African Activist Archive

After having detained and imprisoned 30,000 religious, labor and community leaders in the last two years, the South African government has just banned the United Democratic Front (UDF). The document says the South African Council of Churches (SACC) is now "the last nation-wide coalition able to fight apartheid openly and legally." The SACC sees this as a Kairos moment, "an unrepeatable time offered by God as an opportunity and a challenge." Sunday, March 6, has been declared a DAY OF WITNESS FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN OPPRESSED. You can include our South African brothers and sisters in your prayers and also contact the San Francisco Anti-Apartheid Committee or WITNESS for South Africa about additional plans. This DAY OF WITNESS begins the South Africa Solidarity Week decreed by Mayor Art Agnos in response to the request of the full Board of Supervisors. The mailing reprints newspaper articles including "CAPE TOWN POLICE ARREST CLERGYMEN AT PROTEST" and "South Africa Bans Most Anti-Apartheid Activities" by John B. Battersby, "Groups Seeking Change," and "'Shock and Distress' in West Over Pretoria's Action" by Mark A. Uhlig. The mailing mentions Catholic and Protestant leaders, the Azanian People's Organization (AZAPO), the Azanian Youth Organization, the Cape Youth Congress, Cradock Residents' Association, Detainees Parents Support Committee (DPSC), National Education Crisis Committee (NECC), National Education Union of South Africa, Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organization, Release Mandela Committee, Nelson Mandela, Soweto Civic Association, the Soweto Youth Congress, South African National Students' Congress, the South African Youth Congress, Vaal Civic Association, Rev. Khosa Mgoja, Archbishop Stephen Naidoo, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Rev. Allan Boesak, Rev. Frank Chikane, Rev. Syd Luckett, anti-apartheid groups, civil disobedience, a CBS News film crew, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, the State Department, St. George's Anglican Cathedral, police, Parliament, Helen Suzman, American chargé d'affairs Richard Barkley, Consul General Roger Burroughs, Edward J. Perkins, a right-wing rally, the Methodist Church, the United African Independent churches, Moulana Faried Esack, the Call of Islam, Law and Order Minister Adriaan J. Vlok, Montsho Motswagi. Civil rights lawyer Peter Harris, the National Party, the Conservative Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the End Conscription Campaign, the African National Congress (ANC), Charles E. Redman, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker, British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe, Democratic Representative Howard E. Wolpe, the Reagan administration, the Black Sash, Republican Senator Nancy L. Kassebaum, Thomas G. Karis, Dr. Max Coleman, Archibald Gumede, and Alberlina Sisulu.

African Activist Archive

[Last Wednesday, February 24, the South African regime banned the major legal outlets for blacks seeking a meaningful political voice in their own country.]

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