The Motshabi Commission Report
The Motshabi Commission Report On 2 May 1975, the Motshabi Commission delivered an interim report on the condition of the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) existing People’s Army abroad. The “Commission on the State of Affairs in Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in East Africa” was established by the ANC Revolutionary Council on 17 April 1975, with a mandate to investigate the causes of and possible remedies for the “deterioration of the standard of military life and…
Apartheid Minister Kobie Coetsee on the Mandela-Botha Meeting
Apartheid Minister Kobie Coetsee on the Mandela-Botha Meeting On 8 July 1989, three days after the meeting between apartheid President P.W. Botha and Nelson Mandela, Kobie Coetsee, the apartheid Minister of Justice, issued a statement, with Mandela’s permission, about the meeting. The statement was interestingly compiled by Mike Louw, Deputy Director-General of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), which explained that no policy matters were discussed and that no negotiations took place. However, both Mandela and…
The Struggle for People’s Education for People’s Power
The Struggle for People’s Education for People’s Power On 7 July 1986, a document was developed on “The Struggle for People’s Education” that was often framed around the slogan “People’s Education for People’s Power”, which was ultimately published in the September issue of Sechaba relating to a prominent anti-apartheid movement in South Africa during the 1980s. The movement emerged out of widespread dissatisfaction with the Bantu Education Act of 1953 and escalating school boycotts, serving…
Apartheid Security Net Closing In On the Underground
Apartheid Security Net Closing In On the Underground On Saturday, 6 July 1963, at approximately 02:00 in the morning, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Natal Regional Command member, Billy Nair, was arrested in his Durban home. The news spread like wildfire among the underground activists throughout the country, and as a result, when MK High Command member Ian David Kitson arrived for a meeting at Liliesleaf Farm on the same day, he commented that he was…
Talking to the Enemy – Nelson Mandela Engages PW Botha
Talking to the Enemy – Nelson Mandela Engages PW Botha On 5 July 1989, Nelson Mandela was taken in the middle of a five-car convoy to apartheid President P.W. Botha’s office at Tuynhuys, the early Cape Dutch home that is situated alongside the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town. When Mandela entered the room, there were the Justice Minister, Kobie Coetsee and Niël Barnard, the Head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), along with a…
The Fallacy of A Best Constitution
The Fallacy of A Best Constitution Is our Constitution a blueprint of freedom, a vehicle for a National Democratic Society that our ancestors envisaged when they met in Kliptown to knit together a document that had always guided us in our struggle, the Freedom Charter? If that is the case, then why are our people feeling that they are not governing, because if they were there wouldn't be soo many protests? Why is our local…
UN Committee on SWA Denied Entry with Serious Repercussions
UN Committee on SWA Denied Entry with Serious Repercussions On 4 July 1961, a United Nations (UN) committee consisting of eight, with instructions to investigate conditions in the Mandated Territory of South Africa, was refused permission to enter South-West Africa (now Namibia). The United Nations General Assembly was the UN body that instructed the Committee on South West Africa to investigate conditions in the territory as an oversight committee. However, on 4 July 1961, the…