School boycott in Port Elizabeth ends

Leaders of Port Elizabeth's Black secondary school children decided to end a four month boycott of classes. This followed after negotiations took place between the local parents' committee and the Port Elizabeth Students Council (PESCO), a new student's body formed during the boycott to spearhead actions until the demands of the students were met. Port Elizabeth in 1980 was rife with unrest, as a strike at the Ford plant illustrated, when an estimated 80 percent of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO) aligned labour force downed tools in a three day wildcat stoppage. Sources: Books: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood. Reader's Digest. (1988). Illustrated History of South Africa: the real story, New York: Reader's Digest Association, p. 455.