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…
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…
Efforts to Implement the Congress Alliance Resolution
Efforts to Implement the Congress Alliance Resolution On 3 July 1961, following discussions between Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Joe Slovo on who would join them on the “High Command” of the new military wing, as well as how they would organise regional commands and urban units, Mandela resigned himself to building the new command structure. He had accepted the fact that his work on the M-Plan was ignored, meaning that the use of the…
Congress Alliance Debates the Armed Struggle
Congress Alliance Debates the Armed Struggle On 2 July 1961, the night following the debate the African National Congress (ANC) had in Groutville, near Stanger, on the armed struggle, the meeting of the Congress Alliance Joint Executives took place in a beach house, also near Stanger. Nelson Mandela had arrived for the ANC National Working and Executive Committee meetings disguised as a chauffeur for Hymie and Hazel Rochman. Mandela had used the Rochman Johannesburg residence…
The SACP Electing for Training Abroad, the ANC Debating the Armed Option
The SACP Electing for Training Abroad, the ANC Debating the Armed Option Exactly sixty years ago, on 1 July 1961, Tennyson Makiwane was conversing with Wilton Mkwayi and Moses Mabhida about the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) December 1960 decision to take steps to initiate the training and equipping of selected personnel in new methods of struggle and thus prepare the nucleus of an adequate apparatus to lead struggles of a more forcible and violent…
The SA Reserve Bank and the National Democratic Revolution
The SA Reserve Bank and the National Democratic Revolution On 30 June 1921, the South African Reserve Bank was established in terms of the Currency and Banking Act, 1920 (Act No. 31 of 1920) in the Union Parliament. This came into being after a Gold Conference was held in October 1919. Prior to its establishment South African commercial banks issued banknotes to the public, as they had to convert the notes from the public in…