Umkhonto we Sizwe, noun phrase

/ʊmˈkɔntɔ we ˈsiːzwe/
Forms:
Mkhonto we Sizwe, Umkontho we SizweShow more Also Mkhonto we Sizwe, Umkontho we Sizwe, Umkonto we Sizwe.
Origin:
IsiXhosaShow more IsiXhosa, literally ‘the Spear of the Nation’.
The military wing of the African National Congress; MK; Spear of the Nation; umkhonto sense 2. See also ANC noun1. Also attributive.
1961 Umkonto We Sizwe 6 Dec. 1Units of Umkonto We Sizwe today carried out planned attacks against Government installations.
1963 People Accept Challenge of Nationalists Mar. 3Umkhonto we Sizwe, as the military wing to our struggle is also guided by the same principal [sic] of acting only on the bases of a scientific analysis of the objective conditions.
1971 Post 25 July 2Ex chief Albert Lutuli was head of the ANC, Robert Sobukwe led the new PAC. Umkonto we Sizwe and Poqo were more militant wings.
1977 Rhodeo (Rhodes Univ.) 30 Sept. 7Nelson Mandela of the ANC ran its military arm, known as Umkonto We Sizwe (‘Spear of the Nation’).
1985 Financial Mail 2 Aug. 46Anticipating the banning of the ANC, Mandela...helped form Umkonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the ANC’s military wing that started a sabotage campaign in December 1961. The ANC and PAC were banned in 1960.
1986 P. Maylam Hist. of Afr. People 190The ANC did not officially abandon its non-violent strategy, but it did spawn a new organisation, Umkonto we Sizwe (The Spear of the Nation), which would engage in acts of sabotage without harm to life.
1991 G. McIntosh in Sunday Times 13 Jan. 16Umkhonto we Sizwe soldiers will probably only require minimal retraining.
1992 Guardian Weekly (U.K.) 13 Nov. 10He (sc. Nelson Mandela) issued..a strong rebuke to extremists within the ANC, declaring that any members of the military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), who engaged in ‘acts of terror’ automatically disqualified themselves from membership.
The military wing of the African National Congress; MK; Spear of the Nation; umkhonto sense 2.
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IsiXhosa
umkhonto, nounn.Umkhosi, nounn.
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