Ever since 1960 black South African politics has been characterised by a lack of continuity in its political organisation. It was in that year that the African National Congress and the Pan-Africanist Congress were banned and the country's black political leadership was jailed, banned or had fled into exile.

The effect was divisiveness in black society. Divisiveness can be traced to a number of factors. One of them was the political climate which had evolved during the late 1950's and early 1960's in which there was a very real anticipation of radical change in the foreseeable future. When radical change did not come about in the short term confusion set in as blame and counter blame were bandied about.

Black South Africa had responded to the 1948 National Party victory by becoming increasingly militant, and during the 1950's, militancy promoted revolutionary concepts. The African National Congress, in particular, conscientised black South Africa and there was a real expectation that black opposition forces could be built up to a point where either the government would be faced with an ungovernable situation, or alternatively the country would be so disrupted by black political tactics and strategies that the government would be forced to its knees and be replaced by a majority government.

The late 1950's saw a swing towards the acceptance of the possible inevitability of employing violence to bring about radical change. When the ANC and the PAC were banned they went underground and set about establishing external military bases from which they could mount armed attacks against the South African Government.

The ANC had been the country's premier political organisation since 1912. It was a popular movement with widespread support, and after its banning black hopes remained pinned on it. Blacks anticipated that new tactics and strategies would be evolved to meet the new circumstances.

The PAC also played an important role in developing black expectations. During the late 1950's the youth wing of the ANC became increasingly impatient with the non-violent strategies and tactics of Chief Albert Lutuli and the ANC's executive. The breakaway ANC group which formed the PAC as a political vehicle to express their aspirations was subject to very complex motives when they did so. Their motives included the rejection of the multi-racial nature of the ANC's programmes. They were filled with an African vision which led them to attempt to develop a purely African political force which could employ strategies and tactics in which the need to avoid the employment of violence would not act as a deterrent. In a certain sense the PAC represented the younger generation's impatience and gave expression to the aspirations of those who thought that change could be hastened by increased militancy and the possible employment of violence.

The PAC was therefore also responsible for increased black expectations of early victories in the struggle for liberation. The tragedy of Sharpville can be traced to this spirit of impatience. The ANC executive had decided that it was futile to rush headlong into confrontations with armed South African police, when the people they involved were ill-prepared for the consequences. The march which led to the Sharpville massacre was a march in defiance of specific directives from Chief Albert Lutuli.