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This issue led on Nelson Mandela’s visit to Glasgow, where he received the freedom of nine British cities and appealed for continuing solidarity. It reported on the UN’s historic lifting of economic sanctions against South Africa. MERG (Macro Economic Research Group) economist Cyrus Rustomjee examined the post-apartheid South African economy’s need for new investment, setting out the argument for state intervention. Vella Pillay called for more spending on social infrastructure. AA News reflected the AAM’s new emphasis on combating racism in Britain, reporting on racist attacks in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

AA News led on the ANC’s election manifesto, which promised a wide range of social reforms. Launching the AAM’s ‘Countdown to Democracy’, Archbishop Trevor Huddleston called for international support to ensure South Africa’s election on 27 April was free and fair. John Hughes looked at South Africa’s transitional constitution and analysed divisions in the far-right Freedom Alliance. A centre spread surveyed the ANC’s plans for reconstruction and development. AA News reported on the Women’s National Coalition.

AA News Election Special described the election framework and the make-up of the UN observer mission. It outlined the challenges in ensuring the election was free and fair. It listed the political parties and explained South Africa’s transitional constitution. AA News reproduced a message from Nelson Mandela asking for continued support from the AAM and pledging the ANC to an ‘ambitious programme of reconstruction and development’.

The June/July issue reported on Nelson Mandela’s State of the Nation address to Parliament on 24 May, following his inauguration as President on 10 May. It recorded the lifting of the UN arms embargo and accession to the OAU and the Commonwealth. AAM members who served as election observers told their election stories. A centre spread looked at ANC policies on job creation, land and health. AA News stressed the need for continuing solidarity to help South Africa and the Southern African region overcome the legacy of apartheid.

The last issue of AA News announced plans to set up a successor organisation to the AAM at a conference on 29 October. Its aims would be to campaign for peace and democracy throughout Southern Africa, especially in Angola and Mozambique; to work for reconstruction in the region; and to build ‘people to people’ solidarity. Frank Chikane warned the new South African government against accepting a military culture. Joe Slovo set out plans to confront South Africa’s housing crisis. Margaret Ling reported on the ‘Mozambique Now!’ campaign in the run-up to Mozambique’s October election. 

Brian Hurwitz grew up in South Africa and came to Britain in the late 1970s. He joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a local group activist, campaigning for a consumer boycott and for the release of Southern African political prisoners. As a qualified solicitor, he was a founder member of Lawyers Against Apartheid. After 1994, Brian went back to South Africa and worked for the Land Claims Commission. Since his return to Britain in 1999, he has been active in ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa).

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of a research project on the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and South Africa’s transition to majority rule, conducted by Dr Matt Graham (History programme, University of Dundee) and Dr Christopher Fevre (International Studies Group, University of the Free State) See https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1976154

Mark Guthrie came to Britain from South Africa as a teenager in 1976 and joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement soon after his arrival. As a law student and member of Manchester University Senate in 1983, he proposed that the university should give an honorary degree to Nelson Mandela. He was later active in Camden Anti-Apartheid Group and was a founder member in 1987 of Lawyers Against Apartheid, serving as its Secretary and later its Chair until it was dissolved in 1994.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of a research project on the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and South Africa’s transition to majority rule, conducted by Dr Matt Graham (History programme, University of Dundee) and Dr Christopher Fevre (International Studies Group, University of the Free State). See https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1976154

Colin Adkins was a student activist at the University of Essex, where he joined the university Anti-Apartheid Society and was later elected as President of the Student Union. He was the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s trade union and labour movement organiser from 1987 to 1990. He later worked as an organiser for trade unions including Unite and the education union NASUWT.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of a research project on the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and South Africa’s transition to majority rule, conducted by Dr Matt Graham (History programme, University of Dundee) and Dr Christopher Fevre (International Studies Group, University of the Free State). See https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1976154