Albertina Sisulu: A tribute from Action for Southern Africa
By admin | June 3, 2011
Albertina Sisulu who has died aged 92 is one of the truly inspirational and heroic figures in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid, for democracy and rights. ACTSA joins with the people of South Africa in mourning her passing, remembering her qualities, achievements and celebrating her life. Read the rest of this entry »
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Statement of the African National Congress on its 99th Anniversary
By Mark | January 10, 2011
Statement of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress on the occasion of the 99th Anniversary of the ANC
08 January 2011, The Presidency, Republic of South Africa
Comrades and Compatriots,
Today the African National Congress is 99 years old and thus enters its 100th year of its existence.
When we celebrate our centenary in Mangaung next year, we will be celebrating the triumph of a people united in struggle, when the masses of our people united with progressive forces across the world, to fight against an oppressive regime.
As South Africans, Africans and humanity at large we celebrate this tremendous example of human solidarity. Read the rest of this entry »
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Jean Middleton: 1928 – 2010
By Sarah | January 10, 2011
The Guardian, 3 January 2011
As the police hammered on the door of Jean Middleton’s flat in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July 1964, she shredded a document and flushed it down the toilet. “I had been prepared to eat it,” she said later. “I knew that would be difficult, because I’d eaten a piece of paper once before to prevent its falling into the hands of the police. It had been quite a small piece of paper, but I’d found it hard to get down.” When the police finally broke in and heard the toilet flushing, they threw her across the room in anger before they arrested her. Read the rest of this entry »
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Angola’s Dos Santos meets Zuma in historic state visit
By Info | December 14, 2010
Mail & Guardian online, 14 Dec 2010
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Tuesday started an historic first state visit to South Africa, a trip aimed at ending decades-long enmities between two of the region’s major economies.
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How a genteel Scot fuelled revolution in South Africa
By Mark | November 29, 2010
The Herald, 28 Nov 2010, Edd McCracken
She was born into a white middle-class family in Kilmarnock, but when she died last year Nelson Mandela paid tribute to Eleanor Kasrils – the “genteel and elegant Scottish woman” who helped ferment revolution in Africa, establish underground ANC cells in Scotland, and challenged Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s. Read the rest of this entry »
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South Africa: Declaration of Civil Society Conference
By Mark | November 2, 2010
29th October, 2010, COSATU
Declaration of the Civil Society Conference held on 27-28 October 2010, Boksburg
The Civil Society Conference held on 27-28 October 2010 was a historic turning point in the history of South Africa. Over 300 delegates from 56 mass-based civil society organisations, with a combined membership of millions of South Africans, came together to rebuild a strong, mass democratic movement which will work with the people and the government to tackle the massive social problems with which we are confronted. Read the rest of this entry »
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Youth and Student Delegation 2010: Constitution Hill and COSATU
By admin | October 5, 2010
Wednesday, 8th September, Beshlie Paul
Visiting the national heritage site of Constitution Hill, it becomes plain to see how South Africans’ have transformed a brutal history into a beacon of hope for a the nation’s future. Our first stop was to visit the site of the old prison, Number Four, where great legends such as Mandela and Ghandi were imprisoned. Despite the relative dilapidation, to witness such conditions could not fail to make a mark on one’s soul. The remnants of the prison, particularly the cell with bars (where difficult prisoners were hosed with water and left, rain or shine, summer or winter) and the lashing chair (last used in 1983) illustrate levels of institutionalised cruelty that belong firmly in the past. White and black and coloured prisoners were kept separate and again, as at Robben Island, had differing conditions in which they existed. Even the workers in the prison experienced different conditions; black workers remember feeling more like prisoners than free men. Read the rest of this entry »
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ACTSA youth and student delegation 2010: The Apartheid Museum
By admin | September 21, 2010
Sunday 5th September, Michelle Donelan
On paper this day looks like one of the least interesting – a museum and a dinner – it could be done anytime and anywhere in the world. However it turned out to be one of the most inspirational and insightful days of the delegation which told the unique story of South Africa’s past and future. Read the rest of this entry »
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ACTSA youth and student delegation 2010: Parliament, University of Cape Town and an evening with Denis Goldberg
By admin | September 21, 2010
Monday, 30 August, Thomas Graham
Our third day on the ACTSA delegation ended with the moving sentiments of Denis Goldberg, a Rivonia trialist who was imprisoned for his work in the struggle against apartheid. He was a technical officer in Umkhonto we Sizwe (or MK), the armed wing of the ANC. Read the rest of this entry »
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ACTSA youth and student delegation 2010: Robben Island and Table Mountain
By admin | September 21, 2010
Sunday, 29 August, Kelley Temple
We began the day at Robben Island, which was described as the most inhospitable outpost of apartheid, and is now a World Heritage Site and museum. This was a place where political prisoners were subjected to hard labour breaking stones in the blinding sun, which permanently damaged their eyesight, where prior to 1977 prisoners were not allowed to wear underwear, socks or shoes. Political prisoners like Mandela were mixed in with hardened criminals in order to break them. However such was the strength of their wills, anti apartheid activists persuaded both guards and the other criminals to come round to the cause and then leading the prisoners to be kept separate. Read the rest of this entry »
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