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ANC Secretary General Alfred Nzo and AAM Chair Bob Hughes MP at a vigil held outside the mini-summit of Commonwealth leaders at Marlborough House, 3–5 August 1986. They placed a wreath on a coffin symbolising all those who had died in South Africa’s attacks on the frontline states. At the mini-summit the Commonwealth imposed a package of sanctions against South Africa.

British trade union leaders at a vigil outside the mini-summit of Commonwealth leaders at Marlborough House, 3–5 August 1986. At the mini-summit Commonwealth leaders imposed a package of sanctions against South Africa. Left to right: TUC General Secretary Norman Willis, Ron Todd (TGWU), David Williams (COHSE)  and Brenda Dean (SOGAT).

At a mini-summit in London, 3–5 August 1986, Commonwealth leaders agreed on a package of sanctions against South Africa, in spite of opposition from British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Earlier in the year a Commonwealth ‘Eminent Persons Group’ visited South Africa and concluded that the apartheid government was not prepared to negotiate an end to white minority rule. Left to right: Commonwealth leaders Brian Mulroney (Canada), Sir Lyndon Pindling (The Bahamas), Kenneth Kaunda (Zamibia), Rajiv Gandhi (India), Margaret Thatcher (UK), Bob Hawke (Australia) and Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe).

Report on the British government’s failure to implement measures against South Africa agreed by the Commonwealth, UN Security Council and European Economic Community. The report was prepared for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting held in London, 3–5 August 1986, following the visit of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group to South Africa.

The AAM made this appeal to trade unionists in September 1986, soon after a countrywide state of emergency was introduced in South Africa. Its emphasis was on the general campaign for sanctions rather than, as in the 1970s, campaigns against individual companies or support for South African workers.

Poster reproducing a banner celebrating the role of women in the liberation struggle. The banner was made to commemorate Liz Hollis, a young AAM staff member who died tragically in 1986.

Poster demanding clemency for Unkhonto we Sizwe combatants Sipho Xulu and Clarence Payi, sentenced to death for killing an alleged police informer. Xulu and Payi were hanged on 9 September 1986.

Every time a political prisoner was executed in South Africa an all-night solidarity vigil was held outside the South African Embassy in London. This leaflet publicised a vigil held for Sipho Xulu and Clarence Payi, young ANC militants who were hanged on the morning of 9 September 1986. Their deaths meant that seven freedom fighters had been hanged by the South African government since the execution of Solomon Mahlangu in 1979.