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Episode details

World Service,27 Sep 2016,9 mins

South Africa's 1985 State of Emergency

Witness History

Available for over a year

In the dying years of the Apartheid regime, the white minority government in South Africa was desperate to keep control as people took to the streets demanding change. A state of emergency was declared allowing the police and security forces sweeping new powers, which some individuals executed with extreme brutality. Rebecca Kesby spoke to Rev Dr Allan Boesak who was a political activist and church leader - he was one of those calling for an end to the unfair Apartheid system. (Photo: A young South African boy in Duduza township, Jul 1985 (Gideon Mendel, AFP)

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