Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Guerrilla Warfare Strategy Development
On 24 June 1963, African National Congress (ANC) Chief Representative in London for Europe and Latin America, Raymond Kunene, was addressing the formation of a French Anti-Apartheid Committee in Paris. He indicated that South Africa was on the brink of one of the bloodiest revolutions in history.
Kunene was basing his address on a briefing ANC leader Oliver Tambo received from Joe Slovo on the guerrilla warfare plan at Dar es Salaam’s Palace Hotel after arriving in Tanganyika on the evening of 20 June 1963. During Slovo’s presentation, Tambo’s eyes began darting from side to side, which was a characteristic sign of excitement that was followed by a jig of joy around the room. For Slovo, the excitement shown by Tambo implied a nod of approval that was still to be tested within the collective leadership of the ANC’s External Mission.
The Guerrilla Warfare Plan, referred to as “Operation Mayibuye”, was presented by Slovo for the first time at a joint meeting of the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP) in Liliesleaf Farm, Johannesburg, in May 1963. the development of Operation Mayibuye was a comprehensive plan designed to create and internalise the structures required for the successful prosecution of the armed struggle within South Africa. Operation Mayibuye had a threefold series of objectives: to prepare an underground structure capable of ensuring the revolutionary overthrow of the
