The organizational operations and impact of the PAN Africanist Congress on the struggle for liberation in South Africa, 1959 -1990
This research study addresses the organisational operations and the impact of the Pan Africanist Congress of South Africa (later- of Azania) in the liberation struggle from its inception to 1990. Having been formed in 1959 by a coterie of renegade African National Congress (ANC) members, the PAC masqueraded as the Africanist movement. ‘Africanist’ is a 19th century ideology that says that black people should determine their own future - Africa for the Africans. The ideology of the PAC embodied external Africanist influences as well as South African experiences. This was clearly illustrated in the basic documents of the organisation, e.g. the Pan Africanist Manifesto, PAC Disciplinary Code, the Constitution, Oath of Allegiance and most importantly, Sobukwe’s inaugural address. These documents show how the Africanists conceived of the South African struggle as part of the broader struggle of the peoples of Africa against colonialism, imperialism and white domination. The PAC was barely a year old when it was banned in 1960 with its leaders restricted and scattered before they could clearly formulate a coherent approach on many pressing issues like African socialism, dialectical materialism, co-operation with other population groups and their attitude towards the South African Communist Party (SACP) and its members. It is generally believed that through 40 years of exile, self-marginalisation, political somersaults and internal leadership wrangles, the one point of consistency has been the PAC's attempt to define itself in opposition to the ANC. A plethora of scholars have over the years extensively and painstakingly researched the role of the PAC in the struggle for the liberation of South Africa. However, a survey of the available literature on the PAC reveals a lack of in-depth academic analysis of its organizational modus operandi and impact thereof. As such, the research is geared towards studying the dynamics of the PAC’s policies and mode of operations to fill the lacuna that exists in the literature.
PAN Africanist Congress, Struggle for liberation
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