African National Congress

The African National Congress (ANC) has been South Africa's governing party, supported by its alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), since the establishment of majority rule in May 1994. It defines itself as a "disciplined force of the left". Members founded the organization as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) on 8 January 1912 to increase the rights of the black South African population. John Dube was its first president. The organization became the ANC in 1923 and formed a military wing, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) in 1961.

The first years of the ANC were relatively mild ones. In 1919 hey campaigned against passes for blacks. In 1920 they supported militant mineworkers strike. By 1927 ANC President T. Grumende wanted to revitalize the ANC by cooperating with the communists who were more radical. But Grumende was voted out and the ANC became inactive.

By the 1940s there was more cooperation between Africans, Coloreds and Indians. The ANC became more militant calling for strikes, boycotts and defiance. In the 1950s they started a mass movement of resistance to apartheid called the Defiance Campaign. By now the ANC and the communist party were working together. Many acts of sabotage occurred. The ANC members began military training outside the country. In 1969 they laid down four aspects for their struggle: 1. Mass political struggle, 2. Armed struggle, 3. Building ANC underground structures with the country, and 4. Campaign for international support and assistance. A big part of this was the mass propaganda campaign against the White government.

By 1976, governmental reforms were introduced to apartheid for the first time but blacks continued their resistance. In 1985, due to persistent conflict, a state of emergency was called.

Many members within the ANC decided that protests and non-violent campaigns were not working. The military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) found it necessary to resort to violence. Nelson Mandela was one of those members who felt that guerrilla warfare was necessary.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla which means trouble maker, a fitting moniker. His father had four wives due to being from "royal" blood. Rolihlahla was born to his third wife and was the first of his family to attend school where the teacher gave him the English name of Nelson. Mandela would go on to become a lawyer which came in handy later. Mandela began actively participating in politics in 1948. He prominently led in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, whose adoption of the Freedom Charter provided the fundamental basis of the anti-apartheid cause. During this time, Mandela and fellow lawyer Oliver Tambo operated the law firm of Mandela and Tambo, providing free or low-cost legal counsel to many blacks who lacked attorney representation. Mandela was arrested in 1956 and charged with treason. He was acquitted.

In 1961, Mandela became leader of the ANC's armed wing, which he co-founded. He coordinated sabotage campaigns against military and government targets, making plans for a possible guerrilla war. Mandela also raised funds for MK abroad and arranged for paramilitary training of the group.

Fellow ANC member, Wolfie Kadesh, explains the bombing campaign led by Mandela: "When we knew that we going to start on 16 December 1961, to blast the symbolic places of apartheid, like pass offices, native magistrates courts, and things like that...post offices and...the government offices. But we were to do it in such a way that nobody would be hurt, nobody would get killed." Mandela said of Wolfie: "His knowledge of warfare and his first hand battle experience were extremely helpful to me."

Mandela described the move to armed struggle as a last resort; years of increasing repression and violence from the state convinced him that many years of non-violent protest against apartheid had not and could not achieve any progress.

Later, mostly in the 1980s, MK waged a guerrilla war against the apartheid regime in which many civilians became casualties. Mandela later admitted that the ANC, in its struggle against apartheid, also violated human rights, sharply criticizing those in his own party who attempted to remove statements supporting this fact from the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Up until July, 2008, Mandela and the ANC party members were barred from entering the United States -- except for the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, without a special waiver from the U.S. Secretary of State, because of their South African apartheid regime era designation as terrorists.

Arrest and Rivonia Trial

On 5 August 1962 Mandela was arrested after living on the run for seventeen months, and was imprisoned in the Johannesburg Fort. The arrest was made possible because the U.S. (CIA) tipped off the security police as to Mandela's whereabouts and disguise. Three days later, the charges of leading workers to strike in 1961 and leaving the country illegally were read to him during a court appearance. On 25 October 1962, Mandela was sentenced to five years in prison. Two years later on 11 June 1964, Mandela and others were sentenced to life imprisonment. Charges included involvement in planning armed action, in particular four charges of sabotage, which Mandela admitted to, and a conspiracy to help other countries invade South Africa, which Mandela denied. His defense was that he had "no other choice" but to resist through acts of sabotage because doing otherwise would have been tantamount to unconditional surrender. Mandela remained in prison until February 1990.

Then he became President

From terrorist and murderer to President

All because we wanted to call the existing government

Racist

First we call him a terrorist. Then we force the White government to let him out of prison. Then we elevate him to status of martyr and he gets the Nobel Prize for Peace.

What a sad, sick joke

And the White South Africans are paying the price

Here's the leader of South Africa, Nelson Mandela

singing about killing White people

Terrorist Mandela

Looks respectable in a suit and tie

But would you want to wear a necklace that his ANC placed on thousands of innocent people?

The ANC wanted a way to kill people that would also terrorize their opponents into submission

Don't tell us Mandela didn't know or participate!

He was the leader of the armed wing of the ANC!

The crimes committed by the ANC in the name of liberation are legion. First, there was the practice of "necklacing," in which a gasoline-filled tire is placed around the neck of a living victim and set ablaze -- an action carried out by Winnie Mandela and her minions.

Camp Quadro

ANC

Terror

Camp

The first-hand testimony by former combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) about the ANC prison regime, together with press reports that began to appear in Britain, are an event in South African history. Never before has such concentrated factual evidence been presented about the inner nature of the ANC and its eminence grise, the South African Communist Party.

Read their testimony here:

http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/supplem/Hirson/Quadro.html

For more information see:

http://southafrica-pig.blogspot.com/2008/07/anc-torture-camps-and-necklacing.html

The ANC was often criticized by western governments who shared the South African government's characterization of the group as a terrorist organization. Several high-profile anti-Apartheid activists such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu criticized the ANC for its willingness to resort to violence, arguing that tactics of non-violent resistance, such as civil disobedience were more productive. The ANC's willingness to ally with Communists was also the subject of both foreign and domestic criticism. A Pentagon report of the late 1980s described the ANC as "a major terrorist organization".

The ANC has been heavily criticized for awarding large state contracts, involving tents of billions of Rands, to its party funding vehicle, Chancellor House. At times, the decision to award the contract was made by the same state employees who sit on the ANC fundraising committee. Chancellor House is named after Mandela's former work premises.

The ANC was also criticized for the setting up of a formal scheme whereby businessmen and members of the public could buy 'face time' with various government ministers, with the costs ranging R3 000 to R7 000 for an individual and R12 500 to R60 000 for businesses. The scheme is run from the ANC headquarters, Shell House, with all money going to the party.

Another accusation frequently leveled against the ANC is that they protect their high-ranking members in the face of controversy, and as such are seen as supporting criminal behavior, including sexual misconduct charges, financial misconduct allegations, even murder.

After allegations of corruption, the ANC decided to merge the Scorpions with the Police by June 2008, reducing their power. The disbandment was recommended by South Africa's minister of safety and security, Charles Nqakula. This has been opposed by businesses in South Africa.

The ANC has also been accused of using government and civil society to fight its political battles against opposition parties such as the Democratic Alliance. The result has been a number of complaints and allegations that none of the political parties truly represent the interests of the poor.

No matter how you look at it

The ANC is communist, violent and evil

And we helped put them in power

We should be ashamed of ourselves