1970s

The May issue headlined reports that the British company GKN was considering a bid to supply equipment for the Cabora Bassa dam project. A special feature on Barclays Bank explained why the bank had been singled out for anti-apartheid action and reported on a nationwide day of action calling on it to pull out of South Africa. AA News exposed the loopholes in the Labour government’s arms embargo and reported on the massive buildup of South Africa’s arms industry. It heralded advances by MPLA guerrilla fighters in Angola and exposed the involvement of expatriate British police officers in the coup in Lesotho.

This issue led on the murder of Imam Haroun by security police while he was held in detention under the South African Terrorism Act. In a round-up of nationwide actions, AA News reported on a protest at Edgbaston cricket ground against the 1970 Springbok cricket tour and advertised a demonstration at the first game in June. A centrespread focused on the below subsistence wages paid to black South African workers and the complicity of British companies. Former prisoner David Evans exposed the terrible conditions endured by long-term political prisoners in South African gaols.

The AAM marked the tenth anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre with a re-enactment in Trafalgar Square and a programme of music and drama at the Lyceum Theatre. This issue publicised anniversary events in London and other centres. It reported on the Terrorism Act trial of Winnie Mandela and 21 others in Pretoria and on the campaign to force Barclays Bank to withdraw from South Africa. A centrespread exposed Prime Minister’s Vorster drive to suborn independent African states. Under the slogan ‘It’s not cricket’ the newspaper launched the AAM’s campaign for the cancellation of the all-white Springbok cricket tour scheduled for the summer of 1970.

AA News highlighted attacks by a ZAPU-ANC guerrilla group against forces of the white minority regime inside Zimbabwe and featured an interview by British journalist Gus Macdonald with ZAPU President James Chikerema. It reported on the gaoling of two witnesses in the trial of Winnie Mandela and 21 others because they refused to give evidence. A centrespread featured the Cabora Bassa dam project in Mozambique. Under the headline ‘Goodbye Springboks’, the newspaper reported on the mass demonstrations at the final games of the Springbok rugby tour of Britain and Ireland.