Remembering SASO, 50 Years After Their Inauguration


By Katlego Mereko

Like a flower that defiantly blossoms from a rubble of dirt, history has shown that from the most tragic of situations can emerge ground breaking achievements including but not limited to the political, intellectual, artistic, and the scientific. 

This is true of South African Students Association (SASO) that emerged right in the middle of one of the worst crimes against humanity affected in history - Apartheid. 

After black students grew disillusioned by their non-participation in student bodies such as the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) and University Christian Movement (UCM), a decision was taken in 1968 to establish a non-white student movement called SASO. 

At a UCM Conference at Stutterheim in July 1968, about 40 blacks from all the main black centres of higher education in the Republic formed themselves into a caucus and agreed on the need for a nationally representative black student organisation. Fifty years ago, in July ’69, the black students saw to the inauguration of SASO at the University of the North (now University of Limpopo) where Steve Biko was elected its president. 

SASO’s particular gripe with NUSAS is best expressed in Biko’s own words in his capacity as SASO President: 

“In the NUSAS Conference of 1967 the blacks were made to stay at a church building somewhere in the Grahamstown location, each day being brought to Conference site by cars etc. On the other hand, their white "brothers" were staying in residence around the conference site. This is perhaps the turning point in the history of black support for NUSAS. So appalling were the conditions that it showed the blacks just how valued they were in the organisation. 

“The 1968 NUSAS Congress was uneventful. The overriding impression was that the blacks were there in name only. The swing to the right in the organisation did not meet with the usual counter from the blacks. It was clear that none of the blacks felt a part of the organisation. Hence the Executive that was elected was all white. 

“Shortly thereafter, still in July, black students at a UCM conference demanded time to meet alone as a group. Ostensibly they were to discuss what to do in the face of the "72 hour" clause which forbade them to remain in a white area for more than 72 hours at a stretch. However once together they discussed for the first time, formally, the idea of forming a black organisation.”
 

In SASO, the idea of forming a non-white student movement was by no means novel. In the 1960s there had been a few abortive attempts at creating such student movements. These were the likes of African Students Association (ASA) and the African Students Union of South Africa (ASUSA); however, they were quickly foiled for their affiliation to banned parties, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) of Azania and the African National Congress (ANC) respectively. 

SASO would nonetheless go on to have a telling impact in the history of South African politics as they famously played a significant role in the ideas of high school pupils who go on to lead the 1976 Uprisings. 

From SASO emerged some of the brightest thinkers in our history such was Winnie Kgware, Onkgopotse Tiro, Mamphela Ramphele, Barney Pityana and of course, Bantu Biko, to just mention a few. 

Other than the run-of-the-mill duties of student representatives on campus, SASO ran a highly engaging monthly newsletter that looked at such things as politics in Africa while promoting artistic if cultural endeavours of black people. The newsletters on their own are truly something not only to behold, but also engage, and represents something of a goldmine for researchers in the fields of Politics, History, Philosophy, Sociology and other faculties that concern themselves with justice and the development of humanity. 

Guided by the philosophy of Black Consciousness, the organisation grew beyond campus politics to affect livelihoods in black communities, their involvement in high schools being one such example. In that sense, it was also a perfect platform from which to form the Black People’s Convention (BPC) and the Black Community Programs (BPC), which were black conscious structures that saw to the continuation of community work after students have left or graduated from universities. 

Though not always recognised, SASO occupies an important place in South African student and general politics. Student organisations today can draw valuable lessons from that class of students who were expressly intent on creating an alternative reality for the South African society. 

Below are the Aims of SASO as an organisation 

  • To crystallise the needs and aspirations of the non-white students and to seek to make known their grievances. 
  •  Where possible to put into effect programmes designed to meet the needs of the non-white students and o act on a collective basis an effort to solve some of the problems which best the centres individually 
  • To heighten the degree of contact not only amongst the non-white students but also amongst these and the rest of the South African student population, to make the non-white students accepted on their own terms as an integral part of the South African student community. 
  • To establish a solid identity amongst the non-white students and to ensure that these students are always treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. 
  • To protect the interests of the member centres and to act as a pressure group on all institutions and organisations for the benefit of the non-white students. 
  • To boost up the morale of the non-white students, to heighten their own confidence in themselves and contribute largely o the direction of thought taken by the various institutions on social, political and other current topics.
-JP

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