1980s

The campaign to save the lives of the Sharpeville Six, who lost their appeal against the death penalty in December 1987, was one of the lead stories in this issue. AA News also condemned South Africa’s continued attacks deep inside Angola in defiance of a new UN resolution. It welcomed the attendance of a wide spread of British community organisations at the ANC’s solidarity conference held at Arusha, Tanzania in December and reported on the AAM’s first ever delegate annual general meeting held under its new constitution in Sheffield in November 1987. 

The March issue again focused on the Sharpeville Six, calling on Prime Minister Thatcher to intervene with President Botha. It hailed the defeat of South Africa’s armed forces at Cuito Cuanavale in Angola. It focused on the role of the frontline states and outlined plans for the AAM’s March Month of Solidarity Action. AA News exposed the myth of ‘black on black’ violence within South Africa, arguing that so-called tribal attacks in KwaZulu Natal were initiated by undercover provocateurs. It advertised a meeting on ‘Children, Apartheid and Repression’, planned as a follow-up to the conference on children in South Africa held in Harare in 1987.

The banning of the UDF and other anti-apartheid organisations within South Africa made a nonsense of the British Government’s policy of encouraging the reform of apartheid, argued AA News. The newspaper announced plans for the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign, to be launched at a concert at Wembley Stadium on 11 June. It featured the growing resistance to apartheid from students in Namibia and again accused Western governments of supporting South Africa’s illegal occupation. It exposed the apartheid government’s increasing use of the death penalty, revealing that 50 political prisoners were now facing execution.

AA News mourned the death of Dulcie September, assassinated in Paris by agents of the apartheid government. It welcomed new prospects for the independence of Namibia, insisting that the withdrawal of South African forces from Angola was an essential precondition for negotiations. It revealed that nearly a fifth of British companies operating in South Africa had pulled out in the last two years. It reported on a visit by members of the British local government trade union NALGO to South Africa and support from the Women’s TUC conference for anti-apartheid campaigns. The issue also exposed a big drop in British financial support for the frontline states.

‘I will return’, declared Nelson Mandela in a message read by his daughter Zinzi at a rally in Soweto, reported AA News. The newspaper exposed military collaboration with South Africa by the governments of Israel, Chile and Taiwan in contravention of the UN mandatory arms embargo. In an interview, AAM President Trevor Huddleston explained the importance of the movement’s ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign. AA News featured the Commission of Inquiry set up inside South Africa into the detention and torture of children by the security forces and the explosion in the number of anti-apartheid activists detained without trial.

This issue featured the explosion in mass protests in South Africa and Namibia and in international solidarity action. Four hundred million people in 60 countries watched the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday concert at Wembley stadium. The newspaper analysed hurdles in the talks between the USA, South Africa, Cuba and Angola designed to lead to Namibian independence. It reported on the launch of the World Gold Commission, set up to campaign against sales of South African gold, and on the TUC’s award-winning commercial promoting the boycott of South African goods. It featured events organised by local AA groups all over Britain to celebrate Mandela’s 70th birthday.

AA News’ editorial hailed the success of industrial action by workers in South Africa and Namibia. It asked how the mass support for the AAM’s ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign in Britain could be transformed into pressure to force the Thatcher government to support sanctions. It reported on SWAPO’s backing for the agreement between Cuba, Angola and South Africa on the implementation of UN resolution 435 on Namibia. Jeremy Cronin analysed the relationship between the struggle for national liberation and working class action in South Africa. The issue reported on the celebrations of South African Women’s Day, 9 August, in Britain and South Africa.

This issue led on South Africa’s failure to implement its commitment to withdraw its armed forces from Angola. It exposed secret talks that would safeguard South Africa’s nuclear capacity. It announced plans for the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid ‘89’ campaign and reported on the award of the TUC’s Congress gold badge to Nelson Mandela. In a special report from the Cape, AA News revealed how the apartheid authorities were evicting residents from informal settlements and pulling down their homes. AA News again called for action to save the lives of 60 political prisoners awaiting execution on death row.