'Momentous Moment' in the History of the Struggle: 3 September 1984 Vaal Uprisings
Viewpoint by Thabiso Ratsomo
CELEBRATING THE LEGACY
On Tuesday, 3 September 2014 ANC Sedibeng Region started the 30th Anniversary Celebrations of the historic 3 September 1984 uprising in the Vaal. As from this day SA was never to be the same.
On this day a march was held to protest against house rental increments in the area. A symbolic march enacting the 1984 march was held followed by a rally at which the mayor of the Sedibeng District Municipality addressed the residents. This was followed by a political programme addressed by the chairperson of the ANC in the province.
A number of other activities will be held in the Region as part of the commemorations and celebrations. These include soccer tournaments, music competitions, cultural events, story-telling and an International Gala Dinner on 30th September 2014. The 30th Anniversary Celebrations of the Vaal Uprising on 3 September 2014 presents the Region with an opportunity to reclaim and rebuild the legacy of the region.
The Region hopes to use the celebrations to profile and reposition the Vaal in the discourse of national politics. The theme for the celebrations will be 'Reclaiming and Rebuilding the Legacy of the Vaal'.
WHAT, WHEN AND HOW IT HAPPENED?
In its 1983 January 8 Statement, the ANC called for a united front comprising of various sectors of society to be formed. Already, inside the country there were community-based organisations that dealt with a number of issues affecting residents, workers, women and students, which were engaged in various activities aimed at opposing and undermining the apartheid rule. On 20 August 1983 more than 570 of these organisations descend on Mitchells Plain in Cape Town to form the United Democratic Front (UDF) as an umbrella body to oppose the introduction of the Tricameral Parliament and the Black Local Authorities (BLA) Act.
The Tricameral Parliament was meant to extend membership of Parliament to Indians and Coloureds as junior partners by creating two new and separate Houses of Parliament - effectively creating a White Parliament, the National Assembly; a Coloured Parliament, the House of Representatives; and an Indian Parliament, the House of Delegates. The BLA purported to introduce autonomous black local authorities after the failure of the previous Community Councils. The two institutions were basically attempts at dividing the unity of the Black population (African, Coloureds and Indians) in their struggle against Apartheid. Both were just bogus schemes intended to undermine the struggle.
In his book, No Easy Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela asserts that apartheid shall be crushed between the hammer of the armed struggle and the anvil of mass struggle. In this context, the MK was the hammer, the UDF was the anvil through its affiliates' mass-based campaigns around bread and butter issues mainly under the slogan 'Asinamali'.
The Vaal Civic Association (VCA) was formed in October 1983 and affiliated to the UDF. It addressed itself to the local issues and challenges in the Vaal: high house rentals, lack of basic amenities such as parks and swimming pools, absence of tarred roads in the townships and oppression by the puppets of the Regime.
THE TIME, THE MOMENT!
In July 1984 the newly elected BLA announced rent increases in the Vaal. The VCA was presented with a challenge and an opportunity to test its strength and support among the residents. Whatever the prospects were, the moment of truth had beckoned for the VCA. The challenge was the opportunity to seize the moment. On 3 September a protest march was held to present a petition to the Lekoa Town Council, the then Black Local Authority. The marches were organised to move from Evaton through Sebokeng; and from Boipatong and from Sharpeville - all meant to converge at the offices of the Lekoa Town Council at Houtkop. All three marches were violently dispersed by police before they could arrive at their intended destinations.
By the end of that day, 3 September 1984, at least four Black Local Authority councillors and a bodyguard had been killed; hundreds had been shot and injured by the South African Police (SAP); many people had shot and killed; councillors' houses had been damaged or burnt down; shops had been looted; people had been arrested or were reported as missing; and there was chaos and ungovernability in the Vaal townships. All these were beamed on the State television, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
It did not take long that on the same day many townships across the country erupted and the same happened that happened in the Vaal happened: burning of councillors' houses; looting of shops; shooting of protesters by the police; arrest of hundreds of people.
ANALYSING THE POLITICAL AFTERMATH
We say 3 September 1984 provided an impetus to the struggle because South Africa, never, permanently, became the same after the 3 September events. A highlight of some of those activities that provided the impetus are:
From this period, 1984, inside the country the struggle for freedom intensified on a daily basis. On the other hand, the ANC upped the tempo of political struggle inside the country and externally.
By the beginning of 1985 the country had reached a stalemate, a state of dual power where the two main contenders, the ANC and MK on the one hand, and the apartheid regime and its SA Defence Force (SADF) and the South African Police (SAP), could neither win the war: The way out for both was to enter negotiations!
In 1985, PW Botha, then State President announced that the regime was ready to release Nelson Mandela provided he, among others, renounced violence. Mandela rejected this opportunistic move.
In the meantime, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC considered and assessed its position on negotiations in the light of the political and military situation in SA. The NEC arrived at the assessment that conditions for negotiations were ripe. It concluded that a conjecture of circumstances existed which could create the conditions for the possibility to end Apartheid through negotiations - provided there was a demonstrable readiness on the part of the Regime to engage in negotiations genuinely and seriously. Such an eventuality of negotiations would be an expression of the long-standing preference of the people of SA to arrive at a political settlement. It then declared:
'Yes to real negotiations. No to bogus negotiations'.
In 1988, the ANC established 'Operation Vula' a highly secretive political-military project aimed at infiltrating senior leaders of the ANC into the country to take charge and direct the struggle from inside the country. A number of comrades were infiltrated into the country, including Mac Maharaj, the current spokesperson of President Jacob Zuma.
From May 1989, the ANC drafted the Harare Declaration. The Declaration articulated proposals for a political settlement. This was then presented to the Frontline States and to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) for adoption. In a short space of time from May, this adoption propelled the ANC to an unassailable moral high ground and strategic position in its negotiations with the regime. In this manner, the ANC was able to act swiftly and to strategically address, at the right and critical moment in time, an issue that advanced the struggle beyond imaginations.
Finally, in February 1990, the regime unbanned the ANC and other organisations and these were free to operate in SA. A process of the release of political prisoners and the return of exiles started. The process of the defeat of the apartheid system and the ushering in of a new political dispensation had dawned.
Nelson Mandela was released from prison in February 1991. For the first time in 27 long years, the people of South Africa were able to hear Mandela speak in person on home soil - not offshore on Robben Island. The dream slogan of 'freedom in our lifetime' was slowly becoming a reality.
In less than six years since the 3 September 1984 Vaal Uprising, the stage for negotiations had been set. The ANC and the regime held bilateral talks' meetings between 2 May 1990 and February 1991. They intensely discussed ways and means on how to create conditions conducive for an end to the conflict, firstly between the two parties, and, secondly, in the country as a whole.
In just under 10 years after the Vaal Uprising of September 1984, in April 1994, the country held general elections which ushered in a new dispensation of a free, non-sexist, non-racial and democratic SA. The ANC won the elections by a comfortable majority and with other minority parties formed the Government of National Unity.
Indeed, 3 September 1984 was a turning point in the history of the struggle in SA. It is befitting, therefore, for the ANC Sedibeng Region to spearhead the commemoration and celebration of this day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thabiso Ratsomo is a member of the ANC Sedibeng Region 30th Vaal Uprising Anniversary Task Team. He is a Chief Director in the Department of Defence.
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| South African people rose up in Sept. 1984. |
CELEBRATING THE LEGACY
On Tuesday, 3 September 2014 ANC Sedibeng Region started the 30th Anniversary Celebrations of the historic 3 September 1984 uprising in the Vaal. As from this day SA was never to be the same.
On this day a march was held to protest against house rental increments in the area. A symbolic march enacting the 1984 march was held followed by a rally at which the mayor of the Sedibeng District Municipality addressed the residents. This was followed by a political programme addressed by the chairperson of the ANC in the province.
A number of other activities will be held in the Region as part of the commemorations and celebrations. These include soccer tournaments, music competitions, cultural events, story-telling and an International Gala Dinner on 30th September 2014. The 30th Anniversary Celebrations of the Vaal Uprising on 3 September 2014 presents the Region with an opportunity to reclaim and rebuild the legacy of the region.
The Region hopes to use the celebrations to profile and reposition the Vaal in the discourse of national politics. The theme for the celebrations will be 'Reclaiming and Rebuilding the Legacy of the Vaal'.
WHAT, WHEN AND HOW IT HAPPENED?
In its 1983 January 8 Statement, the ANC called for a united front comprising of various sectors of society to be formed. Already, inside the country there were community-based organisations that dealt with a number of issues affecting residents, workers, women and students, which were engaged in various activities aimed at opposing and undermining the apartheid rule. On 20 August 1983 more than 570 of these organisations descend on Mitchells Plain in Cape Town to form the United Democratic Front (UDF) as an umbrella body to oppose the introduction of the Tricameral Parliament and the Black Local Authorities (BLA) Act.
The Tricameral Parliament was meant to extend membership of Parliament to Indians and Coloureds as junior partners by creating two new and separate Houses of Parliament - effectively creating a White Parliament, the National Assembly; a Coloured Parliament, the House of Representatives; and an Indian Parliament, the House of Delegates. The BLA purported to introduce autonomous black local authorities after the failure of the previous Community Councils. The two institutions were basically attempts at dividing the unity of the Black population (African, Coloureds and Indians) in their struggle against Apartheid. Both were just bogus schemes intended to undermine the struggle.
In his book, No Easy Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela asserts that apartheid shall be crushed between the hammer of the armed struggle and the anvil of mass struggle. In this context, the MK was the hammer, the UDF was the anvil through its affiliates' mass-based campaigns around bread and butter issues mainly under the slogan 'Asinamali'.
The Vaal Civic Association (VCA) was formed in October 1983 and affiliated to the UDF. It addressed itself to the local issues and challenges in the Vaal: high house rentals, lack of basic amenities such as parks and swimming pools, absence of tarred roads in the townships and oppression by the puppets of the Regime.
THE TIME, THE MOMENT!
In July 1984 the newly elected BLA announced rent increases in the Vaal. The VCA was presented with a challenge and an opportunity to test its strength and support among the residents. Whatever the prospects were, the moment of truth had beckoned for the VCA. The challenge was the opportunity to seize the moment. On 3 September a protest march was held to present a petition to the Lekoa Town Council, the then Black Local Authority. The marches were organised to move from Evaton through Sebokeng; and from Boipatong and from Sharpeville - all meant to converge at the offices of the Lekoa Town Council at Houtkop. All three marches were violently dispersed by police before they could arrive at their intended destinations.
By the end of that day, 3 September 1984, at least four Black Local Authority councillors and a bodyguard had been killed; hundreds had been shot and injured by the South African Police (SAP); many people had shot and killed; councillors' houses had been damaged or burnt down; shops had been looted; people had been arrested or were reported as missing; and there was chaos and ungovernability in the Vaal townships. All these were beamed on the State television, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
It did not take long that on the same day many townships across the country erupted and the same happened that happened in the Vaal happened: burning of councillors' houses; looting of shops; shooting of protesters by the police; arrest of hundreds of people.
ANALYSING THE POLITICAL AFTERMATH
We say 3 September 1984 provided an impetus to the struggle because South Africa, never, permanently, became the same after the 3 September events. A highlight of some of those activities that provided the impetus are:
From this period, 1984, inside the country the struggle for freedom intensified on a daily basis. On the other hand, the ANC upped the tempo of political struggle inside the country and externally.
By the beginning of 1985 the country had reached a stalemate, a state of dual power where the two main contenders, the ANC and MK on the one hand, and the apartheid regime and its SA Defence Force (SADF) and the South African Police (SAP), could neither win the war: The way out for both was to enter negotiations!
In 1985, PW Botha, then State President announced that the regime was ready to release Nelson Mandela provided he, among others, renounced violence. Mandela rejected this opportunistic move.
In the meantime, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC considered and assessed its position on negotiations in the light of the political and military situation in SA. The NEC arrived at the assessment that conditions for negotiations were ripe. It concluded that a conjecture of circumstances existed which could create the conditions for the possibility to end Apartheid through negotiations - provided there was a demonstrable readiness on the part of the Regime to engage in negotiations genuinely and seriously. Such an eventuality of negotiations would be an expression of the long-standing preference of the people of SA to arrive at a political settlement. It then declared:
'Yes to real negotiations. No to bogus negotiations'.
In 1988, the ANC established 'Operation Vula' a highly secretive political-military project aimed at infiltrating senior leaders of the ANC into the country to take charge and direct the struggle from inside the country. A number of comrades were infiltrated into the country, including Mac Maharaj, the current spokesperson of President Jacob Zuma.
From May 1989, the ANC drafted the Harare Declaration. The Declaration articulated proposals for a political settlement. This was then presented to the Frontline States and to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) for adoption. In a short space of time from May, this adoption propelled the ANC to an unassailable moral high ground and strategic position in its negotiations with the regime. In this manner, the ANC was able to act swiftly and to strategically address, at the right and critical moment in time, an issue that advanced the struggle beyond imaginations.
Finally, in February 1990, the regime unbanned the ANC and other organisations and these were free to operate in SA. A process of the release of political prisoners and the return of exiles started. The process of the defeat of the apartheid system and the ushering in of a new political dispensation had dawned.
Nelson Mandela was released from prison in February 1991. For the first time in 27 long years, the people of South Africa were able to hear Mandela speak in person on home soil - not offshore on Robben Island. The dream slogan of 'freedom in our lifetime' was slowly becoming a reality.
In less than six years since the 3 September 1984 Vaal Uprising, the stage for negotiations had been set. The ANC and the regime held bilateral talks' meetings between 2 May 1990 and February 1991. They intensely discussed ways and means on how to create conditions conducive for an end to the conflict, firstly between the two parties, and, secondly, in the country as a whole.
In just under 10 years after the Vaal Uprising of September 1984, in April 1994, the country held general elections which ushered in a new dispensation of a free, non-sexist, non-racial and democratic SA. The ANC won the elections by a comfortable majority and with other minority parties formed the Government of National Unity.
Indeed, 3 September 1984 was a turning point in the history of the struggle in SA. It is befitting, therefore, for the ANC Sedibeng Region to spearhead the commemoration and celebration of this day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thabiso Ratsomo is a member of the ANC Sedibeng Region 30th Vaal Uprising Anniversary Task Team. He is a Chief Director in the Department of Defence.
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