African National Congress

African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black (now multiracial) political organization in South Africa; founded in 1912. Prominent in its opposition to apartheid , the organization began as a nonviolent civil-rights group. In the 1940s and 50s it joined with other groups in promoting strikes and civil disobedience among the emerging urban black workforce. The ANC was banned in 1960 and the following year initiated guerrilla attacks. In 1964 its leader, Nelson Mandela , was sentenced to life in prison, and the leadership was forced into exile. Although outlawed, the ANC became the popularly acknowledged vehicle of mass resistance to apartheid in the late 1970s and the 1980s; the training of ANC guerrillas continued in neighboring countries. Following the end of the ban on the ANC and the release of Mandela in 1990, many of its leaders returned from exile, and the ANC negotiated with the government for black enfranchisement and an end to apartheid. In the early 1990s there were violent clashes between supporters of the ANC and Inkatha (see Buthelezi, Mangosuthu Gatsha ). The ANC became a registered political party in 1994 in advance of the first South African elections open to citizens of all races. It won over 60% of the vote in the elections, and Mandela was elected president of South Africa. Thabo Mbeki succeeded Mandela as head of the ANC in 1997 and as president of South Africa in 1999. Tensions within the ANC, largely as a result of the failure of South Africa's economic growth to benefit poorer South Africans, resulted in Mbeki's loss of the party leadership to Jacob Zuma in 2007 and his resignation as South Africa's president in 2008; the latter threatened to split the party. ANC deputy leader Kgalema Motlanthe was elected South Africa's interim president.

African National Congress (ANC) South African political party. It was formed in 1912 with the aim of securing racial equality and full political rights for non-whites. by the 1950s, the ANC was the principal opposition to the apartheid regime. A military wing, Umkhonte We Sizwe (‘Spear of the Nation’), was set up in the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre. It engaged in economic and industrial sabotage. In 1961, the ANC was banned and many of its leaders arrested or forced into exile. In 1964, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, leaders of the ANC, began their long sentences as political prisoners. In 1990, the ANC was legalized, Mandela was released from Robben Island, and many of the legislative pillars of apartheid were dismantled. In 1994, in South Africa's first multiracial elections, the ANC gained more than 60% of the popular vote. Nelson Mandela became the first post-apartheid president of South Africa. In 1997 he was succeeded as leader of the ANC by Thabo Mbeki.

http://www.anc.org.za

African National Congress (ANC) A South African political party. It was established in Bloemfontein in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress by a Zulu Methodist minister, J. W. Dube. In 1914 he led a deputation to Britain protesting against the Native Land Act (1913), which restricted the purchase of land by Black Africans. In 1926 the ANC established a united front with representatives of the Indian community, which aimed to create a racially integrated, democratic southern Africa. It sought to achieve racial equality by non-violent means, as practised by Mahatma GANDHI in India, and from 1952 until 1967 was led by the Natal chieftain Albert LUTHULI. Together with the more militant break-away movement, the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), it was declared illegal by the South African government in 1960. Confronted by Afrikaner intransigence on racial issues, the ANC saw itself forced into a campaign of violence. Maintaining that APARTHEID should be abolished, and every South African have the vote, it formed a liberation army, ‘Umkhonto Wesizwe’ (Spear of the Nation). In 1962 its vice-president, Nelson MANDELA and some of his colleagues were convicted of sabotage and jailed for life. The exiled wing of the ANC maintained a campaign of violence during the 1980s, but following the election of President DE KLERK (1989) the party was legalized and Mandela was released from prison in 1990. The ANC subsequently entered into talks with the government and participated in the drafting of a new constitution, which gave the vote to all South African adults. The first multiracial elections, held in 1994, were won by the ANC and Mandela became President.