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How did guerrilla activity by the African National Congress contribute to the end of apartheid in South Africa?

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Shiʿi militia fighter in Iraq — guerrilla warfare A masked Iraqi Shiʿi militia fighter dashing across a street, carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, Baghdad, August 7, 2004.

The African National Congress (ANC) turned to guerrilla warfare and sabotage after the 1960 Sharpeville massacre and the subsequent banning of the organization, which left no legal avenues for political change. In 1961, the ANC formed its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), to challenge the apartheid government through violent resistance.123

While the ANC’s early campaigns were largely ineffective against the state’s superior military power, leading to the imprisonment of leaders like Nelson Mandela, the armed struggle served as a persistent symbol of defiance. By the 1980s, MK activities intensified, contributing to a state of virtual civil war that placed severe strain on the South African economy. The costs of maintaining apartheid, combined with international sanctions and the persistent internal unrest, eventually forced the government to recognize that the system was unsustainable. This pressure, alongside shifting global geopolitics, created the conditions for the negotiations that ultimately ended apartheid and led to the 1994 democratic elections.13245