socialist whites, a split occurred in 1958 and a
rival black organisation was founded, the Pan-
Africanist Congress, which objected to such links.
Early in 1960 both the ANC and the PAC
launched a mass campaign against the pass laws.
On 21 March 1960, in the small town of
Sharpeville, whose name was to reverberate
around the world, a large crowd assembled
outside the police station. Although the people
were not violent, the police panicked and opened
fire, killing sixty-nine black people and injuring
another 180. In most, though not all, towns black
demonstrations were dispersed without deaths.
Pictures of what became known as the Sharpeville
massacre were flashed around South Africa and
out to a shocked world. Black people began to
stay at home, away from work. The government
came down as usual with great severity and
declared the ANC and PAC illegal organisations.
Thousands were detained and later sentenced to
prison. Prime Minister Verwoerd also declared a
state of emergency. Not long after, a mentally dis-
turbed white man shot the prime minister in the
head, badly injuring him and heightening the
crisis atmosphere.
That autumn white voters approved a proposal
to turn South Africa into a republic, thus cutting
the last link with Britain. In 1961, South Africa
left the Commonwealth, anticipating the refusal
of the Commonwealth prime ministers to allow it
to remain a member.
In the aftermath of Sharpeville, the black
protest movement formed a new National Action
Council to work non-violently against apartheid,
and in 1961 it chose a young black lawyer named
Nelson Mandela as its leader. A strike was called.
More was needed than peaceful protests to per-
suade white South Africa to grant rights to the
black Africans. Mandela went underground and
organised an active militant wing of the ANC –
the Spear of the Nation. Its intention was to sab-
otage installations without causing injury to
people. Meanwhile, the banned ANC established
its headquarters outside South Africa in Zambia.
Mandela was caught in August 1962 and in 1964
was sentenced to life imprisonment with other
militant ANC leaders. His political trial earned
him worldwide admiration. The South African
authorities attempted to smear him as a commu-
nist working for Russia. That became the line766 AFRICA AFTER 1945: CONFLICT AND THE THREAT OF FAMINE
The world is shocked when confronted with the realities of apartheid. South Africa, 21 March 1960, Sharpeville.
© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis