The South African National Front, also known as the National Front of South Africa (SANF) was a neo-fascist organisation in South Africa formed in 1977. It was an initiative of John Tyndall of the British National Front; sister organisations were also formed in Australia and New Zealand at the same time.

SANF's first Chairman was Jack Noble, with the party being organised during the 1970s by Ray Hill. SANF channelled funds to the NF as part of an international network of neo-fascism. It moved beyond a mere gathering of expatriates when it linked up with Italian and Portuguese neo-fascists and the South African Ku Klux Klan.[1] It also tried to link with the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) and the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP) (from whom it received funding) with the ultimate aim of a single united racist/neo-fascist party in South Africa but this 'embryonic’ [2] party never came to fruition.[3]

SANF published its own magazine Hitback. It also "published a number of anti-black and ‘anti-Zionist’ pamphlets which led to calls for it to be prosecuted for incitement to racial hatred", SANF’s policies would have led to a "massive increase in the death rate of black infants".[4] By 1979 SANF's antisemitism led Jewish youths to threaten to take matters into their own hands; Harry Schwarz and Alf Widman of the Progressive Federal Party called on the government to do something about the party.[5]

In 1979 the HNP replaced Noble as leader with Alan Fotheringham, a former HNP candidate,[6] and Ray Hill returned to England.

Wit Kommando

SANF formed its own paramilitary wing Wit Kommando/White Commando, a not unusual development in the context of right wing South African politics.[7][8] In 1980 the Wit Kommando/White Commando began a campaign of terrorism mainly against blacks. A number of bombings took place, notably against the offices of the South African Institute of Race Relations and the University of South Africa. In 1981 they planned to also attack whites whom they regarded as "white kaffirs" or race mixers. The South African police made arrests and discovered a hitlist of targets which included Bishop Desmond Tutu,[9] the White Commando having previously "threatened him repeatedly".[10] Fotheringham was not charged but Max (Massimo) Bollo from SANF's national directorate, and leader of the Italian associated grouping UNIDO, received a lengthy jail sentence, as did two other fellow Italians.[11] SANF disbanded in the early 1980s.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hill, Ray and Bell, Andrew The Other Face of Terror Grafton (1988) p56, pp67-68
  2. ^ Term used by former member
  3. ^ Hill, Ray and Bell, Andrew The Other Face of Terror Grafton (1988) p56, pp70
  4. ^ Baron, Alexander Jew-Haters, Black-Haters, violent Criminals, hypocrites and liars condemned out of their own mouths 2nd edition Anglo-Hebrew Publishing p9 ISBN 1-898318-07-7
  5. ^ Article from (Johannesburg) Sunday Express 4 February 1979 Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Hill, Ray and Bell, Andrew The Other Face of Terror Grafton (1988) p70
  7. ^ It is listed as among the most "notorious" of paramilitary organisations in Johann van Rooyen Hard Right: The New White Power in South Africa IB Tauris (1994) p91-92
  8. ^ "GTD ID:198012100001". Global Terrorism Database. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  9. ^ Hill, Ray and Bell, Andrew The Other Face of Terror Grafton (1988)p72
  10. ^ Allen, John Rabble-Rouser for Peace: The Authorised Biography of Desmond Tutu Rider 2006 p207
  11. ^ Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report Volume 2 p654
  12. ^ "Right wing Wit Kommando bombs academic's office". South African History Online. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
Categories