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The apartheid government escalated its repression of trade unionists in 1988 – four trade union leaders were sentenced to death and hundreds were detained. In response the AAM and SATIS (Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society) launched a campaign to defend trade unionists in South Africa and Namibia. It was launched at a demonstration outside the South African Embassy on 1 February 1988 on the day the trial of Moses Mayekiso, General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) reopened in Johannesburg.

Glenys Kinnock opened Sheffield’s Southern Africa Resource Centre in February 1988. The Centre provided educational resources on Southern Africa for the city’s schools and community groups, as well as a headquarters for Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group. Sheffield AA was one of the most active of the AAM’s local groups throughout the 1980s. With Glenys Kinnock are the Provost of Sheffield, Rev. Frank Curtis, and the Centre’s Co-ordinator, David Granville.

In February 1988 the AAM Trade Union Committee and Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) launched a Joint Campaign against the Repression of Trade Unionists in South Africa and Namibia. The campaign was a response to the increased repression of trade unionists by the apartheid regime. Four trade union leaders were sentenced to death and hundreds were detained. This leaflet publicised a demonstration at the South African Embassy, attended by over 200 trade unionists.

Oscar Mpetha was a South African trade union leader and founder member of SACTU (South African Congress of Trade Unions). In 1980 he was arrested after taking part in protests in Nyanga, Cape Town, in which two people were killed. After a long trial he was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was eventually released in 1989 soon after his 80th birthday. 

Oscar Mpetha was a South African trade union leader and founder member of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). In 1980 he was arrested after taking part in protests in Nyanga, Cape Town, in which two people were killed. After a long trial he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and eventually released in 1989 soon after his 80th birthday. This leaflet was produced by the AAM and the British Transport and General Workers Union.

Members of Halkevi Turkish Community Centre in Hackney, north London, joined a picket of a Shell garage on 8 February 1988. On 1 March 1987 the AAM launched a boycott of Shell as part of an international campaign organised with groups in the USA and the Netherlands. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries and a lead company in its coalmining and petrochemicals industries.

Repression of trade unionists intensified from the end of 1987, with four union activists held on death row. On 1 February 1988 the AAM and SATIS launched the Joint Campaign against the Repression of Trade Unionists at a demonstration outside South Africa House that coincided with the reopening of the trial of NUMSA General Secretary Moses Mayekiso. In the following months most British trade unions launched their own actions, including the National Union of Mineworkers’ petition for the release of three South African mineworkers sentenced to hang. The petition was signed by over 30,000 people in Britain’s coalfield communities.