1960s: Overview
Following the massacres at Sharpeville and Langa on 21 March 1960, a new dawn arose in South African history. These horrendous incidents proved to be a major turning point in the history of the liberation movement. It could also be argued that the 1952 Defiance Campaign, the Freedom Charter of the Congress Alliance and the 1959 anti-pass campaign were also decisive moments in the previous decade, which shaped the thinking of comrades, and prepared them for the events that unfolded in the 1960s. This period also marked the climax of mounting, albeit largely non-violent anti-apartheid resistance by the majority of the country's inhabitants. On that crucial day in March, no fewer than 69 defenceless anti-pass demonstrators were killed at Sharpeville, most of them shot in the back, and 186 were injured. In Langa, two protestors died and 49 were wounded. Reports of police opening fire on unarmed demonstrators were flashed around the world, and this signalled the opening of a far more brutal and intensive phase of state repression that would effectively crush internal resistance in the space of a few years.
The intensification of the tension between the apartheid regime and the liberation struggle organisations subsequently saw the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) becoming the first causalities of an era of banishment. Some organisations, such as the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC), were not banned, as they were deemed not as revolutionary compared to the ANC and PAC. However since most of the core leadership was banned this ultimately meant that they could not function effectively. Moreover, gatherings of more than 10 people were forbidden and offenders were dealt with accordingly. 
Compiled October 2005
