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 It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Congress Alliance

A joint anti-apartheid front formed in 1954. The new spirit in the ANC* was evident in the formation of this alliance comprising the ANC, the dominant and most powerful partner, the South African Indian Congress*(SAIC) the Congress of Democrats* and the Coloured Peoples Congress. The Congress Alliance decided on a strategy of mass action to effect change. One of its first endeavors was to organize the successful Congress of the People in Kliptown in 1955, where the Freedom Charter*, demanding a South Africa with equal rights for all, was adopted. The newly-formed South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) sent delegates to Kliptown and subsequently joined the alliance. Many Alliance leaders were charged with high treason in 1956.

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.