Oliver Tambo, the President of the African National Congress, was a guest speaker together with ja Toivo at the third annual conference of the IDAF, held in London on 18-20 May 1984.
Both stressed the dangerous and threatening situation in Southern Africa, in which the so-called 'reforms' and 'peace agreements' masked the reality of repression and racism and the military aggression of the apartheid regime.
Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, addressing the annual conference for the first time as Chairman of IDAF's Council of Trustees, affirmed IDAF's determination to expand its work in the face of the increasing repression. He said: 'our task is the defence and aid of those who are the victims of apartheid and the constant and unrelenting labour of keeping the conscience of the world alive to the evils of apartheid. This task is made not less but more urgent today'.
The conference received the report of the Research, Information and Publications Department of IDAF concerning increasing repression. This illustrated how the apartheid regime has consolidated its power in Namibia to deny the Namibian people their right of self-determination through free elections supervised by the United Nations.
In South Africa, it has increasingly resorted to politically motivated treason charges which carry the death penalty. The number of those detained has doubled. Convictions under the hated pass laws have also doubled. Whole communities continue to suffer mass removal and dumping in the bantustans. The budgets for military and police expenditure have massively increased.
Against this background, delegates from National Committees in Canada, USA, India, New Zealand, Ireland, Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden presented reports of their activities in support of the Fund's objectives.
The members of the IDAF Council of Trustees are Archbishop T. Huddleston, C.R. (Chairman, Great Britain), Mr. E. Michanek (Vice-Chairman, Sweden), Mrs. D. Collins (Great Britain), Mr. T. Stoltenberg (Norway), Prof. T. van Boven (The Netherlands).
