The Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) is a South African liberation movement and political party. The organisation's two student wings are the Azanian Students' Movement (AZASM) for high school learners and the Azanian Students' Convention (AZASCO) for university level students. The organisation's women's wing is Imbeleko Women's Organisation, simply known as IMBELEKO. Its inspiration is drawn from the

Black Consciousness Movement The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Af ...

inspired philosophy of Black Consciousness developed by

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko Order for Meritorious Service, OMSG (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalism, African nationalist and ...

, Harry Nengwekhulu,

Abram Onkgopotse Tiro Abram Ramothibi Onkgopotse Tiro (born 9 November 1945 – 1 February 1974) was a South African student activist and black consciousness militant. Early life Tiro was born in Dinokana, a small village near Zeerust in present-day North West Pr ...

, Vuyelwa Mashalaba and others, as well as

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

Scientific Socialism Scientific socialism in Marxism is the application of historical materialism to the development of socialism, as not just a practical and achievable outcome of historical processes, but the only possible outcome. It contrasts with utopian social ...

History

AZAPO was formed out of the prominent black consciousness organisations namely,

Black People's Convention 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 res ...

(BPC), the

South African Students' Organisation The South African Students' Organisation (SASO) was a body of black South African university students who resisted apartheid through non-violent political action. The organisation was formed in 1969 under the leadership of Steve Biko and Barney Pi ...

(SASO) and the Black Community Programmes (BCP). These were three of the 17 black consciousness organisations that were banned on Wednesday, 19 October 1977 for their role in the 16 June 1976

Soweto uprising The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from various schools began to p ...

s. A year after the formation of AZAPO, in September 1979, at its conference in Roodepoort, the national executive was elected with

Curtis Nkondo Curtis Nkondo (1 February 1928 – 3 December 2009) was a South African diplomat, school teacher and politician with the African National Congress. Born in Louis Trichardt, Nkondo was a lifelong activist with the ANC. He was a high school teacher ...

as its president. During 1987, AZAPO was banned by the South African government and forced underground and into exile. It would be unbanned in 1990. In October 1994, AZAPO merged with its sister organisation in exile, the Black Consciousness Movement of

Azania Azania () is a name that has been applied to various parts of southeastern tropical Africa. In the Roman period and perhaps earlier, the toponym has been hypothesised to have referred to a portion of the Southeast Africa coast extending from sou ...

(BCMA). AZAPO campaigned for the isolation of South Africa during its

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

years by waging a "cultural

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

" in the country;

black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...

increasingly regained their resolve to fight for their freedom and formed trade unions and civic organisations. The armed wing of AZAPO was the Azanian National Liberation Army (AZANLA) which received support and military training from Iran, Yugoslavia, China, Libya, Botswana, Palestine, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Eritrea. AZANLA is a successor to the Azanian People's Liberation Front (APLF) whose cadres received military training from countries such as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. There was an agreement with Iraq to train AZANLA combatants but that was thwarted by the

First Gulf War The Gulf War (1990–1991) was an armed conflict between Iraq and a multinational military coalition led by the United States, triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Persian Gulf War may also refer to: * Shatt al-Arab conflict ...

in 1990. During the 1980s, it was engaged in a bloody internecine feud with the ANC which operated under the guise of the United Democratic Front (UDF). AZAPO, along with its youth wing AZAYO were unbanned in 1990, which permitted it to continue its political programs legally. It was invited, but refused to participate in, the

negotiations to end apartheid The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution ...

, a decision which led to the resignation of two senior members, Monwabisi Vuza and Imraan Moosa. The party then boycotted the

1994 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1994. Africa * 1994 Botswana general election * 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election * 1994 Malawian general election * 1994 Mozambican general election * 1994 Namibian general election * 1994 South Afr ...

, but has participated in each of the elections since then. AZAPO won one seat in each of the

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

elections, but failed to win a seat in the 2014 general election. The current leader (National President) of the party is Nelvis Qekema who was elected at the 25th National Congress held at University of Johannesburg, Soweto on December 4, 2021. He succeeded Strike Thokoane who was elected as president of AZAPO in 2017, during the party's 23rd National Congress in Meadowlands, Soweto. In February 2022, AZAPO and the

Pan Africanist Congress of Azania The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, often shortened to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), is a South African pan-Africanist national liberation movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert S ...

(PAC) announced a new unity pact with the intention to contest elections together.

Negotiations with SOPA

The party has had regular negotiations with

SOPA The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on October 26, 20 ...

aimed at merging the two parties, but these broke down in 2004, 2007 and again in 2013.

Election results

National Assembly elections

, - ! Election ! Total votes ! Share of vote ! Seats ! +/– ! Government , - !

, 27,257 , 0.17% , , New , , - !

, 39,116 , 0.25% , , 0 , , - !

, 38,245 , 0.22% , , 0 , , - !

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, 20,421 , 0.11% , , 1 , , - !

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, 12,823 , 0.07% , , 0 , , - !

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, 19,048 , 0.12% , , 0 ,

Provincial elections

! rowspan=2 , Election ! colspan=2 ,

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

! colspan=2 , Free State ! colspan=2 ,

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

! colspan=2 ,

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

! colspan=2 ,

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

! colspan=2 ,

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

! colspan=2 ,

North-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

! colspan=2 ,

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

! colspan=2 ,

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

, - ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats , - !

, , , , , , , 0.16 , , 0/73 , 0.17 , , 0/80 , 0.54 , , 0/49 , 0.10 , , 0/30 , , , , 0.41 , , 0/30 , , , , - !

, 0.17 , , 0/63 , 0.35 , , 0/30 , 0.25 , , 0/73 , 0.26 , , 0/80 , 0.51 , , 0/49 , 0.19 , , 0/30 , 0.29 , , 0/33 , 0.52 , , 0/30 , 0.09 , , 0/42 , - !

, 0.20 , , 0/63 , , , , 0.21 , , 0/73 , , , , 0.38 , , 0/49 , 0.23 , , 0/30 , 0.25 , , 0/33 , 0.60 , , 0/30 , 0.07 , , 0/42 , - !

, 0.12 , , 0/63 , 0.16 , , 0/30 , 0.12 , , 0/73 , 0.15 , , 0/80 , 0.26 , , 0/49 , 0.09 , , 0/30 , 0.17 , , 0/33 , 0.25 , , 0/30 , 0.04 , , 0/42 , - !

, 0.08 , , 0/63 , 0.09 , , 0/30 , 0.08 , , 0/73 , 0.07 , , 0/80 , 0.17 , , 0/49 , 0.04 , , 0/30 , 0.08 , , 0/33 , 0.25 , , 0/30 , 0.02 , , 0/42 , - !

, 0.22 , , 0/73 , , , , 0.12 , , 0/80 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.04 , , 0/42

Municipal elections

, - ! Election ! Votes ! % ! +/– , - !

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, , 0.3% , - !

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, 74,627 , 0.3% , - !

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, 50,631 , 0.2% , - !

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, 28,049 , 0.07% , - !

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, 17,744 , 0.06% , -

References

External links

Azanian People's Organisation
official site

{{Authority control African and Black nationalist organizations in Africa National liberation movements in Africa Political parties in South Africa Political parties based in Johannesburg