The AAM held its first women only conference on 3 June 1989, following a Month of Action in March, which publicised the impact of apartheid on South African women. All over Britain, women held meetings, exhibitions and benefit concerts.
This women-only conference, held at Wesley House Women’s Centre in central London in 1989, discussed ideas for campaigning in solidarity with women in Southern Africa. It also talked about the position of women within the AAM and pressed for women to have a more distinctive voice.
Tjeluvuyo Mgedezi was one of three mineworkers sentenced to death in May 1987. The British National Union of Mineworkers circulated a petition calling for his release to its members. It distributed 20,000 copies of this leaflet and publicised the case in its journal. In May 1989 the sentence was commuted to a long term of imprisonment.
The AAM depended on membership subscriptions and fundraising events to pay for its campaigns. It received no government grants and no significant funding from grant-giving organisations. It depended on grassroots supporters to raise money by supporting initiatives like this annual sponsored Freedom Run, held in Brockwell Park, south London.
The AAM held its first Freedom Run in Brockwell Park, south London, on 11 June 1989. The Freedom Run became an annual event, raising funds for the AAM and for projects in Southern Africa.
Lawyers Against Apartheid’s 1989 Bulletin called for captured Umkhonto we Sizwe combatants to be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. It also focused on South Africa’s violation of the Namibian peace accord.
Anti-apartheid supporters protested at Downing Street on the eve of President F W de Klerk’s visit to Britain in June 1989.
Poster advertising march and rally in central London, 20 June 1989, where Albertina Sisulu was the main speaker.
