Death sentences

Yusuf Dadoo and Joe Slovo on the march that launched the AAM’s ‘Anti-Apartheid Month’ on 3 November 1963 in response to increasing repression in South Africa and the arrest of Nelson Mandela and his comrades in July.

Leaflet advertising a march and rally in central London held on 9 November 1975 to mark the tenth anniversary of UDI. Demonstrators called for an end to hangings by the Smith regime. Zimbabwean protesters held a vigil outside Rhodesia House to commemorate 32 freedom fighters known to have been hanged.

The crowd at a rally in Trafalgar Square to mark the tenth anniversary of UDI, held on 9 November 1975. Demonstrators called for an end to the execution of freedom fighters by the Smith regime. Speakers included Methodist minister David Haslam, Roger Lyons of the white collar union ASTMS and Peter Hain, speaking for the National League of Young Liberals.

Poster produced for a Week of Action on Zimbabwe, 9–14 May 1977. The illegal Smith regime held regular executions of captured Zimbabwe freedom fighters. Public meetings and film shows took place in major centres throughout Britain during the week.

Leaflet highlighting the atrocities committed against Zimbabwe’s civilian population by the security forces and the secret hangings carried out by the Smith regime.

Solomon Mahlangu was sentenced to death on 2 March 1978 after being present at an incident in Johannesburg during which two white bystanders were killed. The AAM organised weekly demonstrations outside South Africa House calling for his release. Thousands signed a petition asking the British government to intervene. This picket was held on 2 August 1978. In the photograph are Bob Wright, Assistant General Secretary of AUEW (Engineering), Jim Slater, General Secretary of the National Union of Seamen (NUS) and members of the NUS Executive.

Forty former South African political prisoners held a 24-hour fast in support of Solomon Mahlangu on the steps of St Martin’s in the Fields, Trafalgar Square in August 1978. They collected signatures to a petition asking Prime Minister James Callaghan to intervene with the South African government. Mahlangu was sentenced to death on 2 March 1978 for being present at an incident in Johannesburg during which two white bystanders were killed.

The Katumba Brothers, 16-year-old Benchard and 19-year-old Leavit, were sentenced to death in 1979 by the illegal government headed by Bishop Abel Muzorewa. They were convicted of ‘carrying arms of war’. This poster was produced by the Zimbabwe Emergency Campaign Committee, set up by the AAM, to ask the British government to intervene to stop the hangings.