Forty Years of the Kabwe Conference: Unity of Liberation Forces
(Portions of the Political Report of the National Executive Committee to the National Consultative Conference, which was presented by the President of the African National Congress, Oliver Tambo, 17 June 1985, Kabwe, Zambia)
A Need to Organise the Countryside
“Certain advances have been made with regard to the creation of a mass democratic movement in the bantustans, especially in the last twelve months. At the same time, it is true that, in the main, we have not succeeded to build this movement to the level of strength that is possible and necessary. We have not even succeeded to utilise fully the considerable experiences of such elders in our midst as Comrade Elijah Mampuru.
“We have to build a mass democratic movement in the countryside and in this process, separate any existing mass organisations from their diehard counter-revolutionary leaders, redirect them to the only correct path of revolutionary action by the people themselves and, for this purpose, solve the actual political problems posed by this population in terms of their organisation and activisation.
“Bound as we are historically to work for the greatest possible unity of the oppressed masses, and without forgetting that these masses are our reliable base, we have to deal with any personalities within these bantustans who display a democratic consciousness, however limited.
ANC: The People’s Own Organisation
“The sto
