Hi, my name is Dikeledi Goitsemedime. I am a mother of 3 children and the past 17 years have been the scariest of my life not knowing what my future will be for my children or myself. Late in World War II, a group of youths from the ANC (African National Congress) formed an organization called the Congress Youth League or the CYL. The leader Anton Lembede wanted to spread the message that the country of South Africa was a country for blacks and that they should stand up and fight for it. He led this group powerfully from 1944 until he died in 1947. Following the war and the start of the apartheid, the new leaders Nelson Mandela, Jordan Ngubane, Peter Mda, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu, strived to take charge of the ANC. These leaders got people to adopt many forms of protest messing with the apartheid system to attempt to make it fail. Overtaking the ANC president Xuma, James Moroka of the CYL took presidency and brought Sisulu, Tambo, and Mandela to the party’s national executive body.
This new body decided to form a Joint Planning council with the leaders of the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) to get the government to deactivate unjust laws or face a Defiance Campaign starting on April 6 1952 so that they would not be active on the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape February 1952. This proposal was shut down by Malan, which triggered Yusuf Dadoo to pull together large rallies and stay-at-homes for April 6 and June 26. This was very popular with thousands of men and women but the government struck back by banning leaders and newspapers and anyone who took place in any demonstrations under the Suppression of Communism Act. But that did not stop anyone because in December of 1952 around 8,500 people were arrested, most of them being in Cape, and the attempt at the Defiance Campaign had failed with no impact on any laws whatsoever. Although that had a large effect on the ANC, paid memberships increased about 93,000 memberships from 7,000 at the beginning of the year. The ANC also took another huge hit when Moroka had left office shamefully later pleading guilty to charges under the Suppression of Communism Act which gave the presidency to Albert Luthuli.
Throughout 1953 to 1955, the ANC and the SAIC were very limited with putting together publicity due to many government restrictions like house arrests and bandings. On June 25 and 26, about 3,000 delegates met near Soweto in a Congress of people. The black ANC, white Congress of Democrats, Indian SAIC, and the Coloured People’s Congress represented the political organizations and the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). The reason this congress was formed was to make South Africa the peaceful, protest-less country that is dreamed by many people who want peace, freedom and equality. The Freedom Charter was the main document that was discussed and had been put together many weeks before the SACTU even met. This document pushed that the country of South Africa should have no racial differences that have some races or groups of people with benefits, advantages, or disadvantages. This document stated that South Africa should be racially equal and that it should be “shared among those who work it…” and “…share in the country’s wealth” which shows the first powerful demand for nationalization in South Africa. Congress delegates had ratified almost all of the sections of the charter while police were surrounding the building suspected acts of treason being committed, and took note of every name and address of those in attendance.
Luthuli, Mandela, Tambo, Sisulu, and 156 other leaders were arrested in 1956 by the police and put on trial for treason in a court case that lasted five years. But with many leaders put away, thousands of supporters still continued to fight for their beliefs in bus boycotts on the Rand, walking to work instead of paying high bus fares for just OK transportation vehicles. Then, the newly formed Federation of South African Women (FSAW) formed by thousands of South African women, challenged the extension of the pass laws. 20,000 of those women presented a petition with tens of thousands of people who opposed these passed laws to the Parliament buildings in Pretoria that they marched on. Although these strong efforts made some noise that Nationalist government was still determined to put the apartheid into action.
In 1959 the lack to achieve any success caused a major split in black resistance. Arguments within the ANC were saying that the failure of representation of African interests were due to the fact that the ANC forced the organization to make too many compromises because of its alliances with other political groups, especially to be believed the white Congress of Democrats. The ANC looked to African interests first and to take a stronger stand to challenge the government more influenced by the writings of Lembede, the Africanists, led by Robert Sobukwe. But these supporters were not appreciated by the ANC and were kicked out but went to form their own group called the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC). In March this year the PAC began a national campaign against the pass laws and got Africans to go outside of police stations without their passes and tried to get the police to arrest them. In the “native” town of Sharpeville, the industrial area of Vereeniging just south of Johannesburg ended in violence when the police wounded 186 demonstrators and killed 67 of them most of the dead and wounded shot in the back. Although this tragedy was a massacre, the PAC still had peaceful marches of 30,000 Africans on the Houses of parliament in Cape Town. Verwoerd’s government was mad and decided to declare a state of emergency in where 18,000 demonstrators were arrested, including both ANC and PAC leaders and an ending result of both organizations being outlawed.
Now that everything has recently finished its climax of activity it is safe to say that no one truly knows what will happen in the next few years. With many people still in shock, what are we supposed to do with a large portion of our country in prison for trying to express their beliefs and dreams for their country? This is a place where people should be calling South Africa their home but why do we want to call it home or even live here when all there is competition and turmoil. I am scared for my children, my country, and myself because if we have to endure anymore of this craziness, people will start to go mad and then things will get really violent. I hope I am not the only person who feels this way or else I do not know how I can live with all of this nonsense.
-Dikeledi Goitsemedime, November 19th, 1960
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