Local authorities

Exeter AA Group collected thousands of signatures to this petition in 1985, calling on Exeter City Council to to declare itself an apartheid free zone. Sheffield City Council was the first local authority in Britain end all links with South Africa, in 1981.

The ANC’s cultural group Amandla was formed in Angola after the 1976 Soweto uprising. It was made up of 30 young South African singers, dancers and musicians. On its1985 tour of Britain it visited centres all over the country, performing and holding workshops on music, dance and drama. The tour included shows at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Shaw Theatre. It was sponsored by trade unions and local authorities.

ANC President Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela’s daughter Zenani Mandela unveiled a bust of Nelson Mandela on London’s south bank on 28 October 1985. The bust was created by sculptor Ian Walters and sponsored by the Greater London Council.

Sticker produced by Islington Borough Council in north London asking shoppers not to buy South African goods.

Leaflet advertising a rally at Manchester City Hall on the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre. The meeting was organised by Manchester City Council, the Anglican Diocese of Manchester and Manchester AA Group.

Leaflet advertising a fundraising gig at a north London trade union centre on 27 September 1986. The event was organised by Haringey AA Group and sponsored by the London Borough of Haringey’s Community Arts and Entertainment Department.

Poster publicising a week of anti-apartheid events in Lambeth, south London in 1986. The week included films, exhibitions and an evening of poetry and music with rock band Misty and reggae artist Tippa Irie.

Report of the third biennial conference of Local Authority Action Against Apartheid (LAAA), held in Glasgow in February 1987. LAAA was set up at a conference held in Sheffield in 1983.