Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (July 2012) |
| Pan Africanist Congress of Azania | |
|---|---|
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| President | Letlapa Mphahlele |
| Chairperson | Bishop Waters Toboti |
| Secretary-General | [Narius Moloto] |
| Founder | Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe |
| Slogan | Izwe Lethu!! Our Land!! |
| Founded | 6 April 1959 |
| Split from | African National Congress |
| Student wing | Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania |
| Youth wing | Pan Africanist Youth Congress of Azania |
| Women's wing | Pan Africanist Women's Organisation |
| Paramilitary wing | Azanian People's Liberation Army (formerly) |
| Ideology | Pan Africanism Socialism |
| National Assembly seats |
1 / 400
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| Website | |
| www.pac.org.za | |
| Party flag | |
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The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (once known as the Pan Africanist Congress, abbreviated as the PAC) is a South African liberation movement, and is now a minor political party. It was founded by Robert Sobukwe.
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History [edit]
The PAC was formally launched on 6 April 1959 at Orlando Communal Hall in Soweto. A number of African National Congress (ANC) members broke away because they objected to the substitution of the 1949 Programme of Action with the Freedom Charter adopted in 1955. Further they objected to the inclusion of other national groups such as the Communist Party of South Africa. Charismatic Robert Sobukwe was elected as the first president, and Potlako Leballo as the Secretary General.
On 21 March 1960, the PAC organized a campaign against pass laws. People gathered in Sharpeville and Langa. In Sharpeville the police reacted with brutal force triggering the Sharpeville massacre. Sobukwe and other top leaders were arrested and later convicted for incitement. Sobukwe was sentenced to three years and Potlako Leballo to two years in prison. Sobukwe died in Kimberley, Cape Province, 1978 of lung cancer. Immediately after the Sharpeville massacre the National Party Government banned both the ANC and PAC on 8 April 1960. The PAC responded by founding its armed wing, the Azanian People's Liberation Army.
Ideology [edit]
The PAC followed the idea that the South African Government should be constituted by the African people owing their allegiance only to Africa, as stated by Sobukwe in the inaugural speech of the PAC:
"We aim, politically, at government of the Africans by the Africans, for the Africans, with everybody who owes his only loyalty to Afrika and who is prepared to accept the democratic rule of an African majority being regarded as an African."[1]
It is Pan Africanism with three principles of African nationalism, socialism, and continental unity. Its body of ideas drew largely from the teachings of Anton Lembede, George Padmore, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, and W. E. B. Du Bois.
Election results [edit]
| Election | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 48,530 | 0.27 | 1 |
| 2004 | 113,512 | 0.73 | 3 |
| 1999 | 113,125 | 0.78 | 3 |
| 1994 | 243,478 | 1.25 | 5 |
See also [edit]
- Azanian National Youth Unity
- Azanian People's Liberation Army
- Freedom Charter
- History of South Africa
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Official Website of the Pan Africanist Congress
- Pan Africanist Congress Publications Collection 1958-1995
- Archival Information can be found at the Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York: Congress of South Africa
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- Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
- National liberation movements
- Political parties in South Africa
- Political parties established in 1959
- Anti-Apartheid organisations
- African and Black nationalism
- Socialist parties in South Africa
- Pan-Africanist organizations
- Political movements in South Africa
- 1959 establishments in South Africa
