that is viewed through the lens of the author. This is particularly true about how history has been written to caricature African National Congress (ANC) as a militant liberation movement which forced apartheid government into a corner and heralded the liberation of the oppressed masses signed and sealed.
In this opinion piece, I will not attempt to re-write history, but chronicle some epoch-making events undertaken by Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), its military wing Poqo (Apla) and gallant leaders like Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, Jafta Masemola, and Zephania Mothopeng.
History as we know it has sought to trivialise the role played by PAC in South African liberation struggle and relegate Poqo's guerrilla warfare to echelons of obscurity. It's a known fact that PAC broke away from ANC in 1959 after accusing the latter of selling out on the land question subsequent to the adoption of Freedom Charter in 1955.
The Africanist bloc within ANC ranks which included Robert Sobukwe,Peter Molotsi,Zephania Mothopeng and Elliot Mfaxa were at variance with Freedom Charter's preamble which declared "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white." PAC entered into the anti-apartheid activism with a Pan Africanist ideology propelled by radical political pragmatism as opposed to ANC's champagne activism.
At the epicentre of the revolution in 1960, ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent stance against white supremacy. Paradoxically, apartheid parliament enacted a special " Sobukwe Clause" in 1963 to prolong PAC President's solitary incarceration on Robben Island. Undoubtedly, Luthuli had established himself as an innocuous activist against apartheid while the regime considered Sobukwe as persona non grata.
On March 21 1960, hardly a year after its establishment PAC conducted anti-pass protests around the country which gained momentum in Sharpeville where 69 protestors were brutally killed by the police. On that fateful day, Robert Sobukwe had marched from his home in Mofolo to Orlando police station without carrying a pass-book and dared the police to arrest him.
Not to be out-shined, Nelson Mandela burnt his pass-book seven days later in the comfort of his house and invited journalists to capture the moment. At its December conference in 1946, ANC had resolved to embark on a rigorous anti-pass campaign and call for abolition of pass laws. On the other hand, hardly a year into existence PAC launched a watershed anti-pass campaign in March 1960.
Sobukwe had invited ANC to join the march but, Luthuli declined the invitation saying the march was ill-prepared and would therefore fail. By implication, ANC was still not ready to implement a resolution it had adopted 14 years earlier.
After two years of existence, PAC established a military wing called Poqo, later Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) in September 1961. ANC only followed with formation of Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) three months after Poqo's formation. It's worth noting that ANC only established a military wing 49 years into existence.
While MK was still a fledgelling idea, Poqo had already executed few attacks against apartheid establishments including Paarl police station. Between 1962-1968 there were more Poqo combatants sent to the gallows than MK cadres.
Contrary to popular belief, PAC members Jafta Masemola, Phillemon Tefu, John Nkosi and Ike Mthimunye were the first political prisoners sentenced to life on Robben Island in 1962, not ANC's Rivonia Trialists who were sentenced in 1964. Jafta Kgalabi Masemola was the longest serving prisoner on Robben Island, not Nelson Mandela as history purports.
Another historical omission is the fact that Mothopeng was elected PAC President by Central Committee in Tanzania in 1986 while serving a treason sentence on Robben Island. This is the risk ANC couldn't take with Mandela while still serving prison sentence. What history does not highlight is that it was PAC which had the youngest political prisoner on Robben Island.
PAC's student organisation (Pasma) member Dikgang Moseneke was sentenced to 15 years on the island when he was a 15 year-old learner doing Std8. Towards late 80s and early 90s, Apla ground forces under stewardship of Victor Gqweta nom de guerre Sabelo Phama carried more lethal attacks against apartheid establishments than their Umkhonto Wesizwe counterparts.
Apla still has a plethora of its combatants languishing in prison while MK cadres are cabinet ministers and tenderpreneurs. History doesn't tell us that when Nelson Mandela had already committed to negotiating with Nationalist Party President FW De Klerk, PAC President Zephania Mothopeng refused to recognise De Klerk's administration as legitimate. In the run-up to 1994 deemocratic election PAC's campaign message was " Land first, All shall follow" while ANC said "Better life for all."
One day when history is captured accurately, we shall know that Nelson Mandela was not the longest serving political prisoner, but it was PAC's Kenny Motsamai followed by Jafta Masemola.
#IzweLethu
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