1990s

Nelson Mandela at the Wembley concert held on 16 April 1990.

Handwritten letter from Nelson Mandela ‘to the British public’ thanking them for their ‘overwhelming generosity’. The letter was written on the day Mandela attended the 16 April 1990 Wembley concert held to celebrate his release from prison on 11 February.

At the concert held in his honour in Wembley Stadium on 16 April 1990, Nelson Mandela asked the people of Britain and the world to maintain sanctions against South Africa until a democratic constitution was in place. He also appealed for people to join the Anti-Apartheid Movement. This AAM membership leaflet reproduced parts of his speech.

South African President de Klerk held talks with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on 19 May 1990, during a three-week tour of European capitals. The day before, the AAM held a rally protesting against the talks. It warned that de Klerk wanted to negotiate a new South African constitution that would fall far short of majority rule. Protests were held in every country de Klerk visited, co-ordinated by the Liaison Group of the Anti-Apartheid Movements of the European Community.

As part of Glasgow’s 1990 European City of Culture celebrations, Mandela Club Nights showcased bands from Southern Africa. The Sechaba Festival brought 60 South African poets, musicians, actors and dancers to Glasgow in a two-week programme of events. The Festival included a five-day international conference on cultural resistance to apartheid, and performances, exhibitions and films. The Club and the Festival were organised by Sechaba Festivals Ltd., established by the Scottish AAM Committee and the STUC with support from Glasgow City and Strathclyde Regional Councils and individual trade unions.

From 1989 the AAM held an annual sponsored Freedom Run and free concert in Brockwell Park, south London. The event raised funds for the AAM and publicised anti-apartheid campaigns. This leaflet advertised the 1990 Freedom Run.

After the unbanning of the South African liberation movements in 1990, the AAM launched a ‘Call to Freedom Declaration’ on 26 June. The declaration called for an elected constituent assembly to agree on a new constitution for South Africa. Left to right: TUC president and NALGO officer Ada Maddocks, TUC General Secretary Norman Willis, Ron Todd, General Secretary of the transport workers union and Barbara Switzer, Deputy General Secretary of the supervisory workers union MSF sign the declaration at the 1990 TUC congress.

AAM demonstrators lined the entrance to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s country residence, Chequers, when South African President F W de Klerk arrived there in July 1990.