The International Defence and Aid fund for Southern Africa … This is the story of a clandestine organisation operating from the heart of London which secretly underpinned the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Founded in the early 1950s by Canon John Collins of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the IDAF managed to outwit the South African secret services. Secret History s3e2: White Lies: The Story of IDAF, Channel 4 1994
On a July afternoon in 1964 John Harris walked into Johannesburg airport, placed a suitcase packed with dynamite and petrol on the concourse and then left. Until that moment he was viewed as a prominent and peaceful opponent of Apartheid ... It led to his own execution. Secret History s16e9: The Good Terrorist, Channel 4 2016
The state’s continuing brutality inspired a group of white South Africans to adopt violence. Their organisation became known as the Africa Resistance Movement, or ARM. ibid.
Sorry, we have more rights here because we are a majority. You have fewer rights because you are a minority. Absolutely, that’s how democracy works. So, it is a question of accepting the rules within democracy and you must operate in them. Jacob Zuma, President’s Question Time 13th September 2012
We’re not forcing people … You can support and be a supporter, but if you go beyond that and become a member, if you’re a businessman, your business will multiply … Everything you touch will multiply. I’ve always said that a wise businessperson will support the ANC … because supporting the ANC means you’re investing very well in your business. Jacob Zuma, Durban 12 January 2013
In 1964 a remarkable woman came to the world’s attention. Her husband had just been sent to jail for the rest of his life. Few could imagine that 45 years later she would still be in the news. The Real Winnie Mandela, BBC 2018
‘With our necklaces we shall liberate this country!’ ibid. Winnie
Throughout her life Winnie Mandela has divided opinion. Some see her as the mother of the nation. Others cannot forgive her for her crimes. ibid.
It was left to television to shine a light on the iniquity of apartheid. ibid.
Winnie became the focus of their harassment. ibid.
Mandela United Football Club: ‘But of course it degenerated very quickly into pure thuggery really.’ ibid. R W Johnson, author & journalist
Winnie seemed to revel in the darker side of the revolution. ibid.
In particular the disappearance of four boys said to have been kidnapped on Winnie’s orders was causing concern. ibid.
She was no longer the darling of the ANC. ibid.
But the marriage could not survive the kind of salacious details that emerged in court. ibid.
South Africa has always been a land of extremes … It’s all very much more developed than when I was here last … So is South Africa still a land of inequality and racial division? Trevor McDonald: Return to South Africa, ITV 2018
Apartheid was abolished in 1991 … The ANC are still in power. ibid.
Soweto now has an emerging black middle class. ibid.
‘We have a Freedom Charter but no freedom.’ ibid. township resident
Every day in the country 50 people are murdered. ibid.
10 May 1994: Nelson Mandela was sworn in as president of South Africa. Reporting History: Mandela and a New South Africa, BBC 2019
Apartheid has gone but South Africa is racked by corruption, still divided and unequal. ibid.
There were white liberals, there were white communists, there were white people that I met in remote farming districts who were genuinely terrified. ibid.
The South Africa government reverted to type, cracking down, ever escalating oppression. ibid.
I’ve come to one of the world’s most violent places to meet one of the world’s most violent gangs. Each moment brings me closer to an infamous brotherhood who rules through fear and terror … The Numbers Gangs. Ross Kemp on Gangs: Cape Town, Sky 1 2017
The Number has a pseudo-military hierarchy. ibid.
The smells, sights and sounds are overwhelming. ibid.
The Number comprise three gangs: the 26s, 27s and the 28s. ibid.
The [prison] authorities separate gang and non-gang prisoners. ibid.
There were now 130 street gangs on the Cape Flats. ibid.
‘When we went to school every one of us had a dream.’ ibid.
South Africa: Home to a population with an average age of just 27. You immediately feel the buzz … Now it’s in transition. Africa Rising with Afua Hirsch III
We want to see what lies just out of sight over the horizon. This is South Africa, but almost no white South Africans have ever been here. This is a Bantu reserve. By government decree more than 100,000 black South Africans are penned in here on the edge of the Kalahari desert. Many lack even the raw materials for survival. World in Action: The Dumping Grounds, ITV 1970
Steve Biko, the non-violent but militant black radical leader who died mysteriously in police custody. World in Action: The Life and Death of Steve Biko, ITV 1977
The 20th man to die in police custody since the June riots last year. ibid.
As a medical student he formed the first black South African students’ union … He started a trust fund for the families of political prisoners. ibid.
1899: British dominion in Southern Africa was for the first time seriously challenged. The Boer War I, History 1992
Behind these concessions lay a calculated disregard for what the British believed to be an arid, inhospitible and generally barren hinterland. ibid.
Railways were built and further settlements established. ibid.
By 1898 the gold fields of the Transvaal had overtaken America as the world’s single largest gold producer. ibid.
Alfred Milner: A subtle campaign of coercion designed to bully the Transvaal. ibid.
An ultimation was delivered to the British … found the British unprepared for a major conflict … The largest army Britain had ever sent overseas. ibid.
The war can be seen clearly as having two distinct phases: the first phase covered the period of conventional warfare. ibid.
In the first months of the war the Boers had proved themselves formidible enemies, and their generals more imaginable and more daring than their British counterparts. ibid.
Gold also enabled the Boers to arm themselves with the most modern European weapons. The Boer War II
The artillery was employed for the first time in support of the infantry. ibid.
The Boers had melted away into the north. ibid.
A typhoid epidemic swept through the camps. ibid.
Individual, apparently localised, actions were often accompanied by a campaign of sabotage over a large area. ibid.
Typhoid and scurvy bore tragic witness to overcrowding, a lack of sanitation, and malnutrician, but the most distressing and harrowing killers were as often the diseases of childhood … The death toll climbed steadily … One of the darker chapters of British history. ibid.
They [Boers] fought with a personal commitment … Throughout 1901 the raids continued. ibid.
Those rendered destitute had nowhere to go. ibid.
‘My dad wore a mask. He had to wear the mask and control his emotions.’ A Life in Ten Pictures s2e6: Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela was born 18th July 1918 in South Africa’s Transkei land, 900 miles south of Johannesburg. ibid.
But the Lord will protect you. We are all folded in his mighty wings. Play for Today: Desert of Lies, London Missionary Society, BBC 1984
South Africa: Children shouldn’t see what you’re seeing in this country: babies blind with disease, men yoked by the neck as slaves. ibid. missionary lady
I lost my faith, Esther, run into the sands of this filthy place. ibid. drunken uncle
Local #1: Who are these idiots?
Local #2: Some kind of foreign white.
Local #1: What are they doing?
Local #2: Trying to cross the desert.
Local #1: Why?
Local #2: Because they’re idiots. ibid.