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Ras Kuomba Balogun of St Paul’s Apartheid Free Zone Campaign in Bristol and Marion Wallace of End Loans of Southern Africa (ELTSA) at the London AA Committee’s ‘Making the Boycott Bite’ conference, 30 November 1986.

In the mid-1980s there was a big increase in the number of political prisoners sentenced to hang in South Africa. At least 36 people were condemned to death in 1985–87 and five of them were executed. From 1986 Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) co-ordinated a ‘No Apartheid Executions’ campaign, drawing in thousands of people who had never before been involved in anti-apartheid action. As a result of British and international action and campaigns inside South Africa, many of those condemned to hang survived on death row until they were reprieved as part of the negotiating process in the early 1990s.

From the mid-1980s there was a big increase in the number of political prisoners sentenced to death in South Africa. At least 36 people were condemned to death in 1985–87 and five of them were executed. SATIS co-ordinated a ‘No Apartheid Executions’ campaign, drawing in thousands of people who had never before been involved in anti-apartheid action. This postcard, asking the British Foreign Secretary to intervene with the South African government, was part of the campaign. 

Leaders of the United Democratic Front (UDF) were charged with treason in January 1986 in a trial that became known as the ‘Delmas trial’. They included ‘Terror’ Lekota and Popo Molefe, the UDF’s Publicity and General Secretary, and Frank Chikane. The trial dragged on until 1989, when their conviction was overturned on appeal.

The South African government tried to crush the township uprisings of 1984–86 by detaining thousands of protesters and charging a record number of people under its repressive legislation. In response Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) launched an emergency campaign focusing on death sentences, political trials, and convicted prisoners and detainees. Supporters were sent case-by-case information and suggestions for action.

The South African government tried to crush the township uprisings of 1984–86 by detaining thousands of protesters and charging a record number of people under its repressive legislation. This leaflet advertised a conference convened by Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) in December 1986 to mobilise support for its emergency campaign.

A new campaign for the release of South African and Namibian detainees was launched by Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) at a conference in December 1986. It highlighted the number of children imprisoned – 40 per cent of the 24,000 people detained in the six months after the June 1986 State of Emergency were under 18. This brochure set out the facts and figures behind the campaign. 

Altogether 30,000 South Africans were held in detention under the national State of Emergency imposed in June 1986. This leaflet promoted a petition launched with the backing of the British Council of Churches and the TUC and was signed by a third of a million people in Britain. It was presented to the South African authorities, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights Day, 10 December 1987.