uMkhonto weSizwe (Xhosa pronunciation: [um̩ˈkʰonto we ˈsizwe]; abbreviated MK; lit. 'Spear of the Nation') was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its objective was to bring armed pressure on South Africa's National Party-led government to abandon its policy of racial segregation, known as apartheid. It carried out bombings on military-industrial and civilian targets.
After warning the South African government in June 1961 of its intent to increase resistance if the government did not take steps toward constitutional reform and increase political rights, uMkhonto weSizwe launched its first attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. uMkhonto weSizwe was subsequently banned and classified as a terrorist group by the South African government.
For a time it was headquartered in Rivonia, which was rural at that time but is now an affluent suburb of Johannesburg. On 11 July 1963, nineteen ANC and uMkhonto weSizwe leaders, including Arthur Goldreich, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu, were arrested at Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia. (The farm was privately owned by Arthur Goldreich and bought with South African Communist Party and ANC funds, as non-whites were unable to own a property in that area under the Group Areas Act.) The arrests were followed by the Rivonia Trial, in which ten leaders of the ANC were tried for 221 militant acts that the prosecution said were designed to "foment violent revolution". Wilton Mkwayi, chief of uMkhonto weSizwe at the time, escaped during the trial.
The organisation was formally disbanded in a ceremony at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Gauteng, on 16 December 1993, although its armed struggle had been suspended earlier, during the negotiations to end apartheid.
According to Nelson Mandela, all of the founding members of the uMkhonto weSizwe, including himself, were also members of the ANC. In his "I Am Prepared to Die" speech, delivered at the conclusion of the Rivonia Trial, Mandela outlined the motivations that led to the formation of uMkhonto weSizwe:
At the beginning of June 1961, after a long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I, and some colleagues, came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be unrealistic and wrong for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force.
This conclusion was not easily arrived at. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form uMkhonto weSizwe. We did so not because we desired such a course, but solely because the government had left us with no other choice. In the Manifesto of uMkhonto published on 16 December 1961, which is exhibit AD, we said:
The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices – submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no choice but to hit back by all means in our power in defence of our people, our future, and our freedom.
Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by the African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalise and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war. Secondly, we felt that without violence there would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against the principle of white supremacy. All lawful modes of expressing opposition to this principle had been closed by legislation, and we were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or take over the Government. We chose to defy the law. We first broke the law in a way which avoided any recourse to violence; when this form was legislated against, and then the Government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its policies, only then did we decide to answer with violence.
The manifesto referred to by Mandela, adduced by the prosecution at his trial as Exhibit AD, included the statements:
Our men are armed and trained freedom fighters not "terrorists". We are fighting for democracy—majority rule—the right of the Africans to rule Africa. We are fighting for a South Africa in which there will be peace and harmony and equal rights for all people. We are not racialists, as the white oppressors are. The African National Congress has a message of freedom for all who live in our country.
The initial aim was to act only against such targets as power line pylons and avoid any injury or loss of life. However, later lethal attacks on various targets were performed, sometimes the victims were civilians. Such attacks include the Durban bar bombing, the Church Street Bombing, Johannesburg Magistrate's Court bombing and the Sasolburg refinery bombing.
The ANC later admitted to insufficient training of their guerilla fighters and apologized for targeting civilian infrastructure.
In the six or so months between making the decision to form the organisation (June) and the first acts of sabotage (December), the MK high command set up regional commands in the main centres. The people chosen to be part of these commands were chosen either because they had the necessary technical or military skills or because they were members of Congress Alliance organisations.
Johannesburg (later Transvaal) command
In June 1961, Mandela sent a letter to South African newspapers warning the government that a campaign of sabotage would be launched unless the government agreed to call for a national constitutional convention. Six months later, on 16 December 1961, Mandela led uMkhonto weSizwe in launching its campaign.
The first target sabotaged was an electrical substation. This was followed by many more acts of sabotage over a year and a half, including attacks on government posts, machines and power facilities, and crop burning. At the Rivonia Trial, the government accused them of committing 193 acts of sabotage in total.
Opinions in the ANC were divided on the viability of launching a military campaign. For this reason, MK did not publicly associate itself with the ANC at first. Its initial attacks were "characterised by their simplicity": reflecting the Africans' lack of military training, and the fact that although many whites had military training, most had not seen service since the Second World War. The state responded with laws that allowed detention without trial and an unlimited power to ban organisations, and also by establishing military and civilian intelligence organisations.