In the Twilight of the Revolution

Kwandiwe Kondlo

Description

This book is a long-overdue history of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and the rise of the Africanist ideology in South Africa. From its formation in 1959, the PAC underground inside South Africa and in exile shaped the dynamics of the anti-apartheid movement and liberation struggle by framing alternative ideologies. Kwandiwe Kondlo analyses the radical traditions, the structural contradictions and the internal conflicts of this rival to the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s dominant liberation organisation. The contributions of some of the PAC leaders, including Robert Sobukhwe, Potlake Kitchener Leballo, Vusumzi Make and John Nyathi Pokela, are reconstructed as are the PAC’s experiences in exile and the strategies pursued by its military wing, the Azanian People’s Liberation Party (APLA). The role of the PAC in the power-sharing negotiations leading to the historic 1994 elections in South Africa round off the narrative. The PAC story is a highly controversial one, as the perspectives are wide and various. This book seeks to present a balanced picture which includes diverse views in a comprehensive narrative.

Sujets

• Afrique du Sud
• Africa
• History
• South
• South Africa
• Postcolonialism
• Republic of South Africa

Informations

• Publié par: Basler Afrika Bibliographien
• Date de parution: 29 décembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9783905758511
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 13 Mo

Extrait

In the Twilight of the RevolutionKwandiwe Kondlo
Introduction by Patrick Harries
In the Twilight of the Revolution
Te Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa)
1959–1994
Basler Afrika Bibliographien 2009© 2009 Te authors
© 2009 Te Photographers
© 2009 Basler Afrika Bibliographien
nd2 edition 2010
Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library
Klosterberg 23
PO Box 2037
CH 4051 Basel
Switzerland
www.baslerafrika.ch
All rights reserved
Cover Design: Petra Kerckhof (Basler Afrika Bibliographien)
Book designed by Local Legends Design (Cape Town)
Printed by Medium d.o.o., Slovenia
Printed on paper certifed as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council),
that guarantees well managed forest management.
ISBN Switzerland: 978-3-905758-12-2CONTENTS
The Long Revolution of the PAC
An Introduction by Patrick Harries XI
Acknowledgements 1
Introduction 3
Te Structure and Contents of the Book 9
1 Sources in the Study of the History of the PAC 15
Research methodology 15
Research ethics 16
Te state of sources 17
Primary documentary sources 17
Oral sources 26
Electronic/Visual sources 29
Summary 29
2 Historiographic Overview 31
3 The PAC: Formation, Banishment and Road to Exile 49
Factors which led to the formation of the PAC 49
International ideological infuences 49
Local factors which led to the formation of the PAC 53
Internal conficts within the ANC 55
Highlights of the day of the inauguration of the PAC 58
Principles and strategies enshrined in the organisation’s
basic documents 60
Banishment and road to exile 63

V4 The Exile Experience: Impact on the Functioning of Liberation
Movements 70
Conceptual and theoretical issues 71
Te exile environment: An overview 74
Te Frontline States and the OAU in the Southern African
liberation struggle 77
Te emergence of the “Frontline States Phenomenon” 77
Profles of the Frontline States 80
Tanzania and Zambia 81
Te BLS States – Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland 83
Mozambique, Angola and Zimbabwe 85
Te South African ofensive in Southern Africa 87
Superpowers and the confict in S90
Te “experience” of liberation movements 92
5 The Reconstitution of the PAC as a Liberation Movement
in Diaspora (1960–1963) 99
Te reconstitution of PAC leadership structures in exile 104
Development of strategy documents 106
Te practice of self-reliance by PAC exiles in Lesotho 108
Developments in other parts of the world 110
Te PAC and the ANC – the South African United Front 113
6 The Generation of Strained Intra-PAC Relations in Exile
(1962–1990) 117
6A The Leballo Era and its Immediate Aftermath (1962–1981) 120
Te period of Potlake Kitchener Leballo (1962–1979) 120
P.K. Leballo: Background and profle 120
Te composition and role of the exile leadership as represented
by the National Executive Committee 123
A foretaste of things to come – expulsions from the PAC 128
Te Moshi “Unity” Conference – efects on the PAC 131
VITe internal “enemy syndrome”, 1962–1979 132
Te management of funds and other resources 135
Te end of the Leballo period 139
Te murder of David Sibeko 142
Te period of Vusumzi Make (1979–1981) 144
V. Make: Background and profle 144
Te composition and role of the exile leadership as represented
by the National Executive Committee 145
Te internal “enemy syndrome” 150
Te management, use of funds and other resources 152
6B The Revival of the PAC: From John Nyathi Pokela to Johnson
Mlambo (1981–1990) 156
Te period of John Nyathi Pokela (1981–1985) 156
J.N. Pokela: Background and profle 156
Te composition and role of the exile leadership as represented
by the National Executive Committee 158
Te internal “enemy syndrome” 170
Pokela re-organises the PAC 175
Te period of Johnson Mlambo (1985–1990) 179
J. Mlambo: Background and profle 179
Te composition and role of the exile leadership as represented
by the National Executive Committee 181
Management, use of funds and other resources 189
Te internal “enemy syndrome” 194
Te impact of leadership diversity on the PAC 198
7 The PAC Camps: A Case Study of Ruvu Camp in Tanzania 202
Te formative years of Ruvu Camp (1978–1984) 209
Ruvu Camp beyond 1984 212
Health conditions inside Ruvu Camp 214
Aspects of culture and leisure among camp residents 216
“Tribal”/ “ethnic” tensions among residents of Ruvu Camp 221
Forms of punishment in the camp 224
VII8 The Evolution of the PAC’s Military Strategy (1961–1993) 229
Te origins of the theory of “revolution” and military strategy
during the period of Poqo (1961–1967) 232
Te slow “death” of Poqo and the rise of APLA 239
APLA’s strategic thinking (1969–1978) 246
APLA’s command structure up to 1978 248
Te “New Road of Revolution” 250
APLA command structure (1979–1990) 251
9 PAC Unbanned. Dealing with the Negotiated Transition
to Democracy (1990–1994) 257
Te PAC on the eve of the unbanning of liberation movements
in South Africa 259
Te PAC’s response to the unbanning of liberation movements 262
Te PAC and the negotiated political settlement 264
Te PAC and the armed struggle during transitional negotiations 272
Aspects of the PAC’s vision of a non-racial democratic society 276
Te land question 276
Development and economic growth 279
Nationalisation 280
Foreign investment 281
Conclusions 285
Acronyms 296
List of Illustrations 297
Bibliography 299
Index 325
VIIIIXThe Long Revolution of the PAC.
An Introduction by Patrick Harries
I met Kwandiwe Merriman Kondlo more than twenty years ago. As part of the reforms
brought to apartheid in the mid-1980s by the government of P.W. Botha, black students
were allowed to enter the liberal universities in greater numbers. Kwandiwe Kondlo
pioneered this new encounter as black students, often from deep rural areas or urban ghettos,
joined the student body at institutions like the University of Cape Town (UCT). Tese
students were too few to transform the university but they were sufciently vocal to make
a deep impression on its traditions. At a time when police invaded the campus and
military helicopters buzzed its main arteries, this sudden wave of black students enriched the
university with a range of new experiences and concerns. Tey also pushed scholarship in
a more Africanist direction through their participation in tutorials, lectures and seminars.
Kwandiwe Kondlo’s M.A. thesis pressed the study of urban history in directions that had
frst been investigated by Archie Mafeje some twenty years earlier. After graduating, he
went on to teach at the University of Transkei under the skilful guidance of Professor
Jef Peires. New demands and opportunities in the mid-nineties called him to work for
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the government department dealing with
land reform. He later moved into the private sector but kept his ties to the academic
world. During these years he developed a close relationship with the University of Basel in
Switzerland where he lectured on several occasions. Tese contacts soon extended to the
Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) and, when he completed his PhD at the University
of Johannesburg in 2003, it seemed natural that it should be published by the BAB. As
such, this book is the product of both a deeply rooted, South African scholarship and a
fruitful South-North partnership.
Readers will quickly become aware that In the Twilight of the Revolution flls an
important gap in the literature. During the apartheid years, historians paid little attention
to the history of the liberation movements. Te exile experience seemed far removed
from historians’ concerns with the causes of apartheid and with the urban uprisings and
worker organisations that drove internal politics. Besides, feldwork on exiled political
movements was impossible in a time of war and historians saw government prohibit their
meagre publications on the subject. In 1987 one of the doyens of South African history,
T.R.H. Davenport, spent little more than one page on “black movements in exile and the
start of the terrorist campaign” in the third edition of his South Africa: A Modern History.
Te transition to democracy brought a radical reversal to this situation. In the wake of
XIthe African National Congress’ (ANC) victory in the 1994 elections, South Africa had
a sudden need to understand the organisation, structure and history of movements long
excluded from the narrative of the nation’s past. Professional historians and participants
in the struggle soon produced a wave of articles, books and refections on the liberation
movements that had become political parties overnight. Much of this literature
introduced South Africans to the leaders of the exiled political movements, to the logic behind
the armed struggle, and to the eminently rational ways in which i