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UDF President Albertina Sisulu was the main speaker at an AAM rally in London on 20 June 1989 protesting against F W de Klerk’s visit to London. She said de Klerk was trying ‘to improve apartheid and not to abolish it’. She was on her way the USA to meet President Bush. On her way back from the USA she led a UDF delegation which met British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Albertina Sisulu, President of the banned United Democratic Front, and Sister Bernard Ncube of the Federation of Transvaal Women held a press conference in the House of Commons  on 13 July 1989. They were on their way back to South Africa from the USA, where they met President George Bush. During their stay in London the UDF delegation met Margaret Thatcher, the first time a British Prime Minister had met black South African anti-apartheid leaders since Josiah Gumede and Sol Plaatje held a meeting with Lloyd George in 1919.

The AAM celebrated the 30th anniversary of its founding as the Boycott Movement in 1959 with a fundraising concert at the Camden Centre in central London. It featured Bushmen Don't Surf, the Kafala Brothers from Angola and South African jazz musician Julian Bahula.

The World Gold Commission was launched in 1988 on the initiative of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, End Loans to Southern Africa (ELTSA), the African National Congress (ANC) and South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO). It exposed the central role gold mining played in the apartheid economy and campaigned for a worldwide ban on South African gold. This report set out a three-part strategy: gold sanctions against South Africa; the release equivalent quantities of gold from other countries’ reserves; and a training programme for South African exile students to learn gold mining and marketing skills. 

In December 1988 South Africa signed the UN Plan for the Independence of Namibia, which led to the holding of free elections in November 1989. With the Namibia Support Committee, the AAM set up a Namibia Emergency Campaign to mobilise British support for Namibian independence and solidarity with the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO). This leaflet warned that South Africa was sabotaging the peace process. It called for continued support for Namibia after independence.

In June 1989 the AAM held its first ‘Freedom Run’ in Brockwell Park, Brixton, south London in June 1989. The Freedom Run became an annual event where stalls sold anti-apartheid badges, T-shirts and other goods, and sponsored runners raised funds for the AAM.

Letter from Prime Minister Thatcher’s office responding to the AAM’s request for the British government to intervene on behalf of the Upington 14. The 14 were sentenced to death because they were present at a demonstration during which a black policeman was killed. After international protests they were reprieved in May 1991, after two years on death row. The letter set out the government’s criteria for intervening in cases where political prisoners were condemned to death.

The AAM held its 1989 July National Committee meeting in the multi-racial area of Grangetown, Cardiff. Black and ethnic minority supporters took part in a special session at the meeting to discuss their role in the anti-apartheid struggle.