About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

List of Abbreviations

AAC

All African Convention.

AAM

Anti-Apartheid Movement of Great Britain.

AFL-CIO

American Federation of Labour - Congress of Industrial Organnisation.

AIF

All Indian Federation.

AMWU

African Mine Workers Union.

ANC

African National Congress, South Africa's premier national liberation organisation, founded in 1912. Ruling party since the first democratic elections in 1994.

Anti-CAD

Anti-Coloured Affairs Department.

APDUSA

African People's Democratic Union of SA, an offshoot/breakaway of the Non European Unity Movement. Now defunct.

APO

African People's Organisation.

ARM

African Resistance Movement, sucessor to the National Liberation Committee, established in 1961, became defunct by 1964.

ASA

African Students Association.

ASB

Afrikaanse Studente Bond. (organisation of Afrikaner students)

ASUSA

African Students Union of South Africa.

AZAPO

Azanian People's Organisation.

AZASM

Azanian Students Movement.

BAWU

Black Allied Workers Union.

BCM

Black Consciousness Movement.

BIC

Bantu Investment Corporation .

BPA

Black Parents' Association.

BPC

Black People's Convention.

CIA

Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America.

CNETU

Council of non-European Trade Unions, founded in 1940 and dissolved in 1955 when SACTU was founded.

COD

Congress of Democrats (also known as SACOD), founded in 1955. A constituent member of the Congress Alliance headed by the ANC. Now defunct.

COP

Congress of the People, held in June 1955 at Kliptown near Johannesburg where the Freedom Charter was adopted.

CP

Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), founded in 1921, banned in 1950. Reconstituted in 1953 as the South African Communist Party (SACP).

CPC

Coloured People's Congress (also known as SACPC), successor to SA Coloured People's Organisation and the African People's Organisation (APO). Member of the Congress Alliance. Now defunct.

CPSU

Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

CRC

Coloured Representative Council. Part of the tricameral parliamentary.

DRC

Dutch Reformed Church.

FLEC

Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda.

FNLA

National Front for the Liberation of Angola.

FOFATUSA

Federation of Free African Trade Unions of South Africa, founded in 1960 .

Frelimo

Front for the Liberation of Mozambique.

ICFTU

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

ICU

Industrial and Commercial Workers Union founded in 1917.

IDC

Industrial Development Corporation.

ILO

International Labour Organisation.

ISL

International Socialist League.

LP

Labour Party.

LPSA

Liberal Party of South Africa.

Mdali

Music, Drama & Literature Association.

MK

Umkhonto weSizwe, the military wing of the ANC.

MPLA

People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola.

Nat

Member/supporter of the Nationalist Party, an all-White, Afrikaner party espousing the policy of apartheid.

NAYO

National Youth Organisation.

NEC

National Executive Committee of the ANC.

NEUM

Non-European Unity Movement.

NFL

National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam.

NIC

Natal Indian Congress founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1894.

NIYC

Natal Indian Youth Congress.

NLC

National Liberation Committee. (see ARM)

NP

National Party – all White, Afrikaner-based party which fashioned the policy of apartheid. The ruling party from 1948 to 1994.

NUSAS

National Union of South African Students.

OAU

Organisation of African Unity, founded in 1963.

PAC

Pan Africanist Congress, founded in 1959.

PAIGC

African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands.

PRP

Progressive Reform Party.

SACOD

South African Congress of Democrats, also known as the Congress of Democrats (COD). Member of the Congress Alliance led by the ANC.

SACP

South African Communist Party.

SACPC

South African Coloured People's Congress (also known as CPC). Member of the Congress Alliance led by the ANC.

SACPO

South African Coloured People's Organisation (also see SACPC)

SACTU

South African Congress of Trade Unions, founded in March 1955

SADC

South African Development Community

SAIC

South African Indian Congress, the umbrella body combining the Natal Indian Congress and the Transvaal Indian Congress. Member of the Congress Alliance led by the ANC.

SANROC

South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee.

SANCON

South African Student Congress.

SASM

South African Students Movement.

SASO

South African Students Organisation.

SB

Security Branch of the South African Police (also known as the Special Branch).

SHAWCO

Students Health and Welfare Centres Organisation.

SSRC

Soweto Students' Representative Council.

SWANU

South West Africa National Union.

SWAPO

South West Africa People's Organisation, founded in August 1957.

TEC

Transitional Executive Council of South Africa.

TIC

Transvaal Indian Congress.

TIYC

Transvaal Indian Youth Congress.

TUC

British Trade Union Congress.

TUCSA

Trade Union Council of South Africa. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of the SAT&LC.

UCM

University Christian Movement.

UDENAMO

National Democratic Union of Mozambique

UN

United Nations.

UNITA

Union for the Total Independence of Angola.

UP

United Party, once the ruling party and the official opposition party when the NP came to power in 1948 in the all-white parliament of SA. Now defunct.

WFTU

World Federation of Trade Unions.

Wits

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

YCL

Young Communist League. Now defunct.

ZANU

Zimbabwe African National Union.

ZAPU

Zimbabwe African Peoples Union.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.