ARMED STRUGGLE
On 16 December 1961 acts of sabotage marked
the emergence of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of
the Nation) which was later to become the
armed wing of the ANC.
Mandela was a founder member and
Commander-in-Chief of Umkhonto. The explosions
were accompanied by the distribution of the
Umkhonto we Sizwe manifesto. (ANC observes
16 December as Heroes' Day, commemorating those
who have lost their lives in the struggle
against apartheid)
UMKHONTO WE
SIZWE MANIFESTO, 1961
Leaflet issued by Umkhonto we
Sizwe (Spear of the Nation)
on 16 December 1961.
Units of Umkhonto we Sizwe today
carried out planned attacks against government
installations, particularly those connected
with the policy of apartheid and race
discrimination.
Umkhonto we Sizwe is a new, independent
body, formed by Africans. It includes in its
ranks South Africans of all races. It is not
connected in any way with a so-called
'Committee for National Liberation' whose
existence has been announced in the press.
Umkhonto we Sizwe will carry on the struggle
for freedom and democracy by new methods, which
are necessary to complement the actions of the
established national liberation organisations.
Umkhonto we Sizwe fully supports the national
liberation movement, and our members' jointly
and individually, place themselves under the
overall political guidance of that
movement.
It is, however, well known that the main
national liberation organisations in this
country have consistently followed a policy of
non-violence. They have conducted themselves
peaceably at all times, regardless of
government attacks and persecutions upon them,
and despite all government-inspired attempts to
provoke them to violence. They have done so
because the people prefer peaceful methods of
change to achieve their aspirations without the
suffering and bitterness of civil war.
But the people's patience is not
endless.
The time comes in the life of any nation
when there remain only two choices: submit or
fight. That time has now come to South
Africa. We shall not submit and we have no
choice but to hit back by all means within
our power in defence of our people, our
future and our freedom.
The government has interpreted the peacefulness of the movement as
weakness. The people's non-violent policies
have been taken as a green light for government
violence. Refusal to resort to force has
been interpreted by the government
as an invitation to use armed force against the
people without any fear of reprisals. The
methods of Umkhonto we Sizwe mark a break with
that past.
We are striking out along a new road for
the liberation of the people of this country.
The government policy of force, repression
and violence will no longer be met with
non-violent resistance only! The choice is
not ours; it has been made by the Nationalist
government, which has rejected every
peaceable demand by the people for rights and
freedom and answered every such demand with
force and yet more force!
Twice in the past eighteen months, virtual
martial law has been imposed in order to beat
down peaceful, non-violent strike action of the
people in support of their rights. It is now
preparing its force - enlarging and rearming
its armed forces and drawing the white civilian
population into commandos and pistol clubs -
for full-scale military actions against the
people.
The Nationalist government has chosen
the course of force and massacre, now,
deliberately, as it did at Sharpeville.
Umkhonto we Sizwe will be at the front line
of the people's defence. It
will be the fighting arm of the people against
the government and its policies of race
oppression. It will be the striking force
of the people for liberty' for rights and for
their final liberation! Let the government, its
supporters who put it into power, and those
whose passive toleration of reaction keeps it
in power, take note of where the Nationalist
government is leading the country!
We of Umkhonto we Sizwe have always sought -
as the liberation movement has sought - to
achieve liberation without bloodshed and civil
clash. We do so still. We hope -
even at this late hour - that our first actions
will awaken everyone to a realisation of the
disastrous situation to which the Nationalist
policy is leading. We hope that we will bring
the government and its supporters to their
senses before it is too late, so that both the
government and its policies can be changed
before matters reach the desperate stage of
civil war. We believe our actions to be a blow
against the Nationalist preparations for civil
war and military rule.
In these actions, we are working in the best
interests of all the people of this country -
black, brown and white whose future happiness
and well-being cannot be attained without the
overthrow of the Nationalist government, the
abolition of white supremacy and the winning of liberty, democracy
and full national rights and equality for
all the people of this country.
We appeal for the support and encouragement
of all those South Africans who seek the
happiness and freedom of the people of this
country.
On 31 January, the State President of South
Africa, P.W.Botha, speaking in Parliament,
offered mandela his freedom on condition that he
acknowledged that he 'unconditionally rejected
violence as a political weapon.'... Madela's
response... was read out by his daughter Zinzi to
a mass meeting in Jabulani Stadium, Soweto on 10
February 1985:
"I am a member of the African National
Congress. I have always been a member of the
African National Congress and I will remain a
member of the African National Congress until
the day I die....
I am surprised at the conditions that
the government wants to impose on me. I am not a violent man.
My colleagues and I wrote in 1952 to Malan
asking for a round table conference to find a
solution to the problems of our country, but
that was ignored. When Strijdom was in power,
we made the same offer. Again it was ignored.
When Verwoerd was in power we asked for a
national convention for all the people in South
Africa to decide on their future. This, too,
was in vain.
It was only then, when all other forms
of resistance were no longer open to us, that
we turned to armed struggle. Let Botha show
that he is different to Malan, Strijdom and Verwoerd. Let him
renounce violence. Let
him say that he will dismantle apartheid.
Let him unban the people's
organisation, the African National
Congress. Let him free all who have been
imprisoned, banished or exiled for their
opposition to apartheid. Let him guarantee free political
activity so that people may decide who will
govern them.
I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I
care even more for your freedom. Too many have died since I went to
prison. Too many have suffered for the love
of freedom. I owe it to their widows, to their
orphans, to their mothers and to their fathers
who have grieved and wept for them. Not only I have suffered during
these long, lonely, wasted years. I am not
less life-loving than you are. But I cannot
sell my birthright, nor am I prepared to sell
the birthright of the people to be free. I am
in prison as the representative of the people
and of your organisation, the African National
Congress, which was banned.
What freedom am I being offered while
the organisation of the people remains banned?
... Only free men can
negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into
contracts. ...I cannot and will not give any
undertaking at a time when I and you, the
people, are not free. Your freedom and mine
cannot be separated. I will return."
