrators and persons arrested for exercising their political convictions. It has affirmed once again the legitimate nature of the struggle of the South African people to eliminate apartheid and to establish a democratic society. And if, despite all the decisions of the United Nations, the Pretoria regime continue to enforce the policy of apartheid, to illegally occupy Namibia and to expand and to extend their acts of armed aggression against sovereign African countries, this is the result of the clear support given them by the Western Powers. First and foremost, the United States of America is trying to maintain South Africa to keep it as a bulwark for the struggle against the independent African States, to keep its military bases in a strategically important region and to keep it as a source of enormous profits realized through the excessive exploitation of the

- 17 - indigenous population. The support and collusion given the South African Government by the Western Powers were once again fully exposed and condemned during the 36th session of the General Assembly and is reflected in the decisions hereby adopted. The United Nations should take effective measures to eliminate this bulwark and hotbed of racism in South Africa. The Security Council should apply to the South African racists the most strict and comprehensive mandatory sanctions under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. The Soviet Union consistently supports the national liberation movements and advocates firm resistance to the aggressive machinations of imperialism, colonialism and racism. It advocates the adoption of decisive measures to eliminate racism and apartheid. In connexion with the 70th anniversary of the African National Congress, we salute and welcome the growing successes of the liberation struggle of the South African people headed by the African National Congress. We would like to express our solidarity with this organization in its struggle to eliminate the disgraceful system of apartheid in South Africa. 11. Mr. Abdelkader Messahel, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Algeria Our struggle will not cease or lag until we achieve the total eradication of the odious system of apartheid It is a great privilege for my delegation and a special honour for me to be able to take the floor on this historic occasion. It is with legitimate pride that, first of all, I would like to express our solidarity with the struggling people of South Africa and our support for its avant-garde, the African National Congress of South Africa. This body is 70 years old and thus it is the oldest African national liberation movement. Since the creation of the African National Congress, it has endeavoured to organize the lengthy, heroic struggle of the South African people against foreign domination and penetration; a struggle which has lasted for more than 50 years. Under the leadership of the ANC, the South African people has heroically stood firm in the face of the racist aggression of the apartheid forces. This led 20 years ago to the creation of the Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC. In celebrating this double anniversary today, we would like to pay a special tribute to the struggle of the South African people. Because it has been a long, arduous and difficult struggle and particularly because it is a just one, the struggle of the South African people has become a symbol of freedom. It has become the very definition of freedom. This long struggle has in turn inspired other liberation movements and continues to constitute the very crux of all African struggles against foreign racism and exploitation. Thus the

- 18 - struggle has become, in a sense, one with my people's own battle against colonialism. The ties between the African National Congress and the National Liberation Front were forged during our war of liberation. It is highly symbolic that we can say today that this camaraderie was forged during the liberation struggle. To illustrate this, we can recall here the presence of Nelson Mandela and other African freedom fighters in the guerilla forces of the army of national liberation. Today the struggle is being expanded and strengthened. It has the support of the masses. The support for the programme of the ANC within the country itself is quite evident. Daily, illustrations of this support are shown by increased numbers of successful armed actions by the South African freedom fighters. Outside South Africa as well, the African National Congress and its forces enjoy the support of and solidarity with the overwhelming majority of the members of the International community. Sir, on this historic occasion, may I please state that our thoughts and our feelings go out to all the sons of Africa who are fighting for the liberation of this dear part of our African continent. Loyal to their memory, our struggle will not cease or lag until we achieve the total eradication of the odious system of apartheid. 12. Ms. Nabeela Al-M1la, Attach6, Permanent Mission of Kuwait to the United Nations on behalf of the Arab Group at the United Nations The valiant struggle of the oppressed in South Africa merits the translation of active support into practical action In the name of the Arab Group and on behalf of my delegation, I have the honour to take part in this meeting commemorating the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the African National Congress. The birth of this national movement has heralded the black population into a historic struggle both in substance and form. Initially, the struggle started as non-violent action against what seemed to be surmountable odds. However, the escalating repressive policies of the South African regime, its criminal acts against the black population and its systematic imposition of the policy of apartheid left open only one course of action, namely, a recourse to armed resistance. The challenges confronting the black population are tremendous. Over the years the white minority has constructed an apparatus characterized by the manipulation of the country's economy, by direct control of the country's politics, by fragmentation of the social fabric of the black population, aided by a Judicial system both brutal and indiscriminate in its restrictions on any expression of dissent against the State machinery. The valiant struggle of the oppressed people of South Africa is faced with these odds.

- 19 - They deserve, indeed they merit not only our active support and solidarity but the translation of this support and solidarity into action. To translate the support into practical action, public opinion should be actively mobilized, particularly in those countries that continue to support the apartheid regime. Narrow economic, political or strategic interests should 'not be a substitute for enlightened public opinion. Equally important is the translation of that support into moral, political and economic action. The national movement has come a long way since its struggle began some 70 years ago. Let us individually, as human beings, in our collective rejection of a grave injustice, and together as Member States of this Organization, correspond our international action to that of the heroic struggle of the black population in order to eradicate the abhorrent system of apartheid. Lastly, Mr. Chairman, I would like to take the opportunity, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of National Heroes Day, to express our solidarity and support for our South African brothers and sisters who are in detention and have died in detention, who are banned and are fighting against persecution. 13. Mr. Theo Ben-Gurirab, Permanent Observer of the South West Africa People's Organization to the United Nations We will fight relentlessly to end colonialism, repression and exploitation in South Africa It is only proper and fitting that the African Group should have convened this meeting on this auspicious occasion. It gives me great pleasure to participate at this solemn meeting, presided over by the Chairman of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, an outstanding African at the United Nations, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress of South Africa and the 20th anniversary of the founding of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC. I bring on this solemn occasion revolutionary greetings, fraternal and militant solidarity with the patriots of South Africa under the leadership of the African National Congress, the authentic revolutionary movement vanguard of the national liberation struggle of the oppressed people of that beleaguered but beloved land which is ruled by a gang of fascists, terrorists, usurpers on the basis of the inhuman system of apartheid. SWAPO and the ANC are the undisputed leaders representing the true aspirations and legitimate interests of the struggling people of South Africa and Namibia who have been forced by the repressive and criminal policies and practices of colonialism, illegality and apartheid to take up arms and to make sacrifices. ANC is the oldest national liberation movement on the African continent and certainly one of the most persistent champions of human, political and social rights and liberation in the world. Many of us in southern and central Africa, including some leaders of the independent African States in the region, owe our political awakening and direction to the glorious example and good work of the ANC since its inception in 1912.

- 20 - Mr. Chairman, You and the other speakers who preceded us invoked the names of the African heroes and martyrs and referred to the legacy of the heroic struggle of the past and the present in South Africa. This continued struggle is being waged today by the sons and daughters of the African masses in order to end apartheid and to establish a democratic state founded on the will and the interest of all the people of South Africa. Today, the combatants of the ANC and the SWAPO, our comrades in arms, confront the same Boer regime practising military and state terrorism, violence and judicial murders against the African freedom fighters. The military wings of the ANC and SWAPO, the Umkhonto we Sizve and the People's Liberation Army of Namibia, respectively, prepare for armed struggles which are complementary in many respects on different fronts. The combatants of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia have been waging a valiant armed liberation struggle virtually single handed for the past 15 years against the most vicious and powerful war machine on the African continent. We have survived and today the enemy recognizes this fact and admits that SWAPO is a force to be reckoned with and that a military solution against SWAPO is unlikely in the foreseeable future in Namibia, if ever. However, we are happy and gratified in the knowledge that today the guerilla forces of Umkhonto we Sizwe have joined those of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia, engaging the enemy forces across the length and breadth of the southern region of the African continent. We are confident that this co-operation and collaboration will grow in strength as we continue to intensify the struggles in southern Africa until apartheid is eradicated in SoUth Africa and its illegal occupation terminated in Namibia. Let us all rededicate ourselves on this solemn occasion, redouble our efforts to fight relentlessly for the early independence of Namibia. We take 1982 to be the year of Namibia's independence. Let us further intensify the world-wide campaign of the anti-apartheid forces here in the United Nations and outside by giving concrete material assistance and expressing solidarity with the African National Congress in their struggle to end minority settler colonialism, repression and exploitation in South Africa. Until that day comes, the struggle continues, the victory is certain. 14. Mr. Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congress of South Africa* The ANC has pledged that it will strive to ensure ever greater unity of action among all democratic forces of South Africa For reasons beyond our control, it has proved impossible for me personally to participate in this historic meeting which the National Executive Committee of The statement was read at the meeting by Mr. Johnstone Makatini, Representative of the ARC at the United Nations

- 21 - the African National Congress had thought of such importance that I should attend. From the outset we would like to pay our humble and heart-felt tribute to all those who joined hands to organize this meeting and those who are attending. We say this because we believe that there could be no more fitting place than the Headquarters of the United Nations OrganiZation to hold this meeting dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the army of the people of South Africa, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and the 70th anniversary of the African National Congress. By organizing this meeting, independent Africa and her friends throughout the democratic and peace-loving world have asserted anew and practically the validity and continuity of the most basic principles on which the United Nations Organization has stood since its foundation. For nearly four decades, the United Nations has been pursuing the sacred objective of helping to bring into being a world in which the peoples live in peace, each nation with a guaranteed right to shape its destiny without let or hindrance, and with a shared general upliftment of the whole of humanity. We meet today as we do, not because of some misguided urge. Ye have assembled because of the collective recognition that there is in the world today, thirty-six years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, still another social system that constitutes a crime against humanity, namely, apartheid. This system is a malignant growth Vhich by its mere existence spreads death-infested bacilli into the world body politic. As long as it exists, so long will world peace, the independence of the peoples and common good be threatened. As long as the millions of our people and those of Namibia continue to be the victims of this gross and grotesque crime, so long will the very essence of human liberation be compromised and denied. This year, the perpetrators of this crime celebrated the 20th anniversary of the proclamation of the racist republic of South Africa. To celebrate is to rejoice. To rejoice in injustice is to make a commitment to its continuation. In their celebrations, this is exactly what the South African racists did. They pledged to maintain white minority domination at all costs. In making that pledge they reaffirmed their determination to keep the overwhelming majority of our people in servitude voteless, landless, jobless, starving, brutalized and exploited non- persons in their fatherland. To drive the point home in no uncertain terms, the apartheid regime mounted as the pinnacle of its celebrations, a massive military parade. By that act the oppressors and exploiters were paying homage to violence - violence as the mid- wife of colonial domination in South Africa and violence as the principal guarantor of the perpetuation of apartheid racist and colonialist supremacy over our people.

- 22 - Homage in its original meaning, Mr. Chairman, is a vassal's display of reverence, an acknowledgement of the supremacy of his master. Therefore in paying homage to violence as its central means of ensuring its mastery over the masses of our people, the South African racists were at the same time proclaiming themselves hostages to violence, bound to a violent system to perpetuate by force of arms a repressive and anti-human violence. Since the birth 71 years ago of the South African colonial state, its history has been one of the intensification and extension of violence perpetrated by the minority against the majority. Today that violence has become endemic to South African society, a sine qua non of its survival. When we talk of violence, Mr. Chairman, we are not speaking merely of repression by the police and the racist army. We are talking of the totality of the South African social system. Take for instance the issue of land. The history of the land question in South Africa is a story of intensifying violence carried out against the people. South Africa was settled by European colonizers on the basis of the violent expropriation of the African peasant masses. The continued mass removals of our people to the Bantustans are a further extension of this policy of violent expropriation that comes with their deportation which has become more pernicious with each passing year. Today 70% of the population of our contry has been squeezed into 13% of the land, there to perish from sheer want, penury and destitution. From the first days of the rape of our land we have reached the position where portions of our ancestral land have been set aside as special cemeteries to swallow up the African victims of the heinous crime of genocide. The educational system, especially in so far as it affects the African people, is a violent assault on the very humanity of our youth designed as it is to warp their minds and produce adults who see themselves as pre-destined sub-human objects of spoliation by the white master. It was to guarantee the realization of this objective that the apartheid regime massacred our children in Soveto and elsewhere in South Africa during 1976 and subsequently. It should require no further examples to show that apartheid, in all its various aspects, is violence carried out everyday against the majority in South Africa and Namibia. Itself an expression of reactionary violence, apartheid requires the organized forces of state repression to ensure that we do not rebel against the violence and yet more violence is unleashed at an escalating rate. Over the last few years the Pretoria regime has made much noise claiming that it has resolved to reform the apartheid system. Of course, even as they were formulating their speeches, the spokesmen of the racist regime knew that the words they uttered were baseless lies designed to buy time for the oppressors.

- 23 - The racists have instead used the time they have bought exactly to reinforce their military positions. They have done all to flood South Africa with mercenaries, that most noxious of human degeneracy. Only this year they raised their military budget by 4o%. Concurrently all senior collectives in the racist state structure now include representatives of the military. All this of course represents the accumulation of the means whereby the apartheid regime can escalate the use of force, for the continued commission of the crime of apartheid. The reports that the racist regime has, together with Zionist Israel, tested a neutron bomb did not come as a surprise as it is within the logic of the apartheid system, to seek to use even greater doses of force. And what more perfect weapon for the man-hating apartheid regime than the neutron bomb. Equally, the barbarous apartheid policy of aggression against the People's Republic of Seychelles, Angola and Mozambique, against Zambia, Lesotho and other independent states of southern Africa is not an aberration, neither is the continued occupation of Namibia. Peace, national independence, liberty and equality among the peoples are anathema to the apartheid system as the midday sun is to darkness. Unavoidably, we must, all of us, brace ourselves to withstand and repulse the violence of the apartheid system, the violence perpetrated against the masses of the people of South Africa and Namibia in the ordinary course of the daily implementation of that system and the violence unleashed against independent Africa in expression of the efforts of the racist regime to ensure survival and prosperity. We must brace ourselves to repulse terror exercised more intensely and more extensively with each passing phase. It must surely be one of the wonders of our age, Mr. Chairman, that we who have endured so much pervasive violence should have, for more than half-a-century, from 1906 to 1961, eschewed violence as a method of struggle. Yet the course that our people chose, under the leadership of the African National Congress, was guided neither by folly nor by cowardice. Afterall, we come from the people that had fought for two centuries in the defence of the independence of our country and people. No, Mr. Chairman, we resisted resorting to arms because we knew, precisely from our daily experience of it as a practical affair and not a theoretical proposition, what terrible destruction violence could wreak on all the people of South Africa. We chose therefore to wage a non-violent struggle, seeking to compel successive white minority regimes to bow down to our demands through the sheer weight of our numbers and the moral strength of the incontrovertible justice of our cause. As a result, the forces of colonialism and racism in South Africa denied the people of our country, both black and white, the right and possibility to resolve their problems peacefully. Throughout this century, the illegal rulers of our country have told each and every generation of our people through action that the only way to resolve the contention between white minority rule and the democratic majority is a a fight to the finish.

- 24 - From the merciless suppression of the Bambatha rebellion against an onerous tax burden in 1906 to the massacre of 190 African Christians at Bulhoek in 1921, from the murders which took the life of Johannes Nkosi and others in 1937 to the brutal termination of the mine-workers' strike in 1946, from the murder of demonstrators fighting in defence of the freedom of speech in 1950 through the Sharpeville and Soweto massacres of 1960 and 1976 respectively, the message that the South African white supremacists have conveyed to our people as we have said, throughout this century is that we could only realize our aspirations at a heavy cost in human life. Quite clearly, so deeply embedded had the cult of violence become that a Just peace could not be had until the Frankenstein of racist violence had been cauterised with burning steel. Or to put the matter as it was at the foundation of our popular army, Umkhonto We Sizwe, 20 years ago today, the time comes in the life of a people when a choice has to be made, to submit or to fight. Twenty years ago, we picked up the gauntlet that the enemy had been throwing at our feet and went back to arms. We are meeting today in part to salute that historic decision. We meet therefore to honour the combatants who have over the last 20 years laid down their lives or fallen into enemy hands while confronting the racist forces of repression arms in hand. Among these patriots we must count the entire leadership of our people incarcerated at Robben Island, Pretoria and Kroonstad, including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Harry Owala, Dennis Goldberg, Ahmed Kathrada and Dorothy Nyembe. We must count also such martyrs as Molefe who died in action on December 1961, Patrick Malaoa and Basil February who fell in Zimbabwe in the late sixties, others who perished more recently including Solomon Nahlangu, the Silverton 3, those killed at Matola, Joe Gqabi, and only a few days ago Kenneth Nangu and Michael Tete. We salute them today, on the 20th anniversary of Umkhonto We Sizwe, because these outstanding heroes, in the front ranks of the million-strong army of the people of South Africa, saw that the failure to take up arms or to support those who have taken up arms, would constitute acquiescence in the commission of a crime against humanity and encouragement to its perpetrators. We meet today, Mr. Chairman, to observe also the 70th anniversary of the formation of the African National Congress on 8 January 1912. It is a fortunate coincidence that these anniversaries, the 20th of Umkhonto We Sizve and the 70th of the ANC occur so close to each other. This must serve to remind us of the inextricable links between these two organizations, our spear and our shield, as well as between the mass political and the popular military struggles. The struggle for the destruction of the criminal apartheid regime and the transfer of power to the people is gaining increasing momentum. Over the last five years, literally millions of people have participated in the popular offensive against racist tyranny. All sections of our population have been drawn into this torrent of humanity

- 25 - in combat. Workers and peasants, women and youth, professional people, Moslem and Christian, all the national groups or our country, including democratic- minded whites, have participated and are all participating in this collective advance. There is hardly any issue over which the people have not risen in resistance and no part of the country which is not active. Accordingly, we have seen militant struggles around such issues as education, wages, trade union rights and other workers' issues, prices, fares and rents, land mass removals and the bantustan system, political prisoners and detention and so on. At the same time, and basing itself among the masses of the people, Umkhonto we Sizve has delivered and continues to strike daring blows against the enemy. Speaking on -the South African radio on the 13th of this month, the head of the fascist security police, General Johan Coetzee was forced to admit that these activities of our people's army had made the situation "much more dangerous and difficult" for the racist regime, forcing the enemy's law enforcement agencies to adopt and invent new tactics, new techniques, as a matter of fact to experiment in this situation..." New tactics, new techniques and experiments cannot and will not stop the development and growth of the armed struggle in South Africa. The masses of the people from whom our armed combatants spring and among whom they are integrated have a creative capacity to which the enemy has no answer, regardless of the number of reactionary experiments he carries out. The armed struggle will intensify because the masses of our people have made it their business that it should intensify. When we spoke from the rostrum of the General Assembly in this building five years ago, on 26 October 1976, we said: "It was a fault of the times that in 1945 representatives of the colonial system in South Africa were admitted into this organisation of the world's peoples. /We went on to say that/...it is an insult to human reason and to the Charter of this Organization... that our oppressors shotld have an acknowledged claim to appear in /the General! Assembly_as our spokesmen. /We said then, Mr. Chairman, that_..we do not recognize the legitimacy of the white minority regime inside South Africa. So also do we reject its claim and pretence to represent the people of South Africa internationally." Today, practically and in the open, the masses of our people are demonstrating their allegiance to the new popular power that is emerging in struggle and through struggle within South Africa. Our people in the millions are struggling, are refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the white minority regime, and are rejecting its claim and pretence to represent the people of South Africa internationally.

- 26 - When we talk of the new popular power, Mr. Chairman, we speak of the democratic organizational formations which are today engaging the enemy in struggle, all of which recognize the African National Congress as their most outstanding creation, the leader of the South African movement for national liberation, the repository of our collective experience, sacrifices and aspirations. We talk also, Mr. Chairman, of a national movement which recognizes Umkhonto we Sizwe as an army of the people of South Africa, a combat force constituted and composed by the people. Our people have equally given their reply to the enemy's tinkerings with the racist constitution to his much proclaimed "new dispensation". Firmly and throughout the country, our people in all their national groups, have told the enemy that it is only the implementation of the provisions of the Freedom Charter that vill satisfy our aspirations. Where the enemy tries to impose his own chosen leaders on the people, he finds himself confronted with the constant demand to free Nelson Mandela and all other political prisoners, to negotiate with them for they, together with those who are banned, banished and exiled, are our genuine leaders. Twice this year, gambling on its terrorist might, the apartheid regime calculated that it could intimidate the people into doing its bidding. In May it called on the people to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its racist Republic. And then in November it called on the people to elect a puppet South African Indian Council. In its arrogance, the racist regime had, of course, omitted to recognize the fact that there exists in South Africa today an alternative centre of authority, the conscious, democratic-minded masses of our people. In the trial of strength during which the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe and all the patriotic forces of our country Joined hands to thwart the enemy's plans to drag the people to participate in celebrating and reinforcing their own oppression, the enemy suffered ignominious defeat. The 2eople stayed away both from his celebrations and his elections. It is the self-same masses, Mr. Chairman, that are calling on the international community to totally isolate the illegitimate artheid regime. It is they who say we must speak out in their name and for our country and say that to deal with the apartheid regime is to participate in inflicting violence in all its forms upon the people. Those such as the United States Administration who recognize and deal with the apartheid regime as strategic allies of long-standing as partners in a so-called constructive engagement and in a pretended solution of the problems of southern Africa must take heed, Mr. Chairman, that they are taking sides against the people. They are lending legitimacy to a regime which in principle has already lost its hold over the majority of our people, in much the same way as the reactionary Junta in San Salvador has lost its hold over the heroic masses of El Salvador.

- 27 - In South Africa as in El Salvador there is no middle ground. One is either with the politico-military forces led by the ANC and in the case of El Salvador the politico-military forces led by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front or on the side of the forces of repression. Then the South African apartheid regime will be forced into the status in South Africa of an illegal regime. Similarly, even if the United States Administration and its ally in San Salvador succeed to carry out planned fraudulent elections in 1982, this will do nothing toalter the illegitimacy of the Junta that rules El Salvador by force of arms. Today, Umkhonto we Sizwe is 20 years old. For over two decades, it has survived desperate attempts by our adversary to destroy it. Supported by the friends and allies of our people in Africa, the socialist community of nations and in other parts of the world, strengthened by the sacrifices that many combatants organized in its ranks have made and steeled by the unfolding popular war of liberation. It is poised to carry out its mission of being the spear of the people to a successful conclusion during this third decade of its existence. From an intimate knowledge of its cadres, men and women of all the races of South Africa, of its commanders and combatants, we can state here that Umkhonto we Sizwe will carry out its mission with courage, daring and inventiverkess at all times conscious of the fact that it is a people's army, the representative of a humane future for our people. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the representatives of the international community who have today conveyed greetings to this heroic force. We shall convey our salutations to the combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe which, we are certain will inspire them to even greater efforts in the common struggle for national liberation, democracy, social progress and peace. The African National Congress is, Mr. Chairman, acutely conscious of the fact that on it has fallen the historic task of leading the political and military assault on the apartheid regime, this leading enemy of the whole humanity. The ANC has pledged that during the year of its 70th anniversary, it will strive to ensure ever greater unity in action among all the democratic forces of South Africa, to build up the fighting strength of these forces and in active struggle, to shift the strategic initiative into the hands of the people. Mr. Chairman, the victory of the people of South Africa and the world against the common enemy is assured. We say the world because, indeed, without the support of the progressive humanity we would not be as close to success as we are today. During this coming year, we will seek to express our thanks to the peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America, to the Socialist countries and Scandinavia, to the democratic governments and people of the Western countries for their support of a heightened all-round offensive against the Pretoria regime. The first liberation movement to be born on the African continent, the African National Congress, has contributed what it could to the.adyVwCement of the struggle for national and social emancipation in Africa and elsewhere. But more important,

- 28 - Mr. Chairman, because on our people has been thrust the task of putting the final nail on the coffin of the white minority colonial domination, we can draw from our own strength, from the great victories that the peoples have scored over the last seventy years, and from the accumulated political and material resources that those victories have put in the hands of democratic, anti-racist mankind. Acting together with the forces represented here today, with our comrades in arms in SWAPO of Namibia, the Polisario Front, the PLO, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, FRETILIN and others who fight for the liberation of their people we constitute a formidable force which no new enemy tactics or new techniques can defeat. The guarantee of our common victory is that we act together in unity for the realization of the goals for which the Organization in whose Headquarters we are meeting was founded. B. Closing remarks by H.E. Alhaji Yusuff Maitama-Sule, Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid Before concluding this meeting, I would like to make a few remarks as Chairman of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid. On behalf of the Special Committee against Apartheid, I extend my greetings to the African National Congress and to its respected President, Mr. Oliver R. Tambo, on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of ANC. I am sending greetings to Mr. Henry Selby Msimang, one of the founders of the ANC. I also extend my greetings to Umkhonto we Sizwe and its founder and leader, Nelson Mandela, who is now serving his twentieth year of imprisonment on Robben Island Nelson Mandela has become a symbol both of uncompromising resistance against apartheid and of hope for a peaceful transition to a democratic society. The Special' Committee will, therefore, continue and intensify its support to the campaign of the South African people for the release of Nelson Mandela and all other political prisoners. We have always recognized that the oppressed people of South Africa and their national liberation movement bear the primary responsibility for the liberation of t their country from racist tyranny. But we recognize equally that the international community has a responsibility and a duty to support that struggle, not only because it is just but also because humanity has a vital interest in the elimination of apartheid. We recognize that apartheid cannot be reformed but must be totally eradicated. It can only be destroyed by a struggle, by a movement of the people.

- 29 - We declare, therefore, that governments which profess to abhor apartheid but do not want to recognize the national liberation movement, cannot be serious in their professions. We affirm the right of the oppressed people of South Africa and their national liberation movement - in the light of their long and bitter experience with the racist regime - to resort to a variety of forms of struggle, including peaceful protests, industrial action and armed resistance, in order to destroy apartheid and build a democratic society. We applaud the national liberation movement for recognizing the rights of all the people of South Africa, and for avoiding loss of innocent lives in the course of the struggle against a regime which has a shameful and shocking record of terrorism. We denounce with contempt any attempts by the racist regime or its friends to equate the national liberation movement with terrorism. We recognize that in the struggle for liberation, many organizations, legal and clandestine, make a contribution, while the liberation movements and their freedom fighters play a crucial and indispensable role. We applaud the ANC for the role it has played for seventy years, and especially for its declared policy of promoting the unity of all the forces against oppression, without trying to impose its views on them. The African National Congress has announced that it will observe its seventieth anniversary throighout the year to make known, as widely as possible, the history of the struggle of the South African people and their legitimate aspirations. The Special Committee will do its share in this task of education and publicity. It will promote a series of observances in 1982, not as ritual and routine events but as a means for discussion and action. The Special Committee has emphasized since its inception in 1963, that the most appropriate, peaceful and effective action by the international community is the imposition of comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against South Africa, and their full implemehtation. 1982, the year of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the national movement in South Africa, will be observed by the United Nations as the International Year of Mobilization for Sanctions against South Africa. On behalf of the Special Committee, I invite all governments and organizations to co-operate in making this international year, a year of meaningful action. On 16 December 1838, an Afrikaaner force defeated the Zulu army of Dingaan in the Battle of Blood River. That day is observed by the racists as the "Day of the Covenant" but is now observed by the ANC as the Heroes Day. Let us today make a covenant with the heroes and the martyrs in the great struggle for a democratic South Africa that we shall not rest until South Africa is free!

- 30 - II. MESSAGES A. MESSAGES FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE AGAINST APARTHEID ON THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ANC In connexion with the observance of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress of South Africa, the Chairman of the Special Comnittee against Apartheid, H.E. Alhaji Yusuff Maitama-Sule, has sent the following mesaages. 1. Message to meeting in Paris The Chaiiman has sent the following message to a meeting being held in Paris today on the occasion of the ANC anniversary, under the sponsorhsip of three organizations, Association frangaise d'amiti6 et de solidarit6 avec les peuples d'Afrique (AFASPA), Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amiti6 entre les peuples (MRAP), and Mouvement anti-apartheid (MM): "I AM DELIGHTED THAT AFASPA MRAP AND MAA ARE OBSERVING SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDING OF ANC STOP ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA TO STRIVE FOR INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE AND FOR TRULY DEMOCRATIC STATE WAS IMPORTANT EVENT IN HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA AND OF AFRICA AS WHOLE STOP DURING SEVEN DECADES THIS MOVEMENT HAS STRUGGLED HEROICALLY DESPITE GROWING BRUTALITY BY SUCCESSION OF RACIST REGIMES AND HAS CONSISTENTLY UPHELD PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS STOP IT HAS LED NON-VIOLENT STRUGGLES IN WHICH WORKERS COMMA WOMEN COMMA STUDENTS AND YOUTH COMMA TEACHERS COMMA RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND ALL INTELLECTUALS HAVE PARTICIPATED AND MADE GREAT SACRIFICE STOP IT HAS UNITED ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE OF COUNTRY AND ATTRACTED SUPPORT FROM MA.NY NOBLE MEN AND WOMEN IN WHITE COMMUNITY STOP WHEN FACED WITH MASSACRES OF PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATORS AND BANNING OF DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS COMA MOVEMENT WAS OBLIGED TO UNDERTAKE UNDERGROUND AND ARMED STRUGGLE UNDER GREAT DIFFICULTIES STOP PAST YEAR HAS WITNESSED NUMEROUS ATTACKS BY FREEDOM FIGHTERS AGAINST POLICE AND DEEENCE INSTALLATIONS AND OTHER SELECTED TARGETS IN CLOSE CO-ORDINATION WITH STRUGGLES OF WORKERS COMMA STUDENTS AND OTHERS STOP HISTORY OF LONG AND DIFFICULT STRUGGLE OF SOUTH AFRICAN PEOPLE MJST BE STUDIED AND MADE WIDELY KNOWN ALL OVER WORLD IN ORDER TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY STOP DESPITE IMMENSE SACRIFICES THIS STRUGGLE HAS NOT YET TRIUMPHED MAINLY BECAUSE OF BESTIALITY OF OPPRESSORS AND COLLUSION OF EXTERNAL INTERESTS SO THAT INTERNATIONAL ACTION IS CRUCIAL AND IMPERATIVE STOP SPECIAL COMMITTEE IS CONVINCED THAT PEOPLE OF FRANCE WITH THEIR GREAT TRADITIONS CAN PLAY IMPORTANT RCLE IN MOBILIZATION OF WORLD PUBLIC OPINION FOR CONCRETE ACTION STOP I TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO APPEAL FOR EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION BY FRENCH PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MOBILIZATION FOR SANCTIONS AGAINST SOUTH AFRI CA." 2. Message to Lord Provost of Glasgow, the Rt. Hon. David Kelly The Chairman sent the following message to the Lord Provost of Glasgow in connexion with the opening at the City Hall today of an exhibit on belson Mandela, leader of ANC in prison, who has been made a freeman of Glasgow: "I AM DELIGHTED THAT CITY OF GLASGOW WILL OPEN EXHIBITION ON NELSON

- 31 - MANDELA COMMA DISTINGUISHED SON OF AFRICA AND FREEMAN OF GLASGOW ON OCCASION OF SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDING OF AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOUTH AFRICA STOP THIS EXHIBIT MARKS ANOTHER LINK OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLE OF GLASGOW AND PEOPLE OF AFRICA. "NELSON MANDELA PLAYED A GREAT ROLE IN RESURGENCE OF- NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA SINCE HE JOINED ANC YOUTH DURING SECOND WORLD WAR DETERMINED TO ENSURE BY POSITIVE ACTION IMPLEMENTATION OF PROFESSED OBJECTIVES OF UNITED NATIONS STOP AS VOLUNTEER-IN-CHIEF OF NONVIOLENT DEFIANCE CAMPAIGN OF 1952 HE LED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE OF ALL RACIAL ORIGINS TO COURT IMPRISONMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS STOP AS CHOSEN LEADER OF PIETER-MARITZBURG CONFERENCE IN 1961 HE WENT UNDERGBOUND TO RESIST RACIST REPUBLIC AND PROMOTE TRULY NATIONAL CONVENTION TO ESTABLISH DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY STOP WHEN REGIME RESORTED TO BRUTAL REPRESSION HE WILLINGLY RISKED HIS LIFE TO LEAD MULTIRACIAL ARMED RESISTANCE STOP HE HAS CONTINUED TO REMAIN SYMBOL OF RESISTANCE TO RACISM AND LEADER OF ALL DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE DESPITE INCARCERATTON FOR ABOUT TWO DECADES. "UNITED NATIONS HAS RECOGNIZED NEED TO KEEP ALIVE THE CAUSE OF NELSON MANDELA AND ALL OTHER SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS TO DEMONSTRATE WORLD REJECTION OF APARTHEID AND SUPPORT FOR LEGITIMATE STRUGGLE OF SOUTH AFRICAN PEOPLE FOR DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY STOP I CONGRATULATE CITY OF GLASGOW ON BEHALF OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE AGAINST APARTHEID FOR ITS CONTRIBUTION." 3. Message to churches of Glasgow The Chairman sent the following message to churches in Glasgow which are observing a Day of Prayer on 10 January as requested by ANC: "I COMMEND CHURCHES OF GLASGOW FOR OBSERVING DAY OF PRAYER FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA. "NELSON MANDELA AND OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE INCARCERATED IN SOUTH AFRICA UNDER OBNOXIOUS LAWS VIOLATING ALL CANONS OF RULE OF LAW FOR NO OFFENCE OTHER THAN STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTICE STOP THEY ARE THE TRUE LEADERS AND SPOKESMEN OF GREAT MAJORITY OF PEOPLE OF THAT COUNTRY WHILE REGIME WHICH IMPRISONED THEM HAS BEEN DENOUNCED BY INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR ITS INHUMAN AND CRIMINAL POLICY OF APARTHEID STOP IN PRAYING FOR THESE POLITICAL PRISONERS WE NOT ONLY PERFORM A HUMANITARIAN DUTY BUT REAFFIRM OUR CONCERN FOR THEIR LEGITIMATE ASPIRATIONS STOP DAY OF PRAYER TAKES PLACE SEVENTY YEARS AFTER FOUNDATION OF NATIONAL MOVEMENT OF AFRICAN PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA TO STRIVE PEACEFULLY FOR THEIR RIGHTS STOP I RECALL THAT ITS FIRST ACT WAS TO SEND DELEGATION TO GREAT BRITAIN TO APPEAL AGAINST INFAMOUS LAND ACT AND A UNION ESTABLISHED BY WHITE MINORITY DESIGNED TO DISENFRANCHISE AFRICAN MAJORITY STOP ALAS THEIR APPEAL WAS NOT HEEDEL BY HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT AT THAT TIME AND A TRAGEDY ENSUED IN SOUTH AFRICA STOP IT IS SOURCE OF SATISFACTION TO ME THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN UNITED KINGDOM ARE NOW EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY WITH FREEDOM STRUGGLE IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THAT CITY OF GLASGOW IS PLAYING SIGNIFICANT ROLE STOP I HOPE THAT THIS CONCERN WILL BE TRANSLATED INTO MORE EFFECTIVE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACTION TO ENSURE END TO REPRESSION IN SOUTH AFRICA AND PROMOTE ESTABLISHMENT OF JUST SOCIETY IN THAT BELOVED AFRICAN LAND."

- 32 - 4. Message to New Delhi The Chairman sent the following message to the African Students Association in New Delhi: "I SENT YOU GREETINGS ON OCCASION AFRICANA FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO FREEDOM FIGHTERS ON NAMIBIA AND SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF ANC STOP STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION OF SOUTH AFRICA AND NAMIBIA HAS ASSUMED GREAT SIGNIFICANCE AS LAST STAGE Of STRUGGLE FOR EMANCIPATION OF AFRICA AND ELIMINATION OF COLONIALISM AND RACIST DOMINATION ASSOCIATED WITH IT STOP ITS TRIUMPH IS OF VITAL INTEREST NOT ONLY TO ALL AFRICA AND ALL PEOPLE OF AFRICAN ORIGIN BUT ALSO TO REST OF HUMANITY STOP CONSTANT AGGRESSIONS BY PRETORIA REGIME AND ITS PLANS FOR NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL UNDERLINE URGENCY OF INTERNATIONAL ACTION BY GOVERNMENTS AND PEOPLES TO DESTROY APARTHEID STOP I AM HEARTENED BY COMMITMENT OF AFRICAN YOUTH AND OF PEOPLE OF INDIA IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE HEROIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF SOUTH AFRICA AND NAMIBIA." B. MESSAGES FROM HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT Togo Le President-Fondateur du Rassemblement du PeuDle Togolais, P sident de la R6publique Togolaise ' l'occasion du 20me anniversaire du Fer de Lance de Ia Nation" et du TOme anniversaire de l'African National Congress /original: French/ "A L'OCCASION DU 20EME ANNIVERSAIRE DU "FER DE LANCE DE LA NATION", ET DU TOEME ANNIVERSAIRE DE L'AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, LE PEUPLE ET LE GOUVERNEMENT TOGOLAIS, PAR MA VOIX, ADRESSENT A VOTRE GRAND ET PRESTIGIEUX MOUVEMENT LEURS CHALEUREUSES FELICITATIONS ET LEURS VIFS ENCOURAGEMENTS A LA POURSUITE ET A L'INTENSIFICATION DE LA JUSTE ET HEROIQUE LUTTE DE LIBERATION NATIONALE JUSQU'A LA VICTOIRE FINALE. LES INNOMBRABLES REVERS QUE L'ANC FAIT SUBIR AU REGIME RACISTE D'AFRIQUE DU SUD NOUS RENFORCENT DANS LA CONVICTION QUE VOTRE DUR COMBAT POUR LA LIBERTE SERA TRES RAPIDEMENT COURONNE DE SUCCES... LE REGIME D'APARTHEID PORTE DEJA EN LUI-MEME LES GERMES DE SA PROPRE DESTRUCTION. LA COMPLETE LIBERATION DE L'AFRIQUE DU SUD EST DEVENUE AUJOURD'HUI UN PROCESSUS IRREVERSIBLE, CE QUI JUSTIFIE PLEINEMENT VOTRE TENACITE ET VOTRE ARDEUR REDOUBLEE AU COMBAT".

- 33 - Viet Nam H.E. Mr. Pham Van Dong, President of the Council of Ministers of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam /original: French/ "ON THE OCCASION OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE ANC, ON BEHALF OF THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM AND ON MY OWN BEHALF, I HAVE THE HONOUR TO OFFER YOU AND THROUGH YOU THE FREEDOM- FIGHTERS OF ANC MY WARMEST CONGRATULATIONS. UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF ANC, THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEOPLE HAVE FOR TO YEARS BEEN WAGING AN INDOMITABLE AND PERSISTENT STRUGGLE AGAINST THE APARTHEID REGIME FOR THEIR FREEDOM AND NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE. APARTHEID IS ONE OF THE MOST ODIOUS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. ITS EXISTENCE IS DUE TO THE GENEROUS PROTECTION OF IMPERIALISM AND THE FORCES OF INTERNATIONAL REACTION UNDER THE GUISE OF THE FIGHT "AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM". THOSE IN POWER IN THE UNITED STATES ARE ENCOURAGING THE RACIST AUTHORITIES OF SOUTH AFRICA TO CARRY OUT BARBAROUS ACTS OF TERRORISM AGAINST THE FREEDOM-FIGHTERS OF ANC, TO CONTINUE OCCUPYING NAMIBIA ILLEGALLY, TO ENGAGE IN CONSTANT PROVOCATIONS AND TO INTENSIFY THEIR ARMED AGGRESSION AGAINST ANGOLA AND THE FRONT-LINE STATES, THUS CREATING AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. THE PEOPLE AND GOVERNEMNT OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM STRONGLY CONDEMN THE CRIME OF APARTHEID PERPETRATED BY THE RACIST AUTHORITIES OF SOUTH AFRICA, SUPPORT THE RELEVANT UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTIONS CONDEMNING AND IMPOSING SANCTIONS AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA, AND DEMAND THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE FORCES OF INTERNATIONAL REACTION END THEIR SUPPORT OF THE RACIST REGIME. WE ARE FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT THE JUST STRUGGLE BEING WAGED BY THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF ANC WILL LEAD TO COMPLETE VICTORY". * Unofficial Translation

- 34 - C. OTHER MESSAGES RECEIVED RUA H.E. Mr. Kamal Hassan Ali, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt "ON 8 JANUARY 1912, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AFRICAN PEOPLE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA ASSEMBLED AT BLOEMFONTEIN TO ESTABLISH THEIR NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN THE FACE OF MANOEUVRES BY THE LEADERS OF THE WHITE MINORITY TO DEPRIVE THEM OF THEIR RIGHT TO LAND AND FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. SINCE THAT DAY THE VALIANT AFRICAN PEOPLE HAS STRUGGLED IN THE FACE OF THE UNRELENTING BRUTALITY OF THE SUCCESSIVE RACIST MINORITY REGIMES IN SOUTH AFRICA. THE AFRICAN PEOPLE MADE GREAT SACRIFICES. THE WORLD COMMUNITY HAS NOT YET FORGOTTEN THE TRAGEDY OF SHARPEVILLE. THE JUDGEMENT OF HISTORY ON US WILL BE HARSH FOR OUR FAILURE FOR MORE THAN A HALF OF A CENTURY TO ELIMINATE THIS DESPICABLE POLICY. ALTHOUGH THERE HAS BEEN UNANIMOUS INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION OF SOUTH AFRICA'S POLICY OF APARTHEID, THE RACIST REGIME IS OBSTINATELY PURSUING ITS INHUMAN POLICY BY DISREGARDING THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS. THE WORLD COMMUNITY HAS RECEIVED WITH GRAVE CONCERN AND INDIGNATION THE NEWS OF THE PROCLAMATION BY THE PRETORIA REGIME ON 4 DECEMBER 1981, OF THE SO-CALLED INDEPENDENCE OF THE CISKEI. THIS ACTION BY THE RACIST REGIME IS DESIGNED TO DEPRIVE THE INDIGENOUS POPULATION OF ITS MOST FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND ESTABLISH CLIENT STATES UNDER ITS DOMINATION IN ORDER TO PERPETUATE ITS ABOMINABLE POLICY OF APARTHEID. THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA. SANCTIONS ARE THE ONLY PRACTICAL AND PEACEFUL WAY OF DEMONSTRATING SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLES OF SOUTH AFRICA AND NAMIBIA. EGYPT'S RECORD IN SUPPORTING OPPRESSED PEOPLE EVERYWHERE IS EVIDENCED BY THE POSITIONS IT HAS TAKEN IN UPHOLDING HUMAN RIGHTS AND FOR SECURING DIGNITY AND FREEDOM OF MAN. IN THIS REGARD, EGYPT WAS AMONG THE FIRST COUNTRIES WHICH HAVE TO COMMUNICATE TO THE SECRETARY- GENERAL THE MEASURES THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN WITH REGARD TO THE IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA.

- 35 - WHILE EXTENDING OUR GREETINGS TO ANC ON THIS ANNIVERSARY, I WOULD LIKE TO REAFFIRM THAT EGYPT SHALL SPARE NO EFFORT IN PROVIDING MORE MATERIAL AND MORAL SUPPORT TO THE OPPRESSED PEOPLES OF SOUTH AFRICA AND NAMIBIA IN THEIR STRUGGLE UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THEIR NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENTS. THE MARCH OF HISTORY, HOWEVER, CANNOT BE INDEFINITELY HINDERED AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MAJORITY RULE IS INEVITABLE". Conference in Solidarity vith the Liberation Struggles of the Peoples of Southern Africa "ON BEHALF OF THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE FROM THE UNITED STATES WHO SENT DELEGATES TO THE CONFERENCE, WE WILLINGLY ACCEPT THE TASK SET US TODAY BY THE INAUGURATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MOBILIZATION FOR SANCTIONS AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA. OUR COmITTEE PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE OLIVER TAMBO AS PRESIDENT OF HIS HEROIC PEOPLE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOUTH AFRICA. THEIR UNWAVERING COMMITMENT INSPIRES ALL BELIEVERS IN JUSTICE TO REDEDICATE THE?.MELVES TO THE VITAL TASK OF ELIMINATING APARTHEID. THROUGHOUT THIS HISTORIC YEAR, MEMBERS OF THE CONTINUATION COMMITTEE WILL DOUBLE THEIR EFFORTS TO INFORM AND MOBILIZE ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS NATIONALLY AND LOCALLY ACROSS THE UNITED STATES TO CHANGE U.S. FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS SOUTHERN AFRICA. THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT MUST BE FORCED TO END ITS ATTEMPTS AT REHABILITATING THE CRIMINAL PRETORIA REGIME, TO REPAIR THE INJURIES WASHINGTON HAS HELPED TO INFLICT ON OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN NAMIBIA AND SOUTH AFRICA AND NEVER MORE TO ABUSE THE POWER OF ITS SECURITY COUNCIL VETO IN ACTIVE SUPPORT FOR APARTHEID'S CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY".

- 36 - ANNEXES I. Appeal by Mr. Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congress The African National Congress invites friends and supporters of our liberation struggle to join with the South African people in commemorating the T0th anniversary of the formation of the ANC. This anniversary year has been dedicated to the pursuit of the objective of united national and international action. For this purpose the National Executive Committee has proclaimed 1982 as the "Year of Unity and Action." On 8 January 1912, representatives of the African peoples of southern Africa assembled at Bloemfontein. From all parts of South Africa, from the Rhodesias, Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland had come peasants and chiefs, workers and professionals, ministers and traders. They were all involved in the struggle against British colonialism and in particular against the consolidation of British-Boer domination as evidenced in the formation, two years earlier, of the so-called Union of South Africa. All those who had gathered recognized the predominant need to unite all the African people, to merge their strength into an organization that would serve as an instrument of their liberation as a unified nation. The conference of 1912 thus marked not only the birth of the ANC but also of a nation: the consolidation of a national consciousness which has since grown to embrace South Africans of various ethnic and racial origins. A loyalty of a new type was born in the creation of the ANC - a non-tribal loyalty, a loyalty which was inherently anti-colonial and would in the course of time develop to become non-ethnic, non-racial and anti-imperialist. The formation of the ANC was a continuation in southern Africa, under new historic conditions, of the anti-colonial and national liberation struggles which had begun with the advent of colonialism. During the course of the past 70 years, that struggle has acquired global dimensions and has developed into an irresistible force. Great colonial empires have collapsed and disappeared from Asia, Africa and Latin America, yielding place to new independent sovereign states with a total population comprising nearly twothirds of mankind.

- 37 - In the continuing world-wide struggles for freedom, peace and social progress, the ANC has taken positions of solidarity with all peoples fighting against colonialism, fascism, racism, the exploitation of man by man and other manifestations of imperialism. Speaking from the people's daily experience of British-Boer rule in Pretoria, the ANC warned against the granting of the mandate over Namibia to Pretoria, and consistently supported the peoples of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland in their opposition to being incorporated into the Union of South Africa. The ANC, acting in the name of the oppressed, exploited and democratic majority in South Africa, was fully involved in the international movement which led to the formation of the Organization of African Unity and the uon-aligned movement. The ANC has been an integral part of the liberation forces of Africa, which, waging united struggles, have pushed the boundaries of freedom from the north of the continent to the Limpopo and Kunene rivers in the south. In the process, the ANC has won for the South African liberation struggle man powerful and dedicated allies, friends and supporters among the great majority of the peoples of the world. The regional unity we achieved in 1912, has merged with an ever-growing and ever-advancing alliance of world progressive forces. With the liberation forces in Namibia and South Africa together confronting the South African regime, the long and protracted struggle for the total liberation of Africa has now entered its final and most difficult phase. The peoples of Namibia are marching heroically and triumphantly behind SWAPO to the conquest of their independence. Within South Africa, the ANC leads a seasoned and invincible fighting movement of the oppressed, exploited and democratic masses whose urgent and non-negotiable goal is to liberate their country and all its people. Through the years we have remained resolute in the face of ruthless and brutal repression. We have refused to sell our South African birthright for a mess of Bntustan pottage. We have demonstrated our readiness to make sacrifices and die in the course of achieving the free and democratic South Africa projected in the Freedom Charter. We have created a people's army, Ukhonto we Sizwe, that is acknowledged as a skillful, highly trained and courageous force, capable of attacking the enemy's most prestigious and vital installations and bases. As it celebrates its 20th anniversary on 16 December 1981, this army will increasingly feature as an effective weapon against the forces of racism and fascism. Through these TO years we have maintained, consolidated and extended our unity and we have forged a powerful alliance across race, colour, religion and territorial boundaries. But the apartheid system has not been destroyed. The occasion of the TOth anniversary provides a challenge, especially with reference to our capacity not only to intensify the struggle but to do so in unity.

- 38 - We call upon the international community to stand resolutely with us, to match the unity in action that is being and will be further demonstrated throughout South Africa, in this coming year, with an intensive mobilization in support of the intrinsically linked liberation struggles of the Namibian and South African peoples. In 1982, the Year of Unity in Action, we must revitalize our campaigns, intensify our resistance, launch new offensives and gather additional forces for the final onslaught and defeat of racism and fascism in South Africa. Our victory is certain!,! II. National Observances Belgium The Belgian Committee against Apartheid with the support of 30 nongovernmental organizations and in co-operation with the United Nations Information Centre and the Permanent Office of the Organization of African Unity in Brussels, organized a function to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ANC. The function took place on 5 May 1982 in Brussels. Bulgaria The Committee for Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia and Africa held a ceremonial meeting to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the ANC. The keynote speaker was the Deputy President of the Committee. The meeting received wide press, television and radio coverage. The Committee's bulletin published much information about the ceremonial meeting. India The New Delhi office of the African National Congress organized a function to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of National Heroes Day. The special event was co-sponsored by the Springdales School and the Bluebells School. Speeches were made by Mr. S. Molifi, ANC representative, Mr. Faygal Aouidha, PLO Ambassador, Mr. J. N. Dixit , Ambassador of India to Afghanistan &nd Mr. Salim Saleem, Director of the UNIC, New Delhi. About 1500 guests, students and teachers attended the function. Messages were received from the Africa Club of the Bluebells School and from the staff and students of the Springdales School.

- 39 - Lesotho The United Nations Information Centre in Maseru, Lesotho organized several events in a week-long observance of the 70th anniversary of the African National Congress. The Centre prepared several press releases which were broadcast over the radio and disseminated by the local print media. Statements by the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, H.E. Alhaji Yusuff Maitama-Sule and the President of the ANC, Mr. Oliver Tambo, were aired over the radio network several times on 8 January 1982. A number of films were shown at Cathedral Hall, Maseru Township. 10 January 1982 was designated "Day of Prayer against the Apartheid System" with the participation of the Christian Council of Churches and local churches. The observances culminated with a huge rally held on 16 January 1982. Local ANC groups and other organizations delivered speeches. A message from the Minister of Justice, Mr. G.P. Rambreli was conveyed to the ANC in Lusaka. Mali In Mali, declarations on the 70th anniversary of ANC were issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation and by the National Anti- Apartheid Committee. The national radio broadcast a special programme on the struggle of the ANC. Three postage stamps were issued with pictures of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo and the ANC emblem. Sweden An anniversary meeting was held in Stockholm on 15 January under the chairmanship of Per Wastberg, well-known Swedish writer. It was attended by 1,800 people. Ukrainian Scviet Socialist Republic At the Assembly of representatives of the public held at Kiev on 19 March 1982 to commemorate the International Day for the Blimination of Racial Discrimination, participants congratulated the African National Congress on the occasion of its 70th anniversary. They spoke in support of the southern African people's national liberation movement and expressed their ardent solidarity with all peoples combatting racism, apartheid, fascism and zionism.

- 4o Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Mr. Thabo Mbeki, member of the ANC National Executive Committee, visited USSR at the invitation of the Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee to participate in many activities organized in the Soviet Union to mark the ANC anniversary. A public meeting was held in Moscow on 8 January 1982 under the chairmanship of Dr. Anatoly Gromyko, Vice-President of Solidarity Committee and Director of Africa Institute. It was addressed by Mr. Mbeki and by the Ambassador of Angola, H.E. Mr. Luis Poupo de Castro. In a unanimous resolution, participants expressed solidarity with the courageous struggle of South African people, demanded an end to policy and practice of apartheid, as well as the release of political prisoners languishing in South African dungeons.