Anti-Apartheid News

In an exclusive interview with AA News, SWAPO President Sam Nujoma stressed the importance of SWAPO’s armed struggle in ending South Africa’s illegal occupation of Namibia. Abdul Minty analysed Western countries manoeuvres in the contact group set up by the UN to try to negotiate with South Africa on Namibia. AA News profiled the new South African ambassador to the UK and reported on material aid projects and action by British trade unionists in support of the Southern African freedom struggle.

This issue exposed NATO collaboration with South Africa in contravention of the UN arms embargo. It carried an interview with South African trade union leader Thozamile Botha and an appeal for the release of veteran trade unionist Oscar Mpetha. It reported on the clampdown on South African trade unions. A new pamphlet showed how the multinational Philips Group was supplying electronic equipment to the South African military. The issue reported on one of the best ever attended annual general meetings of the AAM, which endorsed an ambitious programme featuring trade unions, action on political prisoners, women’s solidarity and the campaign for independence for Namibia.

The campaign to save the lives of young South African and Namibian freedom fighters sentenced to death by the apartheid government was the front page story in the January-February issue. The newspaper also exposed manoeuvres to readmit South Africa to the World Medical Association and reported on the campaign to elect Nelson Mandela as the new Chancellor of the University of London. It examined the implications for the anti-apartheid solidarity struggle of the election of Ronald Reagan as US President, and of meetings between NATO and the South African government.

The March issue highlighted South African aggression against the frontIline states and carried eyewitness reports of the fighting in Angola and Mozambique. It exposed the apartheid government’s attempts to develop a nuclear bomb and publicised the World Campaign Against Military and Nuclear Collaboration’s conference on ‘South Africa: A Threat to Peace’. The centrespread made the case for ‘Sanctions Now’, outlining the AAM’s sanctions and boycott campaigns. The issue also carried an interview with SWAPO West European representative Shapua Kaukungua.

AA News again focused on the need to counter the UK government's support for the apartheid government by campaigning for sanctions, and South Africa's threat to the frontline states. It highlighted the campaign to end British imports of uranium from Namibia and reported on new moves against independent trade unions in South Africa. It reported on the formation of the Wales Anti-Apartheid Movement and on protests by the Scottish Committee of the AAM against plans to merge the Royal Bank of Scotland with Standard and Chartered Bank, which had big investments in South Africa. The centrespread publicised the AAM's 25 April National Day of Consumer Action.

The May issue headlined US subversion of the UN plan for Namibian independence, and the stand taken by African and non-aligned states in opposition to US policy. It exposed apartheid government support for UNITA in Angola and the build-up of South African armed forces in Namibia. It announced plans for a month of protest action against the involvement of oil companies Shell and BP in South Africa, and publicised a UN ‘black list’ of sports people who had broken the boycott against apartheid. The centrespread featured the UN arms embargo against South Africa and exposed companies which were still collaborating with the South African military.

AA News welcomed Labour Party and TUC opposition to the British government’s UN veto of a resolution imposing mandatory sanctions against South Africa as a significant change of policy. It exposed plans to give South Africa a stake in North Sea oil and the supply of radar equipment to the South African military by the British electronics company Plessey. It reported on British trade union support for striking workers at Rowntree Mackintosh’s South African subsidiary. The South African medical profession’s complicity in the deaths of Steve Biko and other political detainees was condemned in a new report by the AAM’s Health Committee.

This issue highlighted growing resistance against apartheid within South Africa and reported on the Paris conference on sanctions organised by the UN and the OAU. In an interview, ANC representative Ruth Mompati talked about the history of South African Women’s Day, 9 August. The newspaper examined the role of the British churches in opposing apartheid, and reported on the decision by the British Medical Association to oppose South Africa’s application to rejoin the World Medical Association. It highlighted strikes by black South African workers at two British-owned companies, British Leyland and Wilson Rowntree.