Photos

UDF President Albertina Sisulu was the main speaker at an AAM rally in London on 20 June 1989 protesting against F W de Klerk’s visit to London. She said de Klerk was trying ‘to improve apartheid and not to abolish it’. She was on her way the USA to meet President Bush. On her way back from the USA she led a UDF delegation which met British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Albertina Sisulu, President of the banned United Democratic Front, and Sister Bernard Ncube of the Federation of Transvaal Women held a press conference in the House of Commons  on 13 July 1989. They were on their way back to South Africa from the USA, where they met President George Bush. During their stay in London the UDF delegation met Margaret Thatcher, the first time a British Prime Minister had met black South African anti-apartheid leaders since Josiah Gumede and Sol Plaatje held a meeting with Lloyd George in 1919.

In June 1989 the AAM held its first ‘Freedom Run’ in Brockwell Park, Brixton, south London in June 1989. The Freedom Run became an annual event where stalls sold anti-apartheid badges, T-shirts and other goods, and sponsored runners raised funds for the AAM.

This Wales AAM supporter was asking passers-by not to buy products from South Africa. He was taking part in a demonstration outside the Holiday Inn in Cardiff. The Holiday Inn group had a chain of hotels in South Africa. The AAM’s countrywide Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign focused on tourism and imports of coal and gold, as well as wine and fruit.

The Southern Africa Coalition was launched on 1 September 1989 to press the British government to impose targeted sanctions against South Africa. These included a ban on imports of coal and agricultural products and on loans to South Africa. The Coalition brought together a wide range of organisations, including trade unions, churches, overseas aid agencies and the Anti-Apartheid Movement

Sheffield MP Richard Caborn and Lord Mayor Tony Damms with Sheffield AAM supporters outside Tesco on 13 October 1989. Over 2,000 shoppers signed Sheffield AA Group’s petition asking Tesco to stop selling South African goods. Earlier in the year, 320 of Tesco 380 stores all over Britain were picketed in a special Day of Action on 22 April.

The AAM campaigned to stop the 1990 rebel cricket tour of South Africa, led by Mike Gatting. It picketed 40 county cricket matches involving members of the team. These demonstrators are outside the Oval. The tour was cut short by protests inside South Africa and made a big financial loss.

COSATU General Secretary Jay Naidoo was the main speaker at the AAM’s annual general meeting in November 1989. He warned that since F W de Klerk was inaugurated as State President in September 1989, there had been an increase in violence and repression against South African trade unionists.