Address by Nelson Mandela on behalf of the ANC delegation to the Conference
of the Pan-African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa

Addis Ababa, January 1962

The delegation of the African National Congress, and I particularly, feel
specially honoured by the invitation addressed to our organisation by the
PAFMECA to attend this historic conference and to participate in its
deliberations and decisions. The extension of the PAFMECA area to South Africa,
the heart and core of imperialist reaction, should mark the beginning of a new
phase in the drive for the total liberation of Africa - a phase which derives
special significance from the entry into PAFMECA of the independent states of
Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan.

It was not without reason, we believe, that the Secretariat of PAFMECA chose
as the seat of this conference the great country of Ethiopia, which, with
hundreds of years of colourful history behind it, can rightly claim to have paid
the full price of freedom and independence. His Imperial Majesty, himself a rich
and unfailing fountain of wisdom, has been foremost in promoting the cause of
unity, independence, and progress in Africa, as was so amply demonstrated in the
address he graciously delivered in opening this assembly. The deliberations of
our conference will thus proceed in a setting most conducive to a scrupulous
examination of the issues that are before us.

At the outset, our delegation wishes to place on record our sincere
appreciation of the relentless efforts made by the independent African states
and national movements in Africa and other parts of the world, to help the
African people in South Africa in their just struggle for freedom and
independence.

The movement for the boycott of South African goods and for the imposition of
economic and diplomatic sanctions against South Africa has served to highlight
most effectively the despotic structure of the power that rules South Africa,
and has given tremendous inspiration to the liberation movement in our country.
It is particularly gratifying to note that the four independent African states
which are part of this conference, namely, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and
Tanganyika, are enforcing diplomatic and economic sanctions against South
Africa. We also thank all those states that have given asylum and assistance to
South African refugees of all shades of political beliefs and opinion. The warm
affection with which South African freedom fighters are received by democratic
countries all over the world, and the hospitality so frequently showered upon us
by governments and political organisations, has made it possible for some of our
people to escape persecution by the South African government, to travel freely
from country to country and from continent to continent, to canvass our point of
view and to rally support for our cause. We are indeed extremely grateful for
this spontaneous demonstration of solidarity and support, and sincerely hope
that each and every one of us will prove worthy of the trust and confidence the
world has in us.

We believe that one of the main objectives of this conference is to work out
concrete plans to speed up the struggle for the liberation of those territories
in this region that are still under alien rule. In most of these territories the
imperialist forces have been considerably weakened and are unable to resist the
demand for freedom and independence - thanks to the powerful blows delivered by
the freedom movements.

Although the national movements must remain alert and vigilant against all
forms of imperialist intrigue and deception, there can be no doubt that
imperialism is in full retreat and the attainment of independence by many of
these countries has become an almost accomplished fact. Elsewhere, notably in
South Africa, the liberation movement faces formidable difficulties and the
struggle is likely to be long, complicated, hard, and bitter, requiring maximum
unity of the national movement inside the country, and calling for level and
earnest thinking on the part of its leaders, for skilful planning and intensive
organisation.

South Africa is known throughout the world as a country where the most fierce
forms of colour discrimination are practised, and where the peaceful struggles
of the African people for freedom are violently suppressed. It is a country torn
from top to bottom by fierce racial strife and conflict and where the blood of
African patriots frequently flows.

Almost every African household in South Africa knows about the massacre of
our people at Bulhoek, in the Queenstown district, where detachments of the army
and police, armed with artillery, machine-guns, and rifles, opened fire on
unarmed Africans, killing 163 persons, wounding 129, and during which 95 people
were arrested simply because they refused to move from a piece of land on which
they lived.

Almost every African family remembers a similar massacre of our African
brothers in South-West Africa when the South African government assembled
aeroplanes, heavy machine-guns, artillery, and rifles, killing a hundred people
and mutilating scores of others, merely because the Bondelswart people refused
to pay dog tax.

On 1 May 1950, 18 Africans were shot dead by the police in Johannesburg whilst
striking peacefully for higher wages. The massacre at Sharpeville in March 1960
is a matter of common knowledge and is still fresh in our minds. According to a
statement in parliament made by CR Swart, then Minister for Justice, between
May 1948 and March 1954, 104 Africans were killed and 248 wounded by the police
in the course of political demonstrations. By the middle of June 1960, these
figures had risen to well over three hundred killed and five hundred wounded.
Naked force and violence is the weapon openly used by the South African
government to beat down the struggles of the African people and to suppress
their aspirations.

The repressive policies of the South African government are reflected not
only in the number of those African martyrs who perished from guns and bullets,
but in the merciless persecution of all political leaders and in the total
repression of political opposition. Persecution of political leaders and
suppression of political organisations became ever more violent under the
Nationalist Party government. From 1952 the government used its legal powers to
launch a full-scale attack on leaders of the African National Congress. Many of
its prominent members were ordered by the government to resign permanently from
it and never again participate in its activities. Others were prohibited from
attending gatherings for specified periods ranging up to five years. Many were
confined to certain districts, banished from their homes and families and even
deported from the country.

In December 1956, Chief A J Lutuli, President-General of the ANC, was
arrested together with 155 other freedom fighters and charged with treason. The
trial which then followed is unprecedented in the history of the country, in
both its magnitude and duration. It dragged on for over four years and drained
our resources to the limit. In March 1960, after the murderous killing of about
seventy Africans in Sharpeville, a state of emergency was declared and close on
twenty thousand people were detained without trial. Even as we meet here today,
martial law prevails throughout the territory of the Transkei, an area of 16,000
square miles with an African population of nearly two and a half million. The
government stubbornly refuses to publish the names and number of persons
detained. But it is estimated that close on two thousand Africans are presently
languishing in jail in this area alone. Amongst these are to be found teachers,
lawyers, doctors, clerks, workers from the towns, peasants from the country, and
other freedom fighters. In this same area and during the last six months, more
than thirty Africans have been sentenced to death by white judicial officers,
hostile to our aspirations, for offences arising out of political
demonstrations.

On 26 August 1961 the South African government even openly defied the British
government when its police crossed into the neighbouring British protectorate of
Basutoland and kidnapped Anderson Ganyile, one of the country's rising freedom
stars, who led the Pondo people's memorable struggles against apartheid tribal
rule.

Apart from these specific instances, there are numerous other South African
patriots, known and unknown, who have been sacrificed in various ways on the
altar of African freedom.

This is but a brief and sketchy outline of the momentous struggle of the
freedom fighters in our country, of the sacrifice they have made and of the
price that is being paid at the present moment by those who keep the freedom
flag flying.

For years our political organisations have been subjected to vicious attacks
by the government. In 1957 there was considerable mass unrest and disturbances
in the country districts of Zeerust, Sekhukhuniland, and Rustenburg. In all
these areas there was widespread dissatisfaction with government policy and
there were revolts against the pass laws, the poll tax, and government-inspired
tribal authorities. Instead of meeting the legitimate political demands of the
masses of the people and redressing their grievances, the government reacted by
banning the ANC in all these districts. In April 1960 the government went
further and completely outlawed both the African National Congress and the
Pan-Africanist Congress. By resorting to these drastic methods the government
had hoped to silence all opposition to its harsh policies and to remove all
threats to the privileged position of the Whites in the country. It had hoped
for days of perfect peace and comfort for White South Africa, free from revolt
and revolution. It believe that through its strong-arm measures it could achieve
what White South Africa has failed to accomplish during the last fifty years,
namely, to compel Africans to accept the position that in our country freedom
and happiness are the preserve of the White man.

But uneasy lies the head that wears the crown of White supremacy in South
Africa. The banning and confinement of leaders, banishments and deportations,
imprisonment and even death, have never deterred South African patriots. The
very same day it was outlawed, the ANC issued a public statement announcing that
it would definitely defy the government's ban and carry out operations from
underground. The people of South Africa have adopted this declaration as their
own and South Africa is today a land of turmoil and conflict.

In May last year a general strike was called. In the history of our country
no strike has ever been organised under such formidable difficulties and
dangers. The odds against us were tremendous. Our organisations were outlawed.
Special legislation had been rushed through parliament empowering the government
to round up its political opponents and to detain them without trial. One week
before the strike ten thousand Africans were arrested and kept in jail until
after the strike. All meetings were banned throughout the country and our field
workers were trailed and hounded by members of the Security Branch. General
mobilisation was ordered throughout the country and every available White man
and woman put under arms. An English periodical described the situation on the
eve of the strike in the following terms:

'In the country's biggest call-up since the war, scores of citizens' force
and commando units were mobilised in the big towns. Camps were established at
strategic points; heavy army vehicles carrying equipment and supplies moved in a
steady stream along the Reef; helicopters hovered over African residential areas
and trained searchlights on houses, yards, lands, and unlit areas. Hundreds of
White civilians were sworn in as special constables, hundreds of white women
spent weekends shooting at targets. Gun shops sold out of their stocks of
revolvers and ammunition. All police leave was cancelled throughout the country.
Armed guards were posted to protect power stations and other sources of
essential services. Saracen armoured cars and troop carriers patrolled
townships. Police vans patrolled areas and broadcast statements that Africans
who struck work would he sacked and endorsed out of the town.'

This was the picture in South Africa on the eve of the general strike, but
our people stood up to the test most magnificently. The response was less than
we expected but we made solid and substantial achievements. Hundreds of
thousands of workers stayed away from work and the country's industries and
commerce were seriously damaged. Hundreds of thousands of students and
schoolchildren did not go to school for the duration of the strike.

The celebrations which had been planned by the government to mark the
inauguration of the republic were not only completely boycotted by the Africans,
but were held in an atmosphere of tension and crisis in which the whole country
looked like a military camp in a state of unrest and uncertainty. This panic
stricken show of force was a measure of the power of the liberation movement and
yet it failed to stem the rising tide of popular discontent.

How strong is the freedom struggle in South Africa today? What role should
PAFMECA play to strengthen the liberation movement in South Africa and speed up
the liberation of our country? These are questions frequently put by those who
have our welfare at heart.

The view has been expressed in some quarters outside South Africa that, in
the special situation obtaining in our country, our people will never win
freedom through their own efforts. Those who hold this view point to the
formidable apparatus of force and coercion in the hands of the government, to
the size of its armies, the fierce suppression of civil liberties, and the
persecution of political opponents of the regime. Consequently, in these
quarters, we are urged to look for our salvation beyond our borders.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is true that world opinion against the policies of the South African
government has hardened considerably in recent years. The All African People's
Conference held in Accra in 1958, the Positive Action Conference for Peace and
Security in Africa, also held in Accra in April 1960, the Conference of
Independent African States held in this famous capital in June of the same year,
and the conferences at Casablanca and Monrovia last year, as well as the Lagos
Conference this month, passed militant resolutions in which they sharply
condemned and rejected the racial policies of the South African government. It
has become clear to us that the whole of Africa is unanimously behind the move
to ensure effective economic and diplomatic sanctions against the South African
government.

At the international level, concrete action against South Africa found
expression in the expulsion of South Africa from the Commonwealth, which was
achieved with the active initiative and collaboration of the African members of
the Commonwealth. These were Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanganyika (although the latter
had not yet achieved its independence). Nigeria also took the initiative in
moving for the expulsion of South Africa from the International Labour
Organisation. But most significant was the draft resolution tabled at the
fifteenth session of the United Nations which called for sanctions against South
Africa. This resolution had the support of all the African members of the United
Nations, with only one exception. The significance of the draft was not
minimised by the fact that a milder resolution was finally adopted calling for
individual or collective sanctions by member states. At the sixteenth session of
the United Nations last year, the African states played a marvellous role in
successfully carrying through the General Assembly a resolution against the
address delivered by the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Eric
Louw, and subsequently in the moves calling for the expulsion of South Africa
from the United Nations and for sanctions against her. Although the United
Nations itself has neither expelled nor adopted sanctions against South Africa,
many independent African states are in varying degrees enforcing economic and
other sanctions against her. This increasing world pressure on South Africa has
greatly weakened her international position and given a tremendous impetus to
the freedom struggle inside the country. No less a danger to White minority rule
and a guarantee of ultimate victory for us is the freedom struggle that is
raging furiously beyond the borders of the South African territory; the rapid
progress of Kenya, Uganda, and Zanzibar towards independence; the victories
gained by the Nyasaland Malawi Congress; the unabated determination of Kenneth
Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP); the courage displayed by the
freedom fighters of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), successor to the
now banned National Democratic Party (NDP); the gallantry of the African
crusaders in the Angolan war of liberation and the storm clouds forming around
the excesses of Portuguese repression in Mozambique; the growing power of the
independence movements in South-West Africa and the emergence of powerful
political organisations in the High Commission territories - all these are
forces which cannot compromise with White domination anywhere.

But we believe it would be fatal to create the illusion that external
pressures render it unnecessary for us to tackle the enemy from within. The
centre and cornerstone of the struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa
lies inside South Africa itself. Apart from those required for essential work
outside the country, freedom fighters are in great demand for work inside the
country. We owe it as a duty to ourselves and to the freedom-loving peoples of
the world to build and maintain in South Africa itself a powerful, solid
movement, capable of surviving any attack by the government and sufficiently
militant to fight back with a determination that comes from the knowledge and
conviction that it is first and foremost by our own struggle and sacrifice
inside South Africa itself that victory over White domination and apartheid can
be won.

The struggle in the areas still subject to imperialist rule can be delayed
and even defeated if it is uncoordinated. Only by our combined efforts and
united action can we repulse the multiple onslaughts of the imperialists and
fight our way to victory. Our enemies fight collectively and combine to exploit
our people.

The clear examples of collective imperialism have made themselves felt more
and more in our region by the formation of an unholy alliance between the
governments of South Africa, Portugal, and the so-called Central African
Federation. Hence these governments openly and shamelessly gave military
assistance consisting of personnel and equipment to the traitorous Tshombe
regime in Katanga.

At this very moment it has been widely reported that a secret defence
agreement has been signed between Portugal, South Africa, and the Federation,
following visits of Federation and South African defence ministers to Lisbon,
the Federation defence minister to Luanda, and South African Defence Ministry
delegations to Mozambique. Dr Salazar was quoted in the Johannesburg Star of 8
July 1961 as saying: 'Our relations - Mozambique's and Angola's on the one hand
and the Federation and South Africa on the other - arise from the existence of
our common borders and our traditional friendships that unite our Governments
and our people. Our mutual interests are manifold and we are conscious of the
need to cooperate to fulfil our common needs.'

Last year, Southern Rhodesian troops were training in South Africa and so
were Rhodesian Air Force units. A military mission from South Africa and another
from the Central African Federation visited Lourenzo Marques in Mozambique, at
the invitation of the Mozambique Army Command, and took part in training
exercises in which several units totalling 2,600 men participated. These
operations included dropping exercises for paratroopers.

A report in a South African aviation magazine, wings (December 1961), states:
'The Portuguese are hastily building nine new aerodromes in Portuguese East
Africa (Mozambique) following their troubles in Angola. The new 'dromes are all
capable of taking jet fighters and are situated along or near the borders of
Tanganyika and Nyasaland'; and gives full details.

Can anyone, therefore, doubt the role that the freedom movements should play
in view of this hideous conspiracy?

As we have stated earlier, the freedom movement in South Africa believes that
hard and swift blows should be delivered with the full weight of the masses of
the people, who alone furnish us with one absolute guarantee that the freedom
flames now burning in the country shall never be extinguished.

During the last ten years the African people in South Africa have fought many
freedom battles, involving civil disobedience, strikes, protest marches,
boycotts and demonstrations of all kinds. In all these campaigns we repeatedly
stressed the importance of discipline, peaceful and non-violent struggle. We did
so, firstly because we felt that there were still opportunities for peaceful
struggle and we sincerely worked for peaceful changes. Secondly, we did not want
to expose our people to situations where they might become easy targets for the
trigger-happy police of South Africa. But the situation has now radically
altered.

South Africa is now a land ruled by the gun. The government is increasing the
size of its army, of the navy, of its air force, and the police. Pill-boxes and
road blocks are being built up all over the country. Armament factories are
being set up in Johannesburg and other cities. Officers of the South African
army have visited Algeria and Angola where they were briefed exclusively on
methods of suppressing popular struggles. All opportunities for peaceful
agitation and struggle have been closed. Africans no longer have the freedom
even to stay peacefully in their houses in protest against the oppressive
policies of the government. During the strike in May last year the police went
from house to house, beating up Africans and driving them to work.

Hence it is understandable why today many of our people are turning their
faces away from the path of peace and non-violence. They feel that peace in our
country must be considered already broken when a minority government maintains
its authority over the majority by force and violence.

A crisis is developing in earnest in South Africa. However, no high command
ever announces beforehand what its strategy and tactics will be to meet a
situation. Certainly, the days of civil disobedience, of strikes, and mass
demonstrations are not over and we will resort to them over and over again.

But a leadership commits a crime against its own people if it hesitates to
sharpen its political weapons which have become less effective.

Regarding the actual situation pertaining today in South Africa I should
mention that I have just come out of South Africa, having for the last ten
months lived in my own country as an outlaw, away from family and friends. When
I was compelled to lead this sort of life, I made a public statement in which I
announced that I would not leave the country but would continue working
underground. I meant it and I have honoured that undertaking. But when my
organisation received the invitation to this conference it was decided that I
should attempt to come out and attend the conference to furnish the various
African leaders, leading sons of our continent, with the most up-to-date
information about the situation.

During the past ten months I moved up and down my country and spoke to
peasants in the countryside, to workers in the cities, to students and
professional people. It dawned on me quite clearly that the situation had become
explosive. It was not surprising therefore when one morning in October last year
we woke up to read press reports of widespread sabotage involving the cutting of
telephone wires and the blowing up of power pylons. The government remained
unshaken and White South Africa tried to dismiss it as the work of criminals.
Then on the night of 16 December last year the whole of South Africa vibrated
under the heavy blows of Umkhonto we Sizwe (The Spear of the Nation). Government
buildings were blasted with explosives in Johannesburg, the industrial heart of
South Africa, in Port Elizabeth, and in Durban. It was now clear that this was a
political demonstration of a formidable kind, and the press announced the
beginning of planned acts of sabotage in the country. It was still a small
beginning because a government as strong and as aggressive as that of South
Africa can never be induced to part with political power by bomb explosions in
one night and in three cities only. But in a country where freedom fighters
frequently pay with their very lives and at a time when the most elaborate
military preparations are being made to crush the people's struggles, planned
acts of sabotage against government installations introduce a new phase in the
political situation and are a demonstration of the people's unshakeable
determination to win freedom whatever the cost may be. The government is
preparing to strike viciously at political leaders and freedom fighters. But the
people will not take these blows sitting down.

In such a grave situation it is fit and proper that this conference of
PAFMECA should sound a clarion call to the struggling peoples in South Africa
and other dependent areas, to close ranks, to stand firm as a rock and not allow
themselves to be divided by petty political rivalries whilst their countries
burn. At this critical moment in the history of struggle, unity amongst our
people in South Africa and in the other territories has become as vital as the
air we breathe and it should be preserved at all costs.

Finally, dear friends, I should assure you that the African people of South
Africa, notwithstanding fierce persecution and untold suffering, in their ever
increasing courage will not for one single moment be diverted from the historic
mission of liberating their country and winning freedom, lasting peace, and
happiness.

We are confident that in the decisive struggles ahead, our liberation
movement will receive the fullest support of PAFMECA and of all freedom-loving
people throughout the world.

From Addis Ababa and a tour of Africa and Britain, Mandela
returned to South Africa, to continue working underground. As police failed to
capture him, 'he became known as the "Black Pimpernel ", and fact and fantasy
were joined in the stories about his daring that circulated in the African
townships'. (Nelson Mandela, No Easy Walk to Freedom, introd. Ruth First,
Heinemann, London, 1964, p. 125).

On 5 August 1962 he was arrested in Natal, and brought to trial
in October.

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