Demands for an interim government and a constituent assembly, for the release of political prisoners and the return of exiles were at the centre of an ANC campaign of mass action launched in November. The campaign, building on community struggles over rents, living conditions and other local issues, also called for the replacement of segregated local councils with democratic and non-racial structures of local government.
Government attempts to link mass action to the suspension of armed actions and related activities were resisted by the ANC. Government ministers claimed in November that mass action is an activity related to armed struggle and that the ANC, having agreed in the Pretoria Minute to suspend armed actions, had therefore given a commitment to suspend mass mobilisation. They argued that the ANC's failure to distance itself from mass mobilisation, boycotts and 'intimidation' called into question its commitment to peace.
The ANC rejected the alleged link with armed action and affirmed the right of people to participate in mass protests and demonstrations. The organisation also identified repressive restrictions on free political activity as the source of political violence (see Political activity repressed).
Action directed at apartheid local authorities moved to a new level with the formation in September of the Civic Associations of the Southern Transvaal (CAST) as part of a move to establish a national civic organisation. In October it launched a campaign in protest at a tactic increasingly adopted by local authorities in an attempt to pressurise residents to pay their rent arrears, namely the cutting off of essential services to townships, such as water and electricity supplies.
CAST also demanded the dissolution of the township councils and called on councillors to resign. During November, 13 councils were made inoperative as a result of resignations, bringing the proportion of Black Local Authorities affected in this way to 40 per cent of the total of 626 councils.
In Atteridgeville, on 9 November, Prince MAKGOPA (9) and Lucky PHAHLANE (18) were killed in their homes and 60 other people were injured as a result of police attempting to suppress a residents' protest against the cutting off of electricity. Led by the Residents' Association, Atteridgeville residents have boycotted payment of rents and rates since April, demanding the dissolution of the unrepresentative and incompetent local council. A Commission of Inquiry had earlier concluded that the local council had not submitted its audited financial statements during the past four years and that it could not control its public funds. When the council cut off electricity in mid-October, the residents launched a 'switch-on campaign' with local electricians providing crash training courses to activists from different parts of the community. As soon as the power supply was cut off they restored it. In response a curfew was imposed under Unrest Areas regulations and police and troops were deployed in the area.
Residents of Hillbrow, Yeoville, Joubert Park and Mayfair marched to the Johannesburg Town Council during November and occupied its chamber while it was in session, demanding that councillors give up their positions and allow legitimate representatives to replace them. These areas, now predominantly black, were previously exclusively white areas and the councillors, in line with the Group Areas Act, were elected by whites only.
As part of the campaign of mass action residents of Jouberton township, in the Western Transvaal, embarked on a consumer boycott in November demanding the arrest and suspension from duty of police involved in acts of violence in the township. In Louis Trichardt, in the Northern Transvaal, residents of Tshikota township embarked on a consumer boycott of white-owned business in support of the ANC's campaign of mass action.
The campaign affected other parts of the country as well as the Transvaal. In Memel, in the Orange Free State, the white town council continued to impose segregation despite the repeal in October of the Separate Amenities Act. In November residents and the ANC Youth League launched a consumer boycott of white businesses in protest. They also charged that police were intimidating and harassing residents. The community also demanded the unconditional withdrawal of charges against some members of the Youth League who had been arrested.
On 25 October, 10,000 residents of Khayelitsha near Cape Town were shot at by police who were trying to block a protest march demanding the resignation of the local mayor. Further marches were planned under the slogan 'Peace not Promises. Real Change Now'. Residents also marched to Gugulethu Town Council in November to press demands for the resignation of councillors, the immediate return of exiles and the right to free association and collective bargaining at the workplace.
Several areas in the Eastern Cape saw local action. In October, the East London Residents' Boycott Co-ordinating Committee which had been leading a consumer boycott for over a month over the refusal of a magistrate to grant permission for protest marches, focused its demands on the call for the establishment of a constituent assembly and an interim government. In November the UDF, the Border Civics Congress and the Mdantsane Residents Association went ahead with a prohibited march despite objections from the Ciskei bantustan's ruling military council. The march was in protest against deteriorating conditions in Mdantsane township.
Residents of Fort Beaufort launched a consumer boycott in support of their demands after the authorities failed to respond to memoranda presented to them by community representatives. These called for the relaxation of restrictions on hawker licences, the abolition of child labour, the desegregation of amenities and the reinstatement of employees sacked for their participation in a stay-away. After seven weeks, in November, the boycott was suspended following an undertaking by the local Chamber of Commerce and the Town Council to work towards one democratic, non-racial local authority. There were to be regular meetings between community representatives and local authorities to discuss other demands and implement agreements.
In December the government was placed under increased pressure as the ANC and human rights organisations insisted that continuing violence in the country was the result, not of mass action, but of legislation banning meetings. The Human Rights Commission said, 'It is obvious where the violence is coming from. It is state-created violence, created through legislation and its enforcement.' There were growing demands for a protest over the Christmas period against police violence and in support of popular demands, such as for the immediate return of exiles and the release of political prisoners. In the Northern Transvaal some ANC branches, including Louis Trichardt, called for a consumer boycott over the December period.
On 6 December ANC supporters in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Bloemfontein marched through their city centres to highlight the demands of the mass action campaign. In a memorandum delivered to the government in Pretoria, to police headquarters in Johannesburg and to the Johannesburg Town Hall, they stated that 'the little trust that was beginning to emerge has been wiped out... Your motives are becoming suspect, and our people are questioning your sincerity and our wisdom in negotiating with you.' The peaceful character of the marches, including one by 30,000 people in central Johannesburg, refuted government claims that mass action in itself results in violence.
