The Evolution of the African National Congress (ANC) Logo

The Evolution of the African National Congress (ANC) Logo

According to the current African National Congress Constitution, “The ANC logo is a black African shield in the form of a pointed oval with a narrow white border and canton, the latter bearing six narrow black horizontal bars, surmounted in the centre by a spear erect the shaft white bearing a narrow black vertical line and the blade facetted vertically, white and black, held by a right hand issuant from behind an eight-spoked wheel set to the viewer’s right, both white, the rim and spaces between the spokes of the wheel, black, flotant from the upper shaft of the spear and partly surmounting the wheel, a horizontal tricolour, comprising from top to bottom, equal bands of black, green and gold.”

On the ANC Flag, the Constitution maintains that “The ANC flag is rectangular; it is one and a half times longer than it is wide. It is a horizontal tricolour, comprising from top to bottom, equal bands of black, green and gold.” The ANC Constitution continues to say that “…The black symbolises the people of South Africa who, for generations, have fought for freedom. The green represents the land, which sustained our people for centuries and from which they were removed by colonial and apartheid governments. The gold represents the mineral and other natural wealth of South Africa, which belongs to all its people, but which has been used to benefit only a small racial minority.”

Subject to correction, the ANC had no logo before and during the 1950s, and a logo that was developed in the 1960s was primarily a black and white shield, with a spear protruding from behind the shield, and the black, green and gold colours extending the four-spoked wheel towards the right, which was imposed on the shield. “The logo contains a spear and shield to represent the early wars of resistance to colonial rule, the armed struggle of the ANC’s former armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and the ANC’s ongoing struggle against racial privilege and oppression.”

“The wheel dates back to the campaign for the Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter, and marks the joining in a common struggle for freedom people from all South Africa`s communities. It is a symbol of the strong non-racial traditions of the ANC.” At the bottom of the wheel, were the words “POWER TO THE PEOPLE”, and this logo, which was probably designed by Barry Feinberg, who also designed the MK “Killerman” logo (charging with a spear and shield), was displayed in the backdrop banner of the Morogoro Conference.

In 1982, a new logo was introduced, whose designer is unspecified, although some maintain it was Thami Mnyele, was meant to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Movement, and was not that different from the first logo, except for a new vigorous shield, an impressive spear, and the removal of the colours of the flag from the right-hand side of the wheel, to appear as a rainbow at the top of the shield. The number 70 (for ANC’s seventieth birthday) was inserted at the bottom in red, which was in the later years (1983 – 1985) replaced by the letters ANC in red. The maxim of the logo was changed to “UNITY IN ACTION”.

What became significant in future logos, the fist, which represents the power of a people united in struggle for freedom and equality, was introduced in a poster that was sometimes used as the logo. This poster was possibly designed by Thami Mnyele or Miles Pelo, in 1985, and laid the foundation for the future designs of the logo, with a fist holding a spear and the flag in front of the shield.

The design, which other writers wrongly attribute to Thami Mnyele, was developed by MK graphic artist, Caracas, in 1987, for the 75th Anniversary of Movement. It could not have been designed by Thami Mnyele, as he had passed on during the Gaborone Raid in 1985. Several artists who were involved in the design effort insist that the 1987 logo was developed by Caracas, and not by Thami Mnyele, as most of the writings aver.

According to Percy Zvomuya, in his article in the Mail and Guardian (21 July 2012), ‘Changing times need appropriate symbols’: “A division of the ANC, known as the Printing Press” then headed by Gill Marcus, called for new design ideas. The Committee included Sello Moeti (aka Michael Lebese), Jean Middleton, Patti McDonald and Patric Tariq Mellet (aka Patric de Goede). Drawings soon started coming in from the camps in Angola, Tanzania, Europe and elsewhere.

The 1987 logo was a black African shield in the form of a pointed oval with a brown, red and black border (later changed to green and gold), and a white canton with five narrow black horizontal bars. An erect spear was surmounted in the centre, the shaft was brown and red (later made gold) bearing a narrow black vertical line and the blade facetted vertically, brown, white and black (later gold and black), held by a brown right fist (later black) issuant from behind a brown and black-trimmed (later completely black) four-spoked wheel set to the viewer’s right. The 1987 logo formed the basis of the current logo, with changes on the spear, but prominently on the wheel and the fist.

On the current logo, they added another four spokes to the four-spoked wheel, which represented the 1950s Congress Alliance, in recognition of the labour movement and the Mass Democratic Movement of the 1980s. According to Patric Tariq Mellet (quoted in Zvomuya), the other four spokes were added to make eight as part of “many spokes to the wheel that rolled on to take us to liberation and this became the new symbol of unity”. However, nothing was said about why the fist was changed from being brown or black to being white.

Anthony Butler, in his book, ‘The Idea of the ANC’ (July 2013), argues that the current logo continues to possess great appeal for activists and ordinary members. However, some commentators had reservations about the white fist and the eight-spoked wheel, which for them lacks the symbolism that the national liberation movement stood for. They would rather stick with the 1987 version of the logo, especially the one which emphasised a black fist and a four-spoked black wheel.

If the “fist that holds the spear ostensibly represents the power of a united people; but it also recalls the black consciousness ideology that influenced so many ANC activists in the 1970s”, then why must it be white, as the black power images were always visualised as black. Again, the eight-spoked wheel does not efficiently reflect the history of the national liberation movement, as Butler contended. Perhaps it should have been a six-spoked wheel rather than eight, if Butler’s contentions are taken into consideration.

Butler argues that “The wheel symbolises the non- or multi-racialism of the ANC, and more broadly celebrates the movement’s unifying character”. The 1987 version of the logo, on the one hand, “included a wheel with four spokes, each of which stood for one part of the multi-racial campaigns of the Congress Alliance. The current emblem boasts a wheel with eight spokes, out of deference to the contributions of further ‘pillars’ of the anti-apartheid struggle such as the trade unions and the United Democratic Front (UDF).”

To conclude, Zvomuya asserted that “The symbols, most of them pared down and ‘primitive’, were meant to rally a people abruptly amalgamated into states. These were people who, a century earlier, hadn’t thought of themselves as one nation. Some of the symbols were conceived as accessible metaphors to rally people suffering under the colonial yoke. … Basking in the glow of a century of struggle, the ANC’s logo looks so set and solid, but over the years it has been tweaked, representing the currents of history. The last change occurred in 1987 when the ANC, realising that apartheid was about to be defeated, asked its members for a spanking new logo to commemorate its 75th anniversary.” Shouldn’t the 1987 logo, with a black fist and a black four-spoked wheel, be the one that truly represents such a politically liberated people now focussed on economic emancipation?

Sources:
Wikipedia.
Sechaba Interview, “Pallo Jordan Speaks to Sechaba”, Sechaba, Vol. 24, No. 12, December 1990.
Percy Zvomuya, “Changing times need appropriate symbols”, Mail and Guardian, 21 July 2012.
Anthony Butler, “The Idea of the ANC”, Ohio University Press, 29 July 2013.
African National Congress (ANC) Constitution, https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ANC-Constitution-2017.pdf

Castro Khwela
Good day fellow Compatriots!