Total Strategy to Defend Apartheid

“Map of Southern African Countries.” Adventure to Africa, www.adventuretoafrica.com/countries/map-of-southern-africa/.

During the mid 1970s, Mozambique and Angola just gained their independence, the Soweto Uprisings are gaining international attention, US President Jimmy Carter abandons the notion of “white tilt rule” and other events were taking place around the world. Hanlon talks about how the foreign government in South Africa created an enemy in the form of the neighboring states and their “Total Onslaught” on the commonwealth of South Africa and its interests. He then goes on to outline the actions the South African government took to setup a “Total Strategy” to fight back against the independent states.

All the indigenous people wanted was political, social and religious freedom. This “total onslaught” that was viewed by the South African government was just a made up concept to gain international sympathy. The total Startegy proved to be nothing more than a system to system and control the black populations in southern Africa. This chapter helps explain the extent to which the apartheid government went to hinder change and progress within the southern African region. It also gives us the necessary information that forms the foundation of the resentment the southern African region would have towards the apartheid government in the coming years.