United Democratic Front (South Africa) - Organisational Structure

Organisational Structure

The UDF was formed of organisations from throughout South Africa, although support was always concentrated in the Cape, Natal, and the Witwatersrand area. It soon attracted a massive following and had the support of around 3,000,000 members by 1985. Among its prominent leaders were Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rev. Allan Boesak and several 1950s activists, including Albertina Sisulu, Oscar Mpetha and Helen Joseph. The UDF and its affiliates promoted rent boycotts, school protests, worker stay-away and a boycott of the tricameral system. Smaller organisations affiliated to the UDF targeted more specific targets for their protests; the End Conscription Campaign (ECC), for example, was set up in opposition to the compulsory military conscription of white males into the South African Defence Force. The Front and its members were largely responsible for the intensification and sustenance of resistance in the period from 1984 to 1986. At its peak, in 1987, it had some 700 affiliates. The most important of these were student/youth organisations, trade unions, "civics" and women's organisations and the church groups where the UDF had its roots.