The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

northern Transvaal and drew support from Fitakgomo and Likwepepe, two migrant
worker organisations which had come into existence in Sekhukhuneland and in rural
areas between the Vaal and Limpopo. 60
Kayser and Adhikari also looked at the impact of repression and political
circumstances of exile on these efforts at mobilisation. In late 1964 and early 1965, the
arrest and detention of APDUSA members in Pondoland as well as the jailing and
banning of the NEUM leadership contributed to the collapse of APDUSA
organisational structures in this area, especially after information had been divulged
under interrogation. While this resulted in the loss of contact by the NEUM’s exiled
leadership with their Pondoland constituency, nevertheless it did not prevent
“grassroot support” from remaining intact and even spreading to the Libode and
Tabankulu districts. 61
In exile, the unwillingness of the African Liberation Committee (ALC) of the OAU to
recognise the NEUM as a liberation movement “became a major obstacle to the
advancement of the NEUM’s cause, especially towards implementing the armed
struggle”. While Kwame Nkrumah eventually agreed to provide military and financial
assistance, this came too late, as Nkrumah was overthrown shortly after the initial
group of UMSA cadres arrived for training in Ghana. With Fourth International
member Ernest Mandel’s assistance, five UMSA executive members did receive some
military training in Guinea from Cubans in the late 1960s. At least two abortive
attempts at more widespread recruitment of members and supporters from South
Africa for military training in the late 1960s and early 1970s resulted in arrests,
terrorism charges and imprisonment. The effect was that UMSA and APDUSA were
60 Robin Kayser and Mohamed Adhikari, ‘“Land and Liberty!”’, pp 6‐13; see also Robin Kayser,
‘Land and Liberty!: The Non‐European Unity Movement and the Land Question, 1933‐1976’, pp 90‐
141.
61 Robin Kayser and Mohamed Adhikari, ‘“Land and Liberty!”’, pp 15‐16.
316