ANC Declares 1986 the Year of Umkhonto we Sizwe – the People’s Army

ANC Declares 1986 the Year of Umkhonto we Sizwe – the People’s Army

Exactly forty years ago, on 8 January 1986, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) declared 1986 the Year of Umkhonto we Sizwe – the People’s Army. Delivering the Statement, ANC President Oliver Tambo extended warm revolutionary greetings of the ANC to all Compatriots and saluted them in the name of the People’s Army, Umkhonto we Sizwe.

In the introduction to the statement, OR Tambo mentioned that the ANC was speaking to the nation “fully aware of the immense responsibility that rests on all of us to make the apartheid system of oppression and exploitation, repression and aggression a thing of the past. It is our singular honour that we have been charged with the serious responsibility to point the way forward in the coming period. We approach this task with the same seriousness that has inspired you as you launched countless heroic mass battles during the year that has just ended. The message of that year, the Year of the Cadre, is simple and yet momentous. It is that the end of the criminal system of apartheid is in sight.”

Continuing with the triumphant introduction, OR Tambo maintained that “There is nothing that the Pretoria regime can do that can change this historic outcome of our struggle. Our uninterrupted forward march has thrown the apartheid system into an enormous general crisis. A central feature of this crisis is the rebellion of millions of our people against the criminal system. Even the stubborn racist can now see that we are no longer prepared to live as slaves and are determined to liberate ourselves whatever the price we have to pay in human lives. Realising that power is slipping out of its hands, the Botha regime could not rule in the old way any longer.”

Furthermore, was that “an important part of the crisis afflicting the racist system is the gathering collapse of the apartheid economy. We, the oppressed and exploited, know the bitter meaning of this crisis. We know the harsh reality of retrenchment, unemployment, a galloping cost-of-living and banishment to the bantustans and resettlement camps. Now, the burden of the economic crisis brought about by the apartheid system is beginning to weigh heavily on the whites as well. White unemployment is increasing. Many conscripts return to civilian life without jobs and with no prospect of employment. Thousands of small and medium businesses have collapsed. Individual bankruptcies have multiplied without stop.”

As a consequence, “completely unable to deal with this enormous general crisis, Botha has increasingly lost contact with reality. Illusions are taking the place of facts. The hollow dreams of a tyrant appear to him to be the very essence of policy. Botha relies on bombast and bluster to hide the fact that he is no more than a fleeting shadow on the world stage. The Botha regime has lost the strategic initiative. That initiative is now in our hands. The racist regime has no policy and can have no policy either to save the apartheid system from sinking deeper into crisis or to extricate this system from that crisis. Its political programme has been reduced to a shambles. Its ideological platform has collapsed. All it can do now is to react to events from day to day, without any consistent plan and without any overall objectives, except to keep itself in power for as long as possible.”

Accordingly, “It can no longer guarantee a bright future for the white social forces on which it rests. At the same time, the Botha regime is confronted with our mass revolt. Botha knows that the masses of our people will not stand by passively while he tries out one apartheid experiment or another. We shall not abandon our forward march, allow ourselves to be diverted from our goal of one person one vote in a united South Africa, or in any way cooperate with the Botha regime in the execution of programmes aimed at the perpetuation of the apartheid system. Taken together, these factors signify that strategically the enemy is on the defensive. The critical point is that any counteroffensive the oppressors may launch to gain some tactical advances will, at the same time, only result in further worsening their strategic position.”

In the Editorial of Sechaba, February 1986, it stated “Umkhonto we Sizwe (The Spear of the Nation) … is inflicting casualties on the enemy … Umkhonto we Sizwe is attacking not only the ‘symbols of apartheid’ but apartheid itself, including army personnel and farmers integrated into the racist defence force. These operations of Umkhonto we Sizwe have a political and psychological impact; they instil self-confidence in the people and transform the latent hostility of the people to the regime into open mass confrontation; they intensify the sense of unease and insecurity among the enemy forces; they increase the conviction among the struggling people that victory is certain.”

According to the Editorial, “These armed actions create the political and psychological climate which makes it easier for political and military organisers to organise within our country. The decision to designate 1986, The Year of Umkhonto we Sizwe – the People’s Army could not have come at a more appropriate time when our people, the whole nation are up in arms not only defying the regime but also attacking in innumerable ways. The enemy is on the retreat. Umkhonto we Sizwe has played a vital role in the shaping of our history. Formed and established as an underground organisation, it has fought heroically in its 25 years of existence.”

Emphasising the significance of declaring the Year of Umkhonto we Sizwe in the 8 January 1986 Statement, President Oliver Tambo declared, “Let this Year of the People’s Army see us engulf the apartheid system in the fires and the thunder of a people’s war! Let the year of MK see us mount a military offensive that will push the enemy into a strategic retreat! Let us use the opportunities that this Year gives us to replace each combatant with a hundred more, and, building on our achievements, to create a formidable fighting force of the people, superior to the enemy forces because of the justice of our cause, the discipline of our combatants and the bravery and boldness of our warriors.”

Concluding the Statement, Tambo asserted that “During the Year of Umkhonto we Sizwe – The People’s Army: Let us mount a determined mass political and military offensive! Let us retain the strategic initiative! Let us, in struggle, shift the balance of power further in favour of the revolution! Let us turn every corner of our country into a battlefield! Let us weaken the enemy and prepare to seize power!”

“EVERY PATRIOT A COMBATANT! EVERY COMBATANT A PATRIOT!”

Sources:
Editorial, “The Year of Umkhonto we Sizwe – People’s Army”, Sechaba, February 1986.
Oliver Tambo, “Attack! Advance! Give the Enemy No Quarter! January 8th, 1986, Message of the National Executive Committee of the ANC Delivered by President OR Tambo”, Sechaba, March 1986.

Castro Khwela
Good day fellow Compatriots!