This paper will explore the liminal space and interconnectedness between a radical NGO and a consensus-driven centre-left political party, and how these combined to create Swedish policy on apartheid-era South Africa from the 1970s until 1990s.

The political party is the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP), a dominant force in Sweden during the 20th century. In the early 1970s, a SAP government launched a direct aid programme that helped fund African liberation movements until the 1990s. Among the beneficiaries were PAIGC of Guinea-Bissau, SWAPO of Namibia, MPLA of Angola and the ANC of South Africa. The latter became the longest-standing recipient, receiving nearly 1 billion SEK between 1973 and 1994.[1] The aid programme was secret as Sweden maintained diplomatic relations with apartheid South Africa and as the South African government had banned foreign government support to NGOs on the ground. The international campaigns for sanctions against South Africa also threatened a public relations disaster should the channelling of Swedish funds into the country be discovered. As a result, NGOs were used as a cover to fund projects run by the ANC and its allies in the struggle against the apartheid government. 

One such NGO was the Africa Groups, founded in 1974 to fundraise for liberation movements in Africa. The collected funds went directly to the liberation movements, with no strings attached; this was not without controversy as some movements spent their funds on their armed struggle. Throughout this era, there was a distinct overlap between state and NGOs, formalised in 1986 as one of the Africa Groups first employees – Lena Johansson Blomstrand – was hired by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) to facilitate the channelling of funds towards southern African recipients. This paper asks questions about conflict and consensus, the co-option of radical action and the impact of these close links on Swedish government policy. 

 [1] Sellström, Tor, Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa – Volume I: Formation of a Popular Opinion 1950–1970 (Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1999), p. 254.