Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.213
Object Name
T-Shirt
Title
Power to the People
People
African National Congress
Date
1989
Description
White t-shirt with large square in centre. The square is yellow, green, and black which are the colours of the African National Congress; the organisation which created this t-shirt. The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. It has been in power since the election of lawyer, activist and former political prisoner Nelson Mandela at the first free and fair elections in 1994, and has been re-elected at every election since, though with a reduced majority every time since 2004. The ANC was founded on 8 January 1912 by Walter Rubusana in Bloemfontein as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), its primary mission was to bring all Africans together as one people, to defend their rights and freedoms. This included giving full voting rights to Black South Africans and mixed-race South Africans and ending the apartheid system introduced by the National Party government after their election victory in 1948.
The images on the t-shirt have different translations of the phrase "power to the people"/have a similar sentiment. The first says "Amandla Ngawethu" which is Xhosa. The second says "Matla Ke a rona" which is Southern Sotho, the third says "Jana Shakti" which is hindi, the fourth is "power to the people", which is in English, the fourth is "Makt Til Folket, which is Norweigan, the fifth is "a luta continua" which is Portugese, the fourth is "die stryd duur voort" which is in Afrikaans, and the last is in Arabic, written on the -shirt in Arabic characters. There are colourful images of people holding flags, wheels. and other objects. There is repetition of a hand in a fist - the power symbol. Underneath the square of images and writing it says in small green text - "design by Cat for A.N.C (c) 1989, from A.N.C.S.A merchandising. Tel 0716076768."
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