Namibia

Memorandum to Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe, urging the British government to support the UN Secretary-General in implementing Security Council resolution 601 authorising him to arrange a ceasefire in Namibia. The memorandum criticised Prime Minister Thatcher’s effective endorsement of the US argument that Cuban troops must withdraw from Angola before agreement could be reached on Namibian independence.

Outside the annual general meeting of Consolidated Goldfields in London on 4 November 1987. A ‘judge’ holds the scales of justice symbolising South Africa’s ‘rule of law’ in Namibia. In August 1987 ConsGold sacked 4,000 Namibian mineworkers at its Tsumeb mine.

The special police unit Koevoet was known for its extreme brutality perpetrated on captured Namibian freedom fighters. This leaflet publicised the case of eight supporters of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) charged under the Terrorism Act and tortured to force them to confess to the charges.

Jason Angula, Labour Secretary of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), was detained without trial in October 1987. British civil service unions campaigned for his release, together with the Joint Campaign Against the Repression of Trade Unionists. Angula was released at the end of 1988.

In 1988 the apartheid regime stepped up its repression of the South African trade union movement. This leaflet highlighted four cases where trade unionists were detained or put on trial. It also publicised the situation of trade unionists in Namibia.

Leaflet advertising a Latin American music night to raise funds for the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in 1988. The concert was organised by Camden AA Group and Kings Cross Labour Party in central London.

South Africa’s rule over Namibia was illegal under international law. The AAM focused on this in calling for the British government to support UN mandatory sanctions against the apartheid regime.  

On 4 May 1978 South African troops massacred over 600 Namibian refugees at Kassinga in southern Angola. Hundreds more were abducted and detained at a South African military base in northern Namibia. This poster commemorated the tenth anniversary of the massacre.