The African National Congress (ANC) is Banned
On 8 April 1960, the apartheid Justice Minister Frans Erasmus informed Parliament in Cape Town that the apartheid government had just signed a proclamation under the Unlawful Organisations Act that was going to see the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) banned for a year. He further mentioned that a Government Gazette Extraordinary was to be issued later in the same day proscribing both organisations until 6 April 1961.
This followed the moving of the second reading of the Unlawful Organisations Bill in the House of Assembly on 29 March 1960 by Erasmus. In his motion, Erasmus included the term “certain other organisations” to the Bill to ensure that the ANC and PAC were not enabled to reappear under different names. Erasmus further mentioned that he understood that the ANC had already adopted what it called the M-Plan, which was intended to ensure survival under the ban, and accordingly added, “I have no hesitation in saying the acts of the PAC and the ANC border on revolution. They are sailing close to the wind.”
On the same evening, 29 March, Wolfie Kodesh received a call from Bram Fischer warning him about the raids that were about to take place all over South Africa within the same night, and that he should warn others about the impending arrests. After taking the call, Kodesh called his comrades that were involved in the underground throughout the country.
Before midnight
