| Abbreviation | SANF |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1977 |
| Dissolved | 1980s |
| Location |
TheSouth African National Front, also known as theNational Front of South Africa (SANF) was aneo-fascist organisation in South Africa formed in 1977. It was an initiative ofJohn Tyndall of theBritish National Front; sister organisations were also formed in Australia and New Zealand at the same time.
SANF's first Chairman was Jack Noble, with the party being organised during the 1970s byRay Hill. SANF channelled funds to the NF as part of an international network ofneo-fascism. It moved beyond a mere gathering ofexpatriates when it linked up with Italian and Portuguese neo-fascists and the South AfricanKu Klux Klan.[1] It also tried to link with theAfrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) and theHerstigte Nasionale Party (HNP) (from whom it received funding) with the ultimate aim of a single unitedracist/neo-fascist party in South Africa but this 'embryonic’[2] party never came to fruition.[3]
SANF published its own magazineHitback. It also "published a number of anti-black and 'anti-Zionist' pamphlets which led to calls for it to be prosecuted for incitement toracial hatred", SANF’s policies would have led to a "massive increase in the death rate of black infants".[4] By 1979 SANF'santisemitism led Jewish youths to threaten to take matters into their own hands;Harry Schwarz and Alf Widman of theProgressive Federal Party called on the government to do something about the party.[5]
In 1979 the HNP replaced Noble as leader with Alan Fotheringham, a former HNP candidate,[6] and Ray Hill returned to England.
SANF formed its own paramilitary wing Wit Kommando/White Commando, a not unusual development in the context ofright wing South African politics.[7][8] In 1980 the Wit Kommando/White Commando began a campaign ofterrorism mainly against blacks. A number of bombings took place, notably against the offices of theSouth African Institute of Race Relations and theUniversity of South Africa. In 1981 they planned to also attack whites whom they regarded as "white kaffirs" orrace mixers. The South African police made arrests and discovered a hitlist of targets which included BishopDesmond Tutu,[9] the White Commando having previously "threatened him repeatedly".[10] Fotheringham was not charged but Max (Massimo) Bollo from SANF's national directorate, and leader of the Italian associated grouping UNIDO, received a lengthy jail sentence, as did two other fellow Italians.[11] SANF disbanded in the early 1980s.[12]
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