The United Democratic Front is launched at Rocklands, Mitchells Plain
Hundreds of community, church, student and worker organisations came together in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain, to launch the United Democratic Front against the new tricameral parliament and apartheid as a whole.
Photo: Discott · CC BY-SA 4.0
On 20 August 1983 the United Democratic Front (UDF) was launched at the community hall and civic centre in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain. Delegates from about 565 organisations attended, and about 10,000 people attended. The idea came from Allan Boesak, who in January 1983 had called for a united front against the government's planned tricameral parliament.
In his launch speech Boesak asked for three words to guide the movement: all, here and now. The UDF named three presidents, Archie Gumede, Oscar Mpetha and Albertina Sisulu, and patrons including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Helen Joseph and Desmond Tutu. Its slogan was "UDF unites, apartheid divides".
The UDF became one of the most prominent political movements of the 1980s, with more than 600 affiliated organisations. The state restricted it in February 1988, and it disbanded on 20 August 1991, after the ANC was unbanned.
Why it matters
Launched in Cape Town, the UDF brought hundreds of local organisations into one non-racial national movement and led much of the internal resistance to apartheid in the 1980s.
- Source: United Democratic Front (UDF), South African History Online · United Democratic Front (UDF), O'Malley Archives, Nelson Mandela Foundation · Speech by Rev. Dr. Allan Boesak at the launch of the UDF, 20 August 1983, Rocklands Civic Centre, South African History Online · Former activists celebrate birth of UDF 33 years ago, IOL (2016)
Where it happened
Rocklands Community Hall (Rocklands Civic Centre), Mitchells Plain
The UDF was launched in this hall, now marked by a UDF monument in front of it. The point is the hall building (mapped in OpenStreetMap as Rocklands Town Hall), which matches the photograph's recorded camera position.
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Where it happened Exact site
Rocklands Community Hall (Rocklands Civic Centre), Mitchells Plain
The UDF was launched in this hall, now marked by a UDF monument in front of it. The point is the hall building (mapped in OpenStreetMap as Rocklands Town Hall), which matches the photograph's recorded camera position.
