Marks, David Bopape and Walter Sisulu defied apartheid laws in Johannesburg and other major city centres. The first group of volunteers including Nelson Mandela, Yusuf Dadoo, Moses Kotane, J.B. It shall be my duty to keep myself physically, mentally and morally fit." I shall obey the orders of my leader under whom I shall be placed and strictly abide by the rules and regulations of the National Volunteer Corps framed from time to time. Volunteers signed the following pledge: I, the undersigned, Volunteer of the National Volunteer Corps, do hereby solemnly pledge and bind myself to serve my country and my people in accordance with the directives of the National Volunteer Corps and to participate fully and without reservations to the best of my ability in the Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws.
A "Day of the Volunteers" on Sunday 22 June, preceded the opening of the campaign. He said, "only the African people themselves will ever rid themselves of political subjugation, economic exploitation and social degradation".Īfter the successes of 6 April the date for the start of the Defiance Campaign was set for 26 June 1952. Z.K Matthews spoke about militant African nationalism and self-reliance. Moroka was the main speaker at the Johannesburg rally chaired by Dr. On that day mass rallies were held in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Durban, East London and Cape Town as well as some rural areas. The majority of Black adults and school children boycotted many of the festivities. On 6 April 1952 while white South Africans celebrated the tercentenary of Jan van Riebeeck's arrival at the Cape in 1652, the ANC and SAIC called on black South Africans to observe the day as a "A National Day of Pledge and Prayer". It was this that provided a context for the mounting tide of popular democratic resistance to the apartheid state in the 1950s. It was in fact a process which sought to deny political representation and participation of Black people at all levels of government and which affected all sectors and all classes within the Black communities. The apartheid policy of the nationalist government was not simply a small-scale social rearrangement and an extension of administrative controls. In 1951 the Separate Representation of Voters Bill to remove Coloureds from the common roll was enacted. Malan's National Party (NP) government followed up its unexpected election victory in 1948 with a massive social restructuring programme, which included the enactment of new apartheid laws, as well as the stricter application of existing discriminatory legislation such as the Pass laws and amendments to the Immorality Act. The period culminated in the Defiance Campaign, the largest scale non-violent resistance ever seen in South Africa and the first campaign pursued jointly by all racial groups under the leadership of the ANC and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC).Įvents leading up to the Defiance Campaignĭ.F. The period 1950 -1952 began with a commitment to militant African nationalism and mass action and to tactics of boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience. Walter Sisulu was elected secretary-general and a number of Youth Leaguers were elected to the national executive, including Oliver Tambo, Sisulu's successor.
In December 1949, with the support of the ANC Youth League, a new leadership came to power in the ANC. The post-1948 period saw the African National Congress (ANC) abandoning its traditional reliance on tactics of moderation such as petitions and deputations.
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