Up to 100 ANC members are reported to have been detained in Swaziland

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Around 100 African National Congress (ANC) members were reported to have been detained in Swaziland. The arrests were confirmed by the Swaziland Police Commissioner and a large cache of arms in the north of the country was found. The 1980s period was one of bitter times in the history of the movement in Swaziland. A number of events, including a shootout between Swaziland police and ANC guerrillas marked the period. Following the shootout, the ANC’s Chief Representative in Swaziland, Stanley Mabizela and the police commissioner were summoned by King Sobhuza II to the Royal Kraal to negotiate a truce. Nonetheless, in 1982 Mabizela was forced to leave Swaziland following a secret agreement signed between King Sobhuza II and the South African government.

How we know this

01O’Malley P. ‘1982’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialog, [online], available at www.nelsonmandela.org.za(Accessed: 24 October 2012)
02South African History Online, ‘Stanley Mabizela’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za(Accessed: 25 October 2012)
03EISA, (2008) ‘Swaziland: Demise of democracy and the consolidation of autocracy (1968-1986)’, [online], available at www.eisa.org.za (Accessed: 25 October 2012)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2012, December 13). Up to 100 ANC members are reported to have been detained in Swaziland. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094406

South African History Online (2012) 'Up to 100 ANC members are reported to have been detained in Swaziland', South African History Online, 13 December. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094406 (Accessed: 6 November 2026).

South African History Online, Up to 100 ANC members are reported to have been detained in Swaziland [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094406, (accessed 6 November 2026).

"Up to 100 ANC members are reported to have been detained in Swaziland." South African History Online, 13 Dec. 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094406. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

South African History Online. "Up to 100 ANC members are reported to have been detained in Swaziland." South African History Online. December 13, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094406.