Military bases and camps of the liberation movement, 1961- 1990 Report Gregory F. Houston Democracy, Governance, and Service Delivery (DGSD) Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) 1 August 2013 Military bases and camps of the liberation movements, 1961-1990 PREPARED FOR AMATHOLE DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY: FUNDED BY: NATIONAL HERITAGE COUNCI Table of Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature review ........................................................................................................4 Chapter 3: ANC and PAC internal camps/bases, 1960-1963 ........................................................7 Chapter 4: Freedom routes during the 1960s.............................................................................. 12 Chapter 5: ANC and PAC camps and training abroad in the 1960s ............................................ 21 Chapter 6: Freedom routes during the 1970s and 1980s ............................................................. 45 Chapter 7: ANC and PAC camps and training abroad in the 1970s and 1980s ........................... 57 Chapter 8: The ANC’s prison camps ......................................................................................... 87 Chapter 9: ANC dug-out camps and other bases inside the country ........................................... 92 References ................................................................................................................................ 96 i Acronyms and Abbreviations ANC African National Congress APLA Azanian People’s Liberation Movement CDU Commission Defense Unit DRC Democratic Republic of Congo FAPLA Peoples Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola FNLA National Front for the Liberation of Angola FRELIMO Mozambique Liberation Front FRG Federal Republic of Germany GDR German Democratic Republic LLA Lesotho Liberation Army MCW Military and Combat Work MK UMkhonto we Sizwe MPLA Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola NP National Party OAU Organisation of African Unity PAC Pan Africanist Congress PDP People’s Defence Organisation PLO Palestine Liberation Organisation RENAMO Mozambique National Resistance SACP South African Communist Party SADET South African Democracy Education Trust SADF South African Defence Force SASO South African Students Organisation SAUF South African United Front SED Socialist Party of Germany SOMAFCO Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College SOYA Society of Young Africans SWANU South West African National Union SWAPO South West African Peoples Organisation TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission TUM Transvaal Urban Machinery UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNIP United National Independence Party UNITA National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola ZANU Zimbabwe African National Union ZAPU Zimbabwe African Peoples Union ZIPRA Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army ii Acknowledgements The Amathole District Municipality: initiator of the project The National Heritage Council: Funder Dr Mcebisi Ndletyana: HSRC principal investigator for this project iii Chapter 1 Introduction Background Veterans of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC), who are active in the Border Region of the MK Veterans Association (MKVA), came up with the idea of creating a living museum which would be a reconstruction of an uMkhonto we Sizwe training camp in Angola. Such a camp, with its modest buildings and facilities, would capture the spirit of commitment and sacrifice required of freedom fighters who had to train and survive with minimal resources far from home. They shared the concept with the MK Veterans Associations at the provincial and national levels, and received their endorsements. The project secured the support of the Amathole District Municipality, which in turn appointed the Human Science Research Council as project implementers. The military veterans identified this project as one which would benefit both themselves and the wider public. The facility will serve a triple function of informing the general public about this aspect of South Africa’s liberation struggle, providing facilities which upgrade the quality of life of a local low-income community and creating jobs for MK veterans and community members. It requires a site which includes natural forest areas, is close enough to a needy community to engage meaningfully with it and is readily accessible for tourists. The activities envisaged as part of the living museum complex are designed to make it fully sustainable in the medium term future. It was envisaged that all aspects of the living history museum would be developed from the collection of memories from former MK soldiers and the collection of memorabilia and artifacts from actual camps. As the project unfolded, however, veterans of the military wings of the other main liberation movements, the Azanian Peoples Liberation Struggle (APLA) and the Azanian National Liberation Army (AZANLA), were drawn in. The envisaged Armed Struggle Living Museum would thus include replicated camps of these organisations as well. However, in order to develop the concept of the museum it became necessary to draw on the memories of those who had lived in the military camps of the liberation movements to get an idea of the buildings and facilities in these camps, as well as daily routines and experiences of life in them. Part of the research carried out to meet this objective is contained in this report. The focus of the research report After the banning of the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) of South Africa on the 8th April 1960, the two nationalist movements were forced to operate 1 underground. The bannings occurred in the aftermath of the PAC’s anti-pass campaign and the Sharpeville Massacre on the 21st March, the country-wide strike that followed, and the declaration of a state of emergency. Thousands of activists were arrested and detained in the ensuing months. Just prior to the banning, the PAC sent Peter Molotsi and Nana Mahomo abroad to establish relationships with, and obtain support from African countries. The ANC’s Deputy President, Oliver Tambo followed a few days later. Tambo’s task was to solicit international support for the struggle against apartheid. The bannings and wave of mass arrests that followed forced the two nationalist movements to consider turning to armed struggle. The decision to turn to armed struggle was taken by the ANC in mid-1961, and during the following months recruitment and training preceded the launch of the ANC’s military wing, UMkhonto we Sizwe, on the 16th December 1961.1 For the next two years, until the arrests of the MK leadership at Lilliesleaf Farm in early 1963, MK members embarked on a wave of sabotage actions. The Sharpeville massacre and banning of political organizations were also turning points for the PAC. In the aftermath of the banning, according to Thami ka Plaatjie, the PAC took a decision in 1961 to revive the Africanist Task Force, a para-military structure formed just prior to the 1960 anti-pass campaign which was to be the forerunner of the PAC’s military wing, Poqo.2 Poqo members were to engage in numerous violent actions, which included attacks on white civilians. Both movements began a process of training young recruits inside the country, as well as sending a select few abroad for military training. However, the explosion in militant action during this period sparked a violent and repressive reaction on the part of the apartheid regime. Scores of young people were forced to leave the country to join those political leaders of the two revolutionary movements who had gone into exile. In response to the new conditions of exile, the two movements established military bases and camps to train and accommodate the increasing number of new recruits joining their military wings. This report focuses on one aspect of the exile history of the liberation movements that has been poorly researched: i.e., life in their military bases and camps both inside the country and in exile. The study focuses on four broad themes. In the first, the focus is on the bases or camps used by the ANC and PAC to train their cadres inside the country immediately after the turn to armed struggle in the early 1960s. The second theme deals with the ‘freedom route’ taken by cadres of the liberation movement in the course of their journey into exile. Distinction is drawn between the routes taken by cadres of the different liberation movements during a particular historical period. The objective here is to outline some of the main camps of the liberation movements abroad, whether they were transit camps, military bases or camps used for the training of cadres. 1 For a discussion of the processes leading to the ANC’s decision to turn to armed struggle refer to B. Magubane et al., ‘The turn to armed struggle’, in South African Democracy Education Trust, The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Volume 1, 1960-1970, Zebra Press, Cape Town, 2004, pp. 53-145. 2 T. ka PLaatjie, ‘The PAC’s internal underground activities, 1960-1980’, in South African Democracy Education Trust, The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Volume 2,