One of the things that the history of oppressed peoples the world over teaches us, is that, it is not everybody among the oppressed who has the courage to stand up and fight against the oppressing group.
This is the case because, usually, oppressing groups sustain and legitimise the project of oppression through a variety of ways, including the force of violence.
Oppressing groups therefore ensure that the oppressed understand that, there will be consequences for anyone who chooses to stand up against the master (the oppressor).
Those who know me more intimately, know the impact that the PAC and in particular its founding leader, uBaw’uHlathi (uMangaliso Sobukwe), had on my own activism.
In my view, the story of Afrikan anti-colonial resistance in the criminal-European colony referred to as South AfriKKKa in the 20th century, can never be complete without the mention of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania.
The generation of Baw’uHlathi fully understood the implications of standing up against our oppressors-the European invaders.
Inspite of all the implications, they still decided to stick their necks out, risked everything and dedicated their lives to the fight for the return of our land and restoration of our dignity, as their natives.
For their courage to stand up on our behalf, many of them were detained without trial, brutality tortured and abruptly disconnected from their families.
And of course, many PAC liberation fighters were murdered by the colonial regime.The remains of some are scattered all over the world.
As we are aware, the majority of the Black political activists who were executed (by hanging) by the apartheid regime, were members of the PAC.
This should not surprise us, because, from its inception, the PAC was militant and uncompromising in its engagement with the oppressor. It eschewed what I call beggar tactics.
Today, as we mark the 64th anniversary of this glorious movement of our people, we remain acutely aware that, the goal of land repossession and restoration of the dignity of the Afrikan person in South AfriKKKa, has not been attained.
As a consequence, the Afrikan people in South AfriKKKa, remain trapped in a slave like existence that is characterised by deceit, betrayal, dispair and political leaderlessness and directionlessness.
For this reason, those who are formally part of the movement of Sobukwe, also have to use the occasion of this 64th anniversary to engage in honest and sincere introspection about where the PAC and the Afrikan people in South AfriKKKa, find themselves today.
For their courage, sacrifices, suffering, service and vision, my generation of afrocentric/black consciousness/pan afrikanist activists, owe the founders of the PAC an incalculable debt of gratitude.
More fundamentally, we have an ancestoral obligation to use the resistance legacy of Muziwakhe Lembede, Mangaliso Sobukwe, Solomzi Mda, Phillip Kgosana, Johnson Mlambo, Nomvo Booi, Nyakane Tsolo, Sabelo Phama and many others, to make our own contribution.
On the occasion of its 64th anniversary, we wish the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania greater courage, wisdom and the resolve to stay true to its founding mission- the total liberation of the Afrikan people.
I-Afrika lizwe lethu! uPoqo akabethwa! Uyabetha!
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- A REVOLUTIONARY WHO LIVED AMONG THE PEOPLE- A TRIBUTE TO COMRADE CHRIS MATLHAKO (1965-2023) - April 24, 2023
- BABA RUBEN UM NYOBE: AFRIKA’S FORGOTTEN LIBERATION FIGHTER AND THE BLOODY HISTORY OF FRENCH IMPERIALISM IN AFRIKA - April 16, 2023
