The Black People's Convention (BPC) was a national coordinating body for the Black Consciousness movement of South Africa. Envisaged as a broad-based counterpart to the South African Students' Organisation, the BPC was active in organising resistance to apartheid from its establishment in 1972 until it was banned in late 1977.

Formation

The BPC was an outgrowth of the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa, which gained traction in the early 1970s and increasingly became a major alternative source of ideological and organisational support for resistance to the system of apartheid. With the influence of the South African Students' Organisation (SASO) growing, Black Consciousness leaders called for the formation of a new Black Consciousness political organisation to engage and mobilise broader civil society, outside the universities. The shape of this national umbrella body, which became the BPC, was discussed at a series of conferences in 1971. The BPC was launched in July 1972 in Pietermaritzburg. At its first national congress in December 1972, held in Hammanskraal, Winnie Kgware was elected its first president. The BPC collaborated with other Black Consciousness organisations, such as SASO, with whom its membership overlapped significantly. As described in the BPC's "Mafikeng Manifesto", co-written by Biko and debated at a symposium in Mafikeng in 1976, black communalism was a variant of the traditional African economic system, modified for a modern and industrialised economy. It entailed communal ownership, and state custodianship, of all land.

Government crackdown

On 25 September 1974, the day of an illegal pro-FRELIMO rally in Durban organised by the BPC and SASO, leaders in the BPC and other Black Consciousness organisations were arrested across the country. In the aftermath, nine BPC and SASO leaders were tried under the Terrorism Act. A second, more serious wave of government repression followed the 1976 Soweto Uprising. On 19 October 1977, sometimes known as "Black Wednesday", 18 organisations, including the BPC and SASO, were banned by the apartheid government. As many as 70 Black Consciousness leaders were arrested on the same day. Among them were Kenny Rachidi and Drake Tshenkeng, the BPC's president and vice president respectively.

  • Mosibudi Mangena
  • Mosibudi Mangena
  • Aubrey Mokoape
  • Cyril Ramaphosa
  • Mamphela Ramphele
  • Azanian People's Organisation
  • Black Allied Workers' Union
  • South African Students' Organisation
  • Black Community Programmes (the community projects arms of the BPC-SASO bloc)
  • South African Students Movement

References