After Morogoro: the continuing crisis in the African National Congress (of South Africa) in Zambia, 1969–1971

This article examines the Zambian dimension in the calling and aftermath of the Morogoro Conference of 1969. After the failure of the Wankie and Sipolilo campaigns, Chris Hani and six other members of MK produced a memorandum, which constituted a devastating attack on the ANC’s exile leadership. The authors of the memorandum were expelled and were unable to attend the conference, but their memorandum had a strong influence on its deliberations. The conference recommended their reinstatement, but this did not resolve the crisis in Lusaka, which had ‘tribal’ undertones, and was intensified by Zambian government pressure to remove MK from Lusaka and the country. The reinstatement of Hani and his comrades was followed by protests and defiance by about 30 members of a Transvaal group. Attempts to remove MK members from Lusaka to a bush camp resulted in further defiance and the expulsion of 30 members. There were further crises involving the movement of arms and an ill‐fated attempt by Flag Boshielo and three others to return to South Africa through Botswana. It was not until 1971 that stability was restored, though the position of the ANC in Lusaka remained at a low ebb until the inflow of new recruits following the Soweto Uprising in 1976.