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…
A Victorious Revolution
A Victorious Revolution This was a guiding principle developed by Mao Tse Tung, emphasising that successful revolutionary leadership requires a triad of theoretical understanding, historical knowledge, and practical, on-the-ground experience. It stresses that action without proper, evidence-based strategy is doomed to failure. KEY COMPONENTS OF THE REVOLUTION: 👊🏾REVOLUTIONARY THEORY: Providing the intellectual framework and vision. A systematised, scientific guiding line, method, or policy that informs action, rather than blind action.👊🏾KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY: Learning from past…
Remembering Moses Mabhida: Forty Years On
Remembering Moses Mabhida: Forty Years On “Our (party’s) alliance with the national liberation movement has stood the test of time and the strains of illegality. There are not significant differences of policy or strategy between us, we are comrades in arms, share a common purpose, confront the same enemy and are committed to a single goal, the overthrow of the racist autocracy and the achievement of a people’s democracy under majority rule.” – Moses Mabhida…
International Women’s Day: Women Must Take Up Arms
International Women’s Day: Women Must Take Up Arms On 8 March 1971, more than 200 women delegates attended a rally in Lusaka, Zambia, called jointly by women of the liberation movements of Southern Africa to commemorate March 8th, International Women’s Day, and March 2nd, Angola Women’s Day. Chairperson of the meeting, Ms Maria Santos, from the MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola), explained how on March 2nd, 1967, five MPLA women returning from…
MK Special Operations Combatant Marion Sparg is Arrested
MK Special Operations Combatant Marion Sparg is Arrested Forty years ago, on 7 March 1986, after the apartheid President PW Botha had lifted the state of emergency during a speech in which he claimed that there had been a discernible drop in the levels of violence in South Africa, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Special Operations guerrilla, Marion Sparg (aka “Michelle”), was arrested. Apartheid policemen arrived at Sparg’s apartment, where one of the officers mentioned that…
Ideological Deficiency Within the National Liberation Movements
Ideological Deficiency Within the National Liberation Movements “It is often said that national liberation is based on the right of every people to freely control its own destiny and that the objective of this liberation is national independence. Although we do not disagree with this vague and subjective way of expressing a complex reality, we prefer to be objective, since for us the basis of national liberation, whatever the formulas adopted on the level of…
Angola Women’s Day: In Honour of Deolinda de Almeida Rodrigues
Angola Women’s Day: In Honour of Deolinda de Almeida Rodrigues On the declaration of independence on 11 November 1975, the newly installed government of the People's Republic of Angola declared 2 March 1976 as Angola Women’s Day. In line with International Women’s Day on 8 March, this became a day in which the women of Angola would remember their martyred dead and rededicate themselves to the cause of the Angolan revolution. The women pledged to…