ANC Celebrates 100th Anniversary
Jan. 10, 2012
Tens of thousands of South Africans and at least 45 heads of state attended a rally on January 8 at Bloemfontein, South Africa, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the African National Congress (ANC). The rally was part of three days of festivities. Speaking at the rally, President Jacob Zuma paid tribute to his predecessors as leaders of the ANC, particularly Nelson Mandela, who led the party to power. The 93-year-old Mandela was not able to attend the celebration because of his frail health. President Zuma declared that the ANC now stands for the democratic values of equality and quoted the preamble to the ANC’s freedom charter: “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.”
Nelson Mandela (left) takes the oath of office for the presidency of South Africa in May 1994. Mandela was elected president in the country's first elections open to all races. © Mike Persson, Gamma Press
The ANC was founded in Bloemfontein on Jan. 8, 1912, to defend the political rights of black South Africans. In 1948, the government of South Africa instigated a policy of rigid racial segregation called apartheid. Young ANC members, led by Mandela, resisted the new laws, chiefly through civil disobedience. When the government outlawed the ANC in 1960, the ANC then began a policy of violent resistance to apartheid. Numerous members, including Mandela, were imprisoned.
In 1993, the country extended voting rights to all races, and democratic elections were held in 1994. The ANC won the majority of seats in the Parliament, and South Africa’s white leaders handed over power to the country’s first multiracial government. Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 years in prison, became South Africa’s first black president.
Additional World Book articles
- Back in Time 1948 (South Africa)
- Back in Time 1950 (South Africa)
- Back in Time 1960 (South Africa)
- Back in Time 1990 (South Africa)
- Back in Time 1993 (South Africa)
- Back in Time 1994 (South Africa)
