Starting off in Port Elizabeth in the early hours of June 26 and with only thirty-three defiers in action, and then in Johannesburg in the afternoon of the same day with ten defiers, it spread throughout the country like wildfire. In June 1952, the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress, bearing in mind their responsibility as the representatives of the downtrodden and oppressed people of South Africa, took the plunge and launched the Campaign for the Defiance of the Unjust Laws.

Today the people speak the language of action: there is a mighty awakening among the men and women of our country and the year 1952 stands out as the year of this upsurge of national consciousness. Today the entire country knows that their labors were not in vain, for a new spirit and new ideas have gripped our people. But instead of more freedom, repression began to grow in volume and intensity, and it seemed that all their sacrifices would end up in smoke and dust. Year after year, they have raised their voices in condemnation of the grinding poverty of the people, the low wages, the acute shortage of land, the inhuman exploitation and the whole policy of white domination.

Since 1912, and year after year thereafter, in their homes and local areas, in provincial and national gatherings, on trains and buses, in the factories and on the farms, in cities, villages, shantytowns, schools, and prisons, the African people have discussed the shameful misdeeds of those who rule the country. Elected ANC (Transvaal) President earlier in the year, Mandela had been served with a banning order subsequently, and the address was therefore read on his behalf. Presidential address by Mandela to the ANC [African National Congress (Transvaal) Conference, September 21, 1953.

Walk to freedom