Forty Years of the Kabwe Conference: Destroy the Old Order (Part 1)
(Excerpts from an Address by Oliver Tambo to the Nation on Radio Freedom, 22 July 1985)
Compatriots,
“Forty-eight hours ago P.W. Botha announced a state of emergency affecting the Eastern Cape, the Witwatersrand and the Vaal Triangle. Already in these areas many people have been arrested. Combined military and police units have moved to occupy certain townships such as Kwa Thema. People have been murdered by these forces of occupation. The truth about the criminal misdeeds of these bands of marauders has been kept out of the public eye through tightened press censorship.
“Inevitably the fascist measures of extreme repression that Botha has imposed will be extended to other areas of our country. Botha has at last decided to impose martial law. He has granted full powers to his armed forces to govern certain areas of our country. This is an eventuality for which the Botha regime has prepared and about which we have repeatedly warned. This regime can now no longer conceal its true face. What has become plain for all to see is the reality of military dictatorship and not the comforting but spurious image of a reformer that Botha had sought to cultivate and project.
“The Pretoria regime speaks about law and order. It says it has imposed martial law on large parts of our country in order to reestablish order and stability. In cynical disregard of the interests of the majority of the people of o
