Gateway Chronicle 2021

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held such as vigils to commemorate the Sharpeville
massacre. Commercial pressure was also brought to
bear as white-owned shops were boycotted, strikes
were organised by labour groups and rents owed to
white landlords were unpaid. As the tide of change
gained momentum, white-only spaces were utilised
by Black citizens; for example Archbishop Desmond
Tutu led a protest march to a whites-only beach
in 1989 and the National Union of Mineworkers
supported a lunchtime sit-in at an all-white canteen
in the same year. These actions positively impacted
the ruling party’s willingness to negotiate with the
ANC and Nelson Mandela because of the disruption
they caused.
The wider actions of the global community also
affected the dismantling of Apartheid in South Africa
but the scale of influence of Black and alliance
communities and states was wider than that implied
by a western focused narrative. South Africa was
involved in armed conflict against liberation movements
in Angola (1975-1977) and South West Africa
(1966-1989) which drained its economic resources
and morale, the impact of which became more
pronounced when combined with more stringent
economic sanctions in the mid-1980s. The conflicts
are often seen as a case of proxy states fighting
with the support of the United States and the Soviet
Union. Although the Cuban forces who fought
against South Africa were communist, it is clear that
Cuba’s motivation was also based on an anti-colonial
ideology: Fidel Castro pledged forces and weapons
in the spirit of proletariat internationalism
and fittingly named the mission ‘Operation Carlota’
after an African woman who had organised a slave
revolt on Cuba. Despite the roles of international
supporters, the agency of the African protagonists
should not be underestimated. In 1984 Angola and
South Africa signed the Lusaka Accords to declare a
ceasefire. Despite the military support of Cuba and
the Soviet Union throughout the conflict, they were
not consulted by Angola until after the agreement
was signed. This demonstrates their autonomy in
resolving the conflict on their own terms.
A further source of political pressure came from the
African Front-Line States, a coalition of countries
which opposed Apartheid in South Africa. These
included Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia
and Zimbabwe, as well as Angola. They gave the
ANC a base from which to operate during the period
when they were banned in South Africa and put
pressure on other members of the Commonwealth
Hidden Voices
to isolate South Africa.
That these military and political pressures worked
in tandem with economic sanctions from the west
is incontrovertible. However, the role of the global
Black community in bringing about these sanctions
is often overlooked. Black American opinion
was mobilised to exert leverage over US banks
and corporations, who began to divest themselves
of holdings in South Africa during the 1980s. In
response to this economic pressure, the value of the
Rand collapsed.
In this political environment of greater international
co-operation and social and economic pressure
from the majority Black population within South
Africa, when F.W. De Klerk became President of
South Africa in 1989, he confounded expectations
by adopting a great deal of the Harare Declaration
in which the ANC had set out the steps that would
create a climate for beginning negotiations. This
crucial step can be overlooked in the narrative of
the fall of Apartheid but it is clear that the ANC set
the terms of the negotiation: Nelson Mandela was
to be released, bans were to be lifted on outlawed
organisations and the state of emergency was to be
lifted. The majority of the conditions of the Declaration
were met. The leader of the ANC, Nelson
Mandela, created a roadmap of the negotiation process
and the first all-race elections in South Africa
were held in 1994, leading to the ANC winning a
majority and Nelson Mandela becoming its President.
In conclusion, it is apparent that although pressures
from the West in the form of economic and sporting
boycotts were significant factors in the dismantling
of Apartheid in South Africa, the activism of
the Black communities in South Africa itself and
the actions of majority governed African states and
their allies should not be overlooked or downplayed.
A climate in which the negotiations on the road
to democracy could be pursued was only possible
because of the economic pressure caused by wars in
neighbouring states such as Angola and South West
Africa (Namibia) and the internal pressure of economic
boycotts, social protest and disobedience. It is
important that the hidden voices of these contributors
are heard so that their agency in the process is
given due recognition.
Jonathan Webb 4.5