A Call to Arms

• Explain the reasons behind the creation of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).  Do you think adopting violence as a method strengthened or weakened the anti-apartheid movement?

Fifty years of non-violent opposition to the government of South Africa brought the majority of South African residents nothing but oppression. After fifty years of stay at homes, slow downs, strikes, and rallies, the African National Congress (ANC) had made little progress and the patience of the nation was wearing thin. Without a more radical solution, the nation of South Africa would erupt in a series of slaughters by the dictatorial government. Non-violence was only strategy and Nelson Mandela knew this. After examining the state of his nation, Mandela recognized the need for a reevaluation of ANC tactics.

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was the result of his observations. The ANC was devoted to non-violence and throughout the preceding fifty years stemmed violent outbreaks. MK, formed as a separate entity from the ANC, sought to organize violent acts with minimal casualties in the form of sabotage and preemptive military training. Just as the ANC provided unity to Africans in earlier struggles, MK provided a collective front for all groups considering violent action against the government. By arranging a single organization to conduct the efforts, Mandela and MK prevented unnecessary skirmishes between Africans and the ruling party.

An important attribute of MK is its emphasis on not exaggerating racial distinctions. As Mandela clearly states “The ideological creed of the ANC is, and always has been, the creed of African Nationalism. It is not the concept of African Nationalism expressed in the cry, ‘Drive the white man into the sea.’” The measures to which Mandela and his organizations went to abide by this creed helped prevent a race-based civil war, which, as Mandela commented, would have been more detrimental and irreconcilable than the Anglo-Boer War. Without the creation of MK, the anti-apartheid movement would have been far weaker and many innocent lives would have been lost.