A widespread and broadly supported campaign has emerged around the call to boycott the celebrations in May of the 20th Anniversary of the Republic. In spite of Government action against some of those involved in the campaign, support for it spread rapidly.
Many organisations are boycotting the celebrations, and in March there were calls for the formation of local anti-Republic committees all over the country, and plans for a national committee.
The celebrations begin on 1 May, two days after the election of a government by white voters. The apartheid regime will be marking the occasion with major festivities throughout the country. There are plans to switch on lights and keep them burning throughout May.
A spokesman for the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) said that COSAS, in consultation with other black organisations, will hold regular prayer meetings on all days that Republic Day celebrations will be going on, till the end of May.
"We cannot celebrate our own oppression," the COSAS spokesman said, "and it is important that our people understand that since South Africa became a republic in 1961, blacks have been subject to a myriad of repressive legislation".
In his New Year speech the President of the ANC called for a campaign against Republic Day.
The range of support for the boycott is very wide. Political organisations calling for a boycott include the Labour Party. It was one of the first to call for a boycott when it declared at its annual conference in December that "As black people we have nothing to celebrate". Since then the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO), the Natal Indian Congress, the Soweto Committee of Ten, the Lenasia-based People's Candidates' Party and other black organisations have joined.
The wide range of political opposition includes the Reform Party of the apartheid-sponsored South African Indian Council and the South African Black Alliance under Chief Buthelezi. Chief Buthelezi said that the Kwazulu cabinet passed a resolution to boycott the festivities.
Several educational organisations are calling for a boycott. They include the Joint Council of Teachers Associations and the Teachers Association of South Africa, which represent African, Coloured and Indian teachers. COSAS, the Azanian Students Organisation (AZASO), and the white National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) are amongst the organisations calling for a boycott.
Church opposition to the Republic Day is represented by the South African Council of Churches as well as the Anglican, Catholic and Methodist churches, all of which are boycotting the festivities.
Women's organisations calling for a boycott include the Women's Federation of South Africa, and the Black Sash.
In the field of sport, the South African National Football Association is boycotting the celebrations, with the support of leading black football teams in Johannesburg.
The call to set up local anti-Republic Day Committees was made by COSAS. At the same time the Women's Federation of South Africa announced plans for a national committee. A federation spokesman said the federation had approached black consciousness groups and other organisations which would be organising a meeting at which a strategy for the anti-Republic festival campaign would be formulated.
