60th+Anniversary+of+the+Three+Doctors+Pact,+ANC+statement

ANC statement, 8 March 2007
=60th Anniversary of the Three Doctors’ Pact=

The African National Congress commemorates the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the declaration of cooperation between the ANC and Transvaal and Natal Indian Congresses on 9 March 1947 with a call to re-affirm the non-racial unity of the South African people.

The declaration became known as 'Three Doctors' Pact' because it was signed by Dr AB Xuma, Dr GM Naicker and Dr Yusuf Dadoo, respectively presidents of the ANC, Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC).

The pact was a watershed moment in the history of our country, uniting Africans and Indians in a common struggle for freedom and non-racialism. The pact was a precursor to the Congress Alliance, which brought together African, Indian, coloured and white democrats.

It also signalled a shift in the methods of struggle, drawing on the spirit of the passive resistance campaigns of Indian organisations and laying the basis for the 1952 Defiance of Unjust Laws campaign.

The pact recognised "the urgency of cooperation between the Non-European peoples and other democratic forces for the attainment of basic human rights and full citizenship for all sections of the South African people."

The three organisations made an appeal to "all democratic and freedom-loving citizens of South Africa" to work together for the attainment of "full franchise", equal economic and industrial rights, the removal of all land restrictions, the provision of adequate housing facilities, the extension of free and compulsory education, freedom of movement, and the removal of all discriminatory and oppressive legislation.

Eight years later, in 1955, the Congress of the People in Kliptown echoed this call, declaring that South Africa belonged to all who live in it, black and white.

Now, 60 years later, as South Africans work to build a new democratic nation free from the division and conflict of the past, the call of the three doctors remains as relevant as ever.

The challenges the country faces in 2007 requires of all South Africans a united effort - across race, class and gender - to build a society that does indeed belong to all who live in it. It places a responsibility on all South Africans to continue the struggle to build a non-racial society in which racial prejudice and privilege is overcome.

That is why, in the spirit of the Three Doctor's Pact, the ANC has made a call to South Africans to join it in a people's contract to build a better life for all.

As we celebrate this important event in our nation's history, let us together reaffirm our commitment to a common, united non-racial struggle.

Issued by: African National Congress, PO Box 61884, Marshalltown 2107 More information: **Smuts Ngonyama** **082 994 2112** 457 words