Photos

A speaker at the rally in Jubilee Gardens on London’s South Bank on 2 June 1984. At least 50,000 people marched through London to tell South African President P W Botha he was not welcome in Britain. London’s black and Asian community were at the forefront of opposition to Botha’s visit. The demonstration was the beginning of an upsurge of anti-apartheid action which gathered pace for the rest of the decade.

The march against P W Botha on 2 June 1984 was followed by a free concert in Jubilee Gardens on London’s South Bank. This was one of a series of big music festivals organised by the AAM in the 1980s. It was sponsored by the Greater London Council.

In June 1984 the police banned anti-apartheid protesters from the pavement in front of South Africa House. City of London AA Group supporters demonstrated against the ban on the steps of St Martin’s in the Fields, 22 June 1984.

David Kitson reunited with his wife Norma on his arrival in London after his release from Pretoria Central prison in June 1984. In 1964 Kitson was convicted of sabotage and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. 

David Kitson speaking at a press conference arranged by the AAM after his release from prison in June 1984. In 1964 Kitson was convicted of sabotage and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He served the full 20-year term. In Britain the draughtsmen’s union, AUEW-TASS, which Kitson joined when he was working in Britain in the 1950s, and Ruskin College, Oxford, where he studied on a union scholarship, both campaigned for his release. Left to right: David Kitson, AAM Chair Bob Hughes MP, AAM staff member Cate Clark.

The AAM held a National  Convention, 23–24 June 1984, to mark its 25th anniversary and draw up a new action programme. Participants included the Tanzanian Foreign Minister and future President Benjamin Mkapa, the Chair of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, Ambassador Joseph Garba and David Kitson, who had just arrived in London after his release from Pretoria Prison. In the picture are E S Reddy, Secretary of the UN Committee Against Apartheid, Andimba Toivo ja Toivo of SWAPO and Labour Party Leader Neil Kinnock.

To mark its 25th anniversary on 26 June 1984, the AAM relaunched the campaign for a boycott of South African goods at a press conference at the House of Commons. It produced a new ‘boycott kit’ of stickers and leaflets asking shoppers to support the boycott, distributed by supporters all over Britain.

ANC member Jeanette Schoon and her six-year old daughter Katryn were killed in Angola by a parcel bomb sent by the South African security services on 28 June 1984. AAM protesters gathered on the steps of St Martin‘s in the Fields because the police banned demonstrations on the pavement in front of South Africa House.