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 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…
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…