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AA News headlined UDF leader Murphy Morobe’s appeal for support for the new defiance campaign rocking South Africa. Its editorial condemned the planned cricket tour of South Africa by a team led by England cricketer Mike Gatting and welcomed the ‘Conference for a Democratic Future’ bringing together a wide range of anti-apartheid organisations in South Africa. It reported on a meeting between a delegation from the UDF with Prime Minister Thatcher and on COSATU’s support for the Mass Democratic Movement. On Namibia, it carried a special report of a visit by Glenys Kinnock to monitor preparations for the country’s independence elections.

Namibia’s November election was a historic milestone in the Southern African freedom struggle, proclaimed AA News. The newspaper’s editorial called for pressure on British banks to refuse to reschedule South Africa’s debt. It hailed the launch of the Southern African Coalition in September as the largest ever grouping of British organisations opposed to apartheid. It reported that South Africa’s two-day stay away to protest against the whites-only elections was the most widely supported in the country’s history. In a special feature, Delmas treason trialist Tseko Simon Nkoli described his experiences as a gay anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner in South Africa.

This issue hailed the release of Walter Sisulu and seven other long-term political prisoners from Robben Island. It condemned the decision by international banks to issue a new loan to South Africa and reported on a meeting between South African church leaders and President de Klerk. The Wales Rugby Union finally severed its links with the South African Rugby Board after a 30-year campaign by Welsh anti-apartheid activists. AA News deplored Prime Minister John Major's meeting with UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi. It featured the case of the Upington 14, sentenced to death for their presence at a demonstration when a policeman was killed.  

AA News hailed SWAPO’s election victory in Namibia as a new phase in the anti-apartheid struggle. It again exposed Israeli-South African collaboration in developing nuclear missiles. It condemned the new deal by international banks to continue lending to South Africa. In an exclusive interview, Walter Sisulu thanked supporters of the international solidarity movement for campaigning for the release of South African political prisoners. The newspaper exposed the Thatcher government’s refusal to back the sanctions measures imposed by the Commonwealth at its meeting in Kuala Lumpur. A report by Ian Bray featured South Africa’s proxy war in Mozambique.

AA News highlighted attacks by a ZAPU-ANC guerrilla group against forces of the white minority regime inside Zimbabwe and featured an interview by British journalist Gus Macdonald with ZAPU President James Chikerema. It reported on the gaoling of two witnesses in the trial of Winnie Mandela and 21 others because they refused to give evidence. A centrespread featured the Cabora Bassa dam project in Mozambique. Under the headline ‘Goodbye Springboks’, the newspaper reported on the mass demonstrations at the final games of the Springbok rugby tour of Britain and Ireland. 

The AAM marked the tenth anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre with a re-enactment in Trafalgar Square and a programme of music and drama at the Lyceum Theatre. This issue publicised anniversary events in London and other centres. It reported on the Terrorism Act trial of Winnie Mandela and 21 others in Pretoria and on the campaign to force Barclays Bank to withdraw from South Africa. A centrespread exposed Prime Minister’s Vorster drive to suborn independent African states. Under the slogan ‘It’s not cricket’ the newspaper launched the AAM’s campaign for the cancellation of the all-white Springbok cricket tour scheduled for the summer of 1970.

This issue led on the murder of Imam Haroun by security police while he was held in detention under the South African Terrorism Act. In a round-up of nationwide actions, AA News reported on a protest at Edgbaston cricket ground against the 1970 Springbok cricket tour and advertised a demonstration at the first game in June. A centrespread focused on the below subsistence wages paid to black South African workers and the complicity of British companies. Former prisoner David Evans exposed the terrible conditions endured by long-term political prisoners in South African gaols.

The May issue headlined reports that the British company GKN was considering a bid to supply equipment for the Cabora Bassa dam project. A special feature on Barclays Bank explained why the bank had been singled out for anti-apartheid action and reported on a nationwide day of action calling on it to pull out of South Africa. AA News exposed the loopholes in the Labour government’s arms embargo and reported on the massive buildup of South Africa’s arms industry. It heralded advances by MPLA guerrilla fighters in Angola and exposed the involvement of expatriate British police officers in the coup in Lesotho.