In 1953, Adolph ‘Sailor’ Malan, launched the largest protests ever waged against the Apartheid government. Over 250 000 members formed what was called the “Torch Commandos”. They marched at night, guided by the light of torch-fire to protest against the Apartheid governments discriminative and oppressive policies. The Torch Commando’s demanded an end to the NP’s race-based policies and that voting rights be returned to Cape coloureds. In Malan’s own words, the Torch Commando’s were “established to oppose the police state, abuse of state power, censorship, racism, the removal of the Coloured vote and other oppressive manifestations of the creeping fascism of the National Party regime”
‘Sailor’ Malan was born in Wellington on the 3rd of October, 1910. He died 17 September 1963.

