Cape Town peace march

On 13 September 1989, 30 000 Capetonians from a diverse cross-section of the city marched in support of peace and the end of apartheid. The event, led by Mayor Gordon Oliver, Archbishop Tutu, Rev Frank Chikane, Moulana Farid Esack, Allan Boesak, and other religious leaders, was held in defiance of the State of Emergency which banned political protests and apartheid laws which enforced racial segregation. The march resulted in concessions from the apartheid cabinet headed by FW de Klerk, following years of violent clashes between anti-apartheid protestors and the police, and was the first such event to include elected world government functionaries. It was considered the "last illegal march" at the time, and went ahead without major confrontation. The size of the protest, despite the open defiance, and the restrained response from the police signalled the beginning of the transition to democracy.

An anti-apartheid Defiance Campaign had been announced in the run up to the whites-only general election. With many political organisations banned and leaders in prison or detained without trial, the campaign was led by a broad cross-section of leaders, including religious leaders, community leaders and trade union activists, sometimes operating under the banner of the Mass Democratic Movement. Previous protests were met with force by the police. A protest in the centre of Cape Town 10 days earlier was dispersed by a water cannon dispensing purple dye, prompting the slogan the purple shall govern.

More than 20 people were killed in the vicinity of Cape Town on the election day of 6 September 1989, and at a memorial service for these deaths, Tutu called for a wider protest march to take place the following week. The march gathered wide support, including from groups not usually active in protest marches, including businesses and white opposition parties.

Earlier in 1989, the State President P.W. Botha had been replaced by F.W. de Klerk as head of the ruling National Party. De Klerk led his party to victory in the whites-only election on 6 September and was due to be inaugurated as State President a week after the march.

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