ALFRED NZO: THE PEOPLE’S INITIATIVE
(Extracts of a speech delivered by Alfred Nzo, Secretary General of the African National Congress to the International NGO Action Conference for Sanctions against South Africa, Geneva, 30 June – 3 July 1980).
… Our activists, whether functioning in the legal or illegal level, have the task of drawing the masses of our people into conscious, organised and united action. It is our task to win into one common front of united action all organisations that are fighting for genuine national and social emancipation. However, in pursuit of this goal we are vigilant against the danger of so-called leaders and organisations whose primary task is to subvert our revolution or to bring about changes that do not accord with the aspirations of the masses.
… At periods such as the one through which our struggle is going, when the enemy begins to sense his impending demise, it has often been the strategy of reactionary forces to find spokesmen from among the oppressed people to intercede between the oppressed and the oppressor in favour of the latter. We are now seeing the implementation of this strategy in South Africa, also. Those who place themselves in the path of the struggling masses shall inevitably be swept away together with their racist master whom they serve.
… We are united in one great family fighting against racism, colonialism and imperialism wherever its ugly head rears itself. Our people are showing in action that they
