Newsletters

As part of the AAM’s relaunch of the South African boycott campaign, this issue of the newsletter focused on how to refute arguments against the boycott. It called for the release of Albertina Sisulu, arrested and held in solitary confinement. It celebrated the 30_^th anniversary of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). A guest column reported on the mushrooming of anti-apartheid campaigns in the USA

As repression spiralled in South Africa, the newsletter asked readers to campaign in Britain for support for the UDF’s demands for an end to forced removals and massacres of unarmed people. It reprinted reports from the front line on the impact of police brutality on women, including an interview with members of the Uitenhage Women’s Organisation in the Eastern Cape.

Issue 21 reported on a rare success for women workers in South Africa, who won a maternity agreement at a Metro store through their trade union CCAWUSA (Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union of South Africa).  It advertised a meeting to celebrate South African Women’s Day in Islington Town Hall, London and carried a review of Ellen Kuzwayo’s book, Call Me Woman. 

South African human rights lawyer Victoria Mxenge was brutally murdered by apartheid agents outside her home near Durban in August 1985. This issue of the newsletter celebrated her life and quoted from the speeches made at her funeral. It carried extracts from a new book on South African women, South African Women Speak, and reported on the AAM Health Committee’s campaign for South Africa’s expulsion from the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Issue 23 celebrated the release from prison of SWAPO women’s leader Ida Jimmy after she had served a five-year sentence. It interviewed members of the ANC’s cultural group Amandla and asked them how British women could help in the anti-apartheid struggle. The newsletter asked readers to send messages of support to Mamike Moloise, the mother of Benjamin Moloise, a young Umkhonto we Sizwe member, who was hanged after being falsely accused of murdering a South African policeman. 

ANC Women’s Section president Gertrude Shope shared her memories of working with Albertina Sisulu, after charges against 12 UDF leaders were dropped in Pietermaritzburg. The newsletter advertised an International Women’s Day picket of South Africa House to call for the release of Theresa Ramashamola and recorded successes in the campaign for a boycott of South African goods.

Liz Hollis, AAM staff member and activist, died tragically in February 1986. The newsletter celebrated Liz’s life and carried tributes from her friends and co-workers. A round-up of local events celebrating International Women’s Day showed the growing support for the AAM all over Britain. News briefs from inside South Africa included reports on amendments to Winnie Mandela’s bail conditions, a women’s march to protest against the harassment of school pupils and the 30,000-strong funeral for ANC member Molly Blackburn in Port Elizabeth. 

Issue 26 carried an interview with Winnie Mandela, in which she endorsed the call for international sanctions against South Africa. It asked readers to help raise funds to buy sanitary towels for Namibian women living in SWAPO camps in Angola and Zambia, and to support the campaign for the release of the Sharpeville Six, sentenced to death for taking part in a township demonstration. It reported on the affiliation of Women Against Pit Closures to the Anti-Apartheid Movement.