Today in history: United Democratic Front launched
Only to be disbanded eight years later on the same date.
On 20 August 1983, the United Democratic Front (UDF) was launched, only to be disbanded on the same date eight years later, in 1991.
The UDF was an anti-apartheid organisation that was launched on this day in 1983, in Mitchell’s Plain in Cape Town. The launch date was chosen to coincide with the date the government had chosen to introduce the Tricameral Parliament, which gave very little recognition to people of colour.
Reverend Frank Chikane, the first major speaker, was shot during the launch, but his injury was not fatal. He called the day ‘a turning point in the struggle for freedom’.
The unbanning of the ANC, as well as the dismantling of apartheid, made the UDF redundant, as it had lost its function. This led to it being disbanded in 1991.
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