Anti-Apartheid News

This issue focused on the AAM campaign to stop British arms sales to South Africa and profiled the British companies supplying military equipment. It exposed the murder of political detainees by the South African security police and the sentencing of SASO (South African Student Organisation) leaders under the Terrorism Act. It reported on the international week of trade union solidarity with the people of South Africa, 17–24 January 1977. A centrespread highlighted the liberation war in Zimbabwe. Mary Benson interviewed actors Winston Ntshona and John Kani.

AA News again headlined the killing of a political detainee by the South African security police. It publicised the AAM’s petition for an end to arms sales to South Africa. School students leader Tebello Motapanyane told AA News that South African students supported armed struggle. A feature argued that the Labour Government was relying on Prime Minister Vorster to put pressure on the white Rhodesian regime. SACTU (South African Congress of Trade Unions) General Secretary John Gaetsewe appealed to British workers to boycott South Africa. AA News asked the British Government to cancel its contract for the supply of uranium from Namibia.

A front-page picture showed the presentation of the AAM’s 60,000-signature petition against South African arms sales to British Foreign Secretary David Owen. AA News reported on the long prison sentences imposed on South African school students and the detention of former Robben Island prisoners. It exposed a smear campaign portraying the AAM as a narrow-based pro-Soviet organisation. Abdul Minty examined US Southern African policy under the country’s new president Jimmy Carter. A review of a pamphlet by Martin Bailey showed how British companies were busting Rhodesian sanctions.

The May issue led on the spread of guerrilla war in Zimbabwe and plans for a constitutional conference announced by British Foreign Secretary David Owen. AA News announced an AAM week of action on Zimbabwe. It exposed moves by Western governments to veto mandatory action against South Africa by the UN Security Council.  It reported on the decision by the film and television technicians union ACTT to lift its ban on working in South Africa. SWAPO representative Shapua Kaukungua called for support for UN-supervised elections in Namibia. AA News exposed South Africa’s ‘new deal’ for black sportsmen. It reported on Israeli support for apartheid. 

The June issue led on a new Terrorism Act trial of 12 alleged members of the African National Congress. It reported on the AAM Week of Action on Zimbabwe, 9–14 May. A special feature argued that the aim of Western governments was to install stooge regimes rather than genuine self-determination in Zimbabwe and Namibia. A centre spread focused on the ongoing repression of workers and students in South Africa. Paul Fauvet reported on apartheid-sponsored attacks on Angola’s MPLA government. A special correspondent argued for the maintenance of the international sports boycott of South Africa.

Under the headline ‘Thousands march on Soweto anniversary’, AA News reported on mass protests in South Africa. It highlighted hangings and massacres in Zimbabwe and the AAM campaign for the release of 12 people charged under the Terrorism Act in Pretoria. A report on the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting held in London noted that its communique accepted that armed struggle in Zimbabwe and Namibia was inevitable. AA News quoted SWAPO President Sam Nujoma as condemning the talks on Namibia between five Western powers and the apartheid government. Playwright David Edgar defended the cultural boycott of South Africa.

South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha was met with protests from AAM campaigners and representatives of the Southern African liberation movements on his visit to London in August. AA News reported on Terrorism Act trials in Pietermaritzburg and Pretoria. It revealed that the Smith regime in Zimbabwe had hanged 125 political prisoners since April 1975. A centrespread focused on the South African union movement  and AA News outlined plans for a new AAM campaign among British  trade unionists. Mac Maharaj and Indres Naidoo described their lives as political prisoners on Robben Island.

The October issue led on the trial of the Pretoria 12. It demanded an international enquiry into the death of Steve Biko, murdered by South African security police on 12 September. Reg Austin analysed the new Anglo-American plan for a settlement on Rhodesia. The issue carried a report on the World Conference for Action Against Apartheid, held in Lagos, 22–26 August. It highlighted TUC support for a second week of international trade union action against apartheid in 1978. Brian Bunting analysed South African plans for a new apartheid constitution. Basil Davidson, recently returned from Angola, reported on South Africa’s raids over the Namibian border.