Police arrest Congress Alliance leaders for treason

SACTU united nonracial unions and linked workplace struggles with the wider Congress Alliance campaign against apartheid.

Nearly 3,000 delegates and observers gathered to debate demands collected from communities across South Africa for a democratic and nonracial future.

Delegates adopted a programme declaring that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it and demanding democratic government, equal rights, land reform and social welfare.

About 2,000 women of different racial backgrounds marched to the Union Buildings against the planned extension of pass laws to African women.

Women delivered petitions opposing passes for African women and stood in disciplined silence before singing the protest song later associated with the phrase: You strike a woman, you strike a rock.

Residents refused to use PUTCO buses after a fare increase. Thousands walked long distances to work, and the action spread to other townships.

After nearly three months of mass participation, employers and the state accepted a subsidy arrangement that prevented commuters from paying the full fare increase.

Verwoerd, previously the minister responsible for Bantu Education, became prime minister and intensified the apartheid programme of racial separation and Bantustans.

Africanists who had broken from the ANC formed the PAC at Orlando Community Hall. Robert Sobukwe became president and emphasized African leadership and anti-colonial liberation.

The act abolished limited African parliamentary representation and divided Africans into state-defined ethnic units. It advanced the Bantustan project while denying common South African citizenship.