According to his 'Testimony about the Launch of the Campaign,' Sobukwe declared: The campaign was made known on the 18th of March. But members say that the campaign will begin 'shortly - within a matter of weeks.'Īt a press conference held on Saturday 19th March 1960, PAC President Robert Sobukwe announced that the PAC was going to embark on an anti-pass campaign on Monday the 21st. The exact date on which the campaign will start is still unknown. An article entitled 'PAC Campaign will be test,' published in the 19 March 1960 issue of Contact, the Liberal Party newspaper, described the build up to the campaign: The Pan Africanist Congress will shortly launch a nationwide campaign for the total abolition of the pass laws. The campaign slogan was 'NO BAIL! NO DEFENCE! NO FINE!' The PAC argued that if thousands of people were arrested, then the jails would be filled and the economy would come to a standstill.Īlthough the protests were anticipated, no one could have predicted the consequences and the repercussions this would have for South African and world politics.

The PAC called on its supporters to leave their passes at home on the appointed date and gather at police stations around the country, making themselves available for arrest.

At this conference, it was announced that the PAC would launch its own anti-pass campaign.Įarly in 1960 both the ANC and PAC embarked on a feverish drive to prepare their members and Black communities for the proposed nationwide campaigns. At the annual conference of the African National Congress (ANC) held in Durban on 16 December 1959, the President General of the ANC, Chief Albert Luthuli, announced that 1960 was going to be the 'Year of the Pass.' Through a series of mass actions, the ANC planned to launch a nationwide anti-pass campaign on 31 March - the anniversary of the 1919 anti-pass campaign.Ī week later, a breakaway group from the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) held its first conference in Johannesburg.

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