ANC’s Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe rally support against Urban Bantu Councils Act

Date: 7 Feb 1962
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

ANC’s Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe rally support against Urban Bantu Councils Act

African National Congress (ANC) leaders, Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe went from house to house in Orlando, Soweto near Johannesburg rallying support amongst community members against the government's Bantu Urban Councils Act. The Bantu Urban Councils Act, Act No 79 of 1961 created black councils in urban areas that were linked to authorities in the homelands. The secret activity by Sisulu and Nokwe was conducted at a very difficult time in the history of the ANC as it was banned along with other liberation movements like Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), South African Communist Party (SACP) and others. These liberation movements, banned under the Unlawful Organisations Act in April 1960, were forced to conduct their political activities underground.

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?

How we know this

01O’Malley P. ‘1962’, from Nelson Mandela Foundation, [online], Available at www.nelsonmandela.org [Accessed: 12 January 2012]
02African History Guide, ‘Apartheid Legislation in South Africa’, [online], Available at africanhistory.about.com [Accessed: 12 January 2012]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2012, February 1). ANC’s Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe rally support against Urban Bantu Councils Act. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0073808

South African History Online (2012) 'ANC’s Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe rally support against Urban Bantu Councils Act', South African History Online, 1 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0073808 (Accessed: 30 September 2026).

South African History Online, ANC’s Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe rally support against Urban Bantu Councils Act [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0073808, (accessed 30 September 2026).

"ANC’s Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe rally support against Urban Bantu Councils Act." South African History Online, 1 Feb. 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0073808. Accessed 30 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "ANC’s Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe rally support against Urban Bantu Councils Act." South African History Online. February 1, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0073808.