Photos

Southampton AA Group supporters delivered a giant Barclays cheque to the local Barclays branch on 4 April 1979. The cheque was made payable ‘for bribery and corruption by the South African Government’ and signed ‘Connie Muldergate’. South African Information Minister Connie Mulder was forced to resign because he established a government slush fund to promote South Africa’s image overseas.

Hundreds of people kept an all-night vigil at South Africa House in London before the execution of Solomon Mahlangu on 6 April 1979. In Scotland AAM supporters picketed the South African consulate in Glasgow. Solomon Mahlangu was hanged in spite of a huge international campaign. The UN Security Council and the governments of the UK and all the other major Western European countries appealed to the South African government for clemency. US President Jimmy Carter also intervened.

From 1978 anti-apartheid local groups held sponsored walks on the anniversary of the Soweto uprising to raise funds for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom School in Tanzania. This photograph shows AAM members in Barnet, north London, getting ready for their walk in May 1979.

From 1978 anti-apartheid local groups held sponsored walks on the anniversary of the Soweto uprising to raise funds for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom School in Tanzania. In the photograph are Det Glynn of Camden AA Group and AAM staff member Chris Child getting ready for a sponsored walk in Camden, London in June 1979.

 

 

Police horses outside Rhodesia House in the Strand during the AAM’s march and rally in central London on 30 June 1979. The AAM urged the  newly elected Conservative government not to recognise the Muzorewa government in Zimbabwe.

The platform in Trafalgar Square at a rally organised by the AAM on 30 June 1979 held to urge the newly elected Conservative government not to recognise the Muzorewa government in Zimbabwe.

Demonstrators marched from Lancaster House to Central Hall, Westminster, on 10 September 1979, the opening day of talks about a settlement on Zimbabwe. They were supporting the settlement proposals put forward by the Zimbabwe Patriotic Front for democratic elections and the release of all political prisoners. After lengthy negotiations, elections were held in February 1980. They were won by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front under the leadership of Robert Mugabe.

Labour MP Joan Lestor with the AAM’s Chair Bob Hughes MP and Hon. Secretary Abdul Minty at the Commonwealth Conference in Lusaka, September 1979. They presented a Declaration signed by British organisations representing over 7 million people appealing to the Commonwealth to reaffirm its commitment to genuine independence for the people of Zimbabwe.