On Black Wednesday, October 19 1977, BJ Voster’s apartheid government mounted an assault on the media and over a dozen political, student and cultural formations affiliated to the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM).

Singled out for special attention were the SA Students Organisation (SASO), the SA Students Movement (SASM) and the Soweto Students Representative Council (SSRC). Several youth organisations were banned. But it was the banning of the Black People’s Convention (BPC) that seemed to signal the end of an era of political, mass mobilisation. ..