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On behalf of the National Executive Committee, the entire membership of the African National Congress, its military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe and indeed on my own behalf, I greet you on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Xuma-Naicker-Dadoo Pact in March 1947. This significant revolutionary pact, signed on behalf of the ANC, the Natal Indian Congress and the Transvaal Indian Congress, was a step towards the achievement and consolidation of the broad political and organisational unity between our movements and people. It also laid a firm foundation for the Congress Alliance of the 1950s and the United Democratic Front (UDF), the broad democratic movement in our country today.
The Xuma-Naicker-Dadoo Pact took place a year after the great African miner`s strike of 1946 and the Indian passive resistance of the same year. These events evoked the conscious political mobilisation of our people towards unity. They consolidated the spirit of fraternity and solidarity between the African and Indian communities.
It was also in 1946 that the Government of India broke relations with the racist regime, spearheading the campaign for international action against apartheid and support for our liberation struggle. This role on the part of the people of India, which takes origins from the heroic struggles led by the great Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, has always been a source of inspiration and strength for all opponents of the apartheid system.
In observing the 40th anniversary of the Xuma-Naicker-Dadoo Pact, which coincides with our Year of Advance to People`s Power, we reiterate our commitment to the liberation of our people, the complete overthrow of the racist regime and the emergence of a new South Africa.
Your government and people have through the years responded resolutely to our appeals to isolate apartheid South Africa and have given us political, material and moral support - we salute you.
Let us unite in struggle for peace in the world.
O.R. Tambo
President, African National Congress
ES Reddy