•MK

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) 

The decision to create MK. The ANC’s decision to adopt armed struggle by creating MK was complex and not something everyone in the party agreed upon. No everyone thought that it was a good idea to abandon the non-violent methods they had used for over a decade. They worried that armed confrontation would give the government a chance to depict the ANC as a terrorist organisation and therefore be able to completely destroy them. By adopting the armed struggle the ANC risked a lot. They would have to surrender the high moral ground they had been standing on and risking squandering some of their international goodwill.

By the start of 1960 the ANC was threatened by the formation of the PAC and their own armed wing Poqo. They had to have an effective response to the Sharpeville massacre in order to reassure that they were still legit and there was also some insecurities about the fact that the PAC had managed to hijack the ANC’s anti-pass laws campaign. An increasing amount of violence in the 50’s made the ANC’s non-violent principle seem meek and insufficient. The fear of the organisation being banned if they grew violent diminished as they were banned anyways in 1960 and it was obvious for many that armed struggle was the next step to take.

The strongest argument for adopting armed struggle was however that the government had grown more and more violent the last decade and met non-violent protests with the force of the state. The Verwoerd government had also started to depend its racist laws with grand apartheid being introduced at full force.

What happened in 1960 was crucial in the formation of the MK. Following the Sharpeville massacre and the Unlawful Organisations Act leaders of the ANC and SACP were arrested. During their time in prison Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo and Lionel Bernstein discussed a potential move to adopt armed struggle. At a secret SACP meeting in the end of 1960 it was decided that the party was to form an armed wing, hopefully with the ANC but if necessary without them.

March 1961 the Treason Trials were finally over and the defendants were acquitted. Nelson Mandela decided to hide from the government going underground. This period he is known as the ”Black Pimpernel”.

''The MK operations. ''The MK was created on December 16th 1961 on the anniversary of a Boer victory over the Zulu in 1838. Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) means ”Spear of the nation” in Zulu and Xhosa and on the day of its creation the MK started their protests by arranging explosions in government buildings and electrical installations across the country. Many of the MK members were white communists used for their knowledge about technology and explosives.

The first phase of the armed struggle was aimed to symbolically strike the apartheid state while also targeting them financially. They sabotaged high value installations like power stations, tax offices and police stations. The second phase of the armed struggle envisaged a series of guerrilla campaigns in rural areas. Towards the end of 1963 the acts of sabotage became less and less frequent because of the forceful response by the Verwoerd government. The sabotage act of 1962 made it illegal to even plan any kind of sabotage with penalties ranging from 5 years to execution. Mandela was imprisoned for this in 1962 and then again brought to trial with the MK in the 1963-1964 Rivonia Trial. By the end of 1964 all armed activity in South Africa had ceased.