Pan Africanist Congress

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)
Still fighting for power for African workers in South Africa

Since 1959 the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania has been a leading organization representing the African masses of South Africa, whose African name is Azania. The PAC is grounded in Pan Africanism with African nationalism, socialism and continental unity at its center. PAC is unambiguously committed to the establishment and maintenance of African socialist democracy.

While most people around the world believe that Africans in South Africa are now free since the dismantling of the apartheid system, in fact their conditions are worse than ever.

South Africa’s colonial legacy

South Africa was conquered and occupied by the Boers, of Dutch origin, and the British, for whom South Africa was a pillar of the worldwide British empire.

In the 1880s the notorious British colonizer Cecil Rhodes found diamonds, gold and other resources in South Africa, making millions of dollars for himself and for England. Rhodes brought in the first machine guns to massively kill African people who were resisting the occupation. It was not unusual for Rhodes and his troops to gun down in a single afternoon 5,000 Africans who were defending their people. After the slaughter, Rhodes was known to celebrate with champagne and festive dinners.


Boers
Gold Miners, Johannesburg, 1935
Cecil Rhodes

Apartheid—based on Jim Crow—imposed on South Africa

Modeled on Jim Crow laws in the United States, British South Africa set up the apartheid system, a brutal expression of colonialism that provided wealth, property and political power for white settlers over the Africans, who were forced to live in separate areas, had no rights and were kept in impoverished, slave-like conditions on their own land.


African showing pass book
Johannesburg, 1978

Durban, 1978


PAC formed for African liberation

The Pan Africanist Congress was founded in Soweto as a revolutionary party on April 6, 1959 by the heroic Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe. The formation of PAC was in response to the adoption by the African National Congress of its “Freedom Charter” that abandoned the belief that Africa belongs to African people, not to the colonial settlers and interests.

The “Freedom Charter” stated that South Africa “belongs to all who live in it, black and white,” thereby liquidating the anti-colonial struggle of African people to regain their stolen land.

In response to the betrayal of the Freedom Charter, members of the youth wing of ANC broke away, forming the Pan Africanist Congress on the principle that African people are the rightful owners of Africa and that the struggle is one for national liberation.

The politics of the Freedom Charter continue to guide the current ANC government’s policies of upholding the colonial infrastructure politically and economically, and maintaining white power and the oppression of African people in South Africa. Today the conditions of the masses of African people are worse than under apartheid.

It was the leadership of the PAC based in the masses of the people that led the anti-colonial struggle against the South African government and brought worldwide attention and support for liberation in South Africa.


PAC—a leading force


Student demonstrations in Soweto

In 1960 PAC organized the mass protests against the notorious pass laws of South Africa. The pass laws forced African people to carry official identification with them at all times. It was a criminal offense to be unable to produce a pass when called to do so by the police.

Mass anti-pass law demonstrations were held in cities throughout the country, including in Sharpeville where 7,000 Africans surrounded the police station, offering themselves up for arrest because they refused to carry their passes. The police opened fire on the unarmed demonstrators, killing at least 69 people and injuring 180, including children.

The PAC was instrumental in the mass African response to the Sharpeville Massacre, which included protests, strikes and open rebellions. The atrocities of Sharpeville and the leadership of PAC galvanized Africans in Azania and people throughout the world to support the liberation of Southern Africa.

PAC was the first liberation movement to launch the armed struggle against the apartheid regime. The leadership of PAC was responsible for the 1976 Student Uprising and inspired the formation of the Black Consciousness Movement under the leadership of Steve Biko.


Conditions today worse in Azania


Top: Cape Town, 2006
Bottom: Johannesburg today

In 1994, in the face of the powerful movement of African people and pressure from their supporters around the world, U.S.-backed South African rulers were forced to turn over the government to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, while maintaining colonial white power control of the economy.

In the 13 years since ANC has come to power, the vision of a liberated South Africa has been thwarted and the conditions for African working people have deteriorated. Mandela, Mbeki and the ANC represent neocolonialism; white power carried out by the African elite.

Today, 96 percent of farmland is still owned by white people. Rural unemployment for African people is 70 percent. More than a third of Africans live on less than $2 a day, although South Africa is considered to be a wealthy “developed” country.


PAC continues to struggle

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania has kept the struggle alive by continuing to fight for power and land in the hands of the masses of African people in South Africa.

Since 1994 the PAC has exposed how the regime of the African National Congress continues to serve the interests of Western colonial powers under the guise of African leadership.

As Uhuru Tours speaker Mfanelo Skwatsha, the Executive Secretary of the PAC stated, “People are complaining about the ANC-led government. They are no longer happy with the ruling party.”


PAC’s current programs


Top: Sbusiso Xaba, President, Pan Africanist Youth Congress of Azania
Bottom: Pan Africanist Student Movement

The mission of PAC is to unite and rally African people into one national front on the basis of Pan Africanism and socialism, committed to self-determination and the absolute destruction of white supremacy and all forms of domination.

PAC’s programs today include such crucial campaigns as the Advocacy and Policy Development program which fights for the return of land to African people as its rightful owners, the building of African unity and the establishment of the United Socialist African State.

The Community Building Project works to stop land evictions of African people. The Pan Africanist Labor Forum (PALF) fights for the unionization of African workers and builds African working class consciousness.

Other programs of the PAC include the Azanian People’s Liberation Army Veteran’s Association.

The Pan Africanist Student Movement struggles for free education in universities and colleges, builds the African national consciousness of African students, the Pan Africanist Women’s Organization and the Pan Africanist Youth Congress.

Currently the PAC is gearing up to run candidates for the South African elections in 2009.


Conclusion

PAC is a revolutionary party that seeks fundamental change of the social structure in Africa. Their policies flow from the logic of the African situation and from the fundamental long-term interests of the vast African millions
http://burningspearuhuru.com/tours/mfanelo-skwatsha07/pac.html

The PAC has served it's purpose. Now it is time for the ANC militant groups to continue upholding the liberation of this country. There is still much work to be done.

I agree totally.

People in the youth leage like Malema is a great candidate to uphold the things that the ANC stands for.

I think that it is important for the ANC to have seperate militant groups patrolling the streets, for the military and police services cannot uphold the law according to the freedom charter, as was destined since the beginning.

I am not sure if the sunset clause has expired yet, but when this happens, the ANC will have total carte blanche.

O come on guys...I'm sure that by now you could see that the ANC is just a bunch of greedy politicians, who do not for one moment think of the people who voted and supported them.

I say away with the ANC!

when will they stop this unnecessary war actions

Manifesto 2009

......
..........
In leading the process of transforming the criminal justice system and the judiciary, the PAC
will implement the following interventions:

Speed up indigenisation in the appointment of judges and other senior legal personnel;

Create a category of paid part-time police reservists who will conduct neighbourhood and
community policing operations in conjunction with members of the SAPS;
The 2009 Election Manifesto of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) Page 13

The PAC will put to a referendum the question of capital punishment;

We will also declare a state of emergency on crime, in terms of the provisions of section
37(a) and (b) of the Constitution. The state of emergency will be of limited duration. The
main reason for this position is that this mechanism would enable the government to act
swiftly and decisively to eradicate organised criminal gangs and syndicates, as well as
corrupt police officers;

Legislate for mandatory life sentences for serious crimes such as rape, murder, child and
women abuse; and

Ensure that all accused persons are provided with adequate assistance when in need of
defence in any legal matter.
9. GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY
With regard to governance and service delivery, a PAC government will undertake the
following:

Establish a unitary state by abolishing the existing quasi-federal state through the
dismantling of the nine provinces, which at present are political entities. The nine
provincial legislatures and governments will thus be abolished and will be replaced with
administrative structures headed by senior civil servants.

Institutionalise a recruitment system based on meritocracy, in terms of which the
government will employ only competent and qualified South Africans irrespective of their
political affiliation, colour or creed;

De-politicise the civil service at all levels and inculcate a culture of public service,
discipline and a high work ethic, characterised by patriotism and a sense of pride in
serving the people;

Promote a culture of institutionalised performance management, characterised by
effective systems for reward and sanction, and introduce incentives such as annual salary
progression based on years of experience;

Establish a Public Service Staff College which will provide training for periods of up to a
year to all newly recruited civil servants as well as those undergoing re-training,
upgrading of skills or re-skilling;

While accepting the need for policy formulation and reviews at periodic intervals, we will
place greater attention on achieving efficiencies in programme delivery in fields such as
project planning, management and implementation;

Root out corrupt elements in the public sector and re-train all those who display a lack of
capacity to discharge their duties;

Deploy a significant number of experienced officials to municipalities and in doing so
provide them with salary incentives;

Provide incentives for government officials working in rural areas, such as subsidised
accommodation and higher salaries compared to their urban counterparts, with the value
of these incentives increasing in tandem with the remoteness of the place where they
work; and
The 2009 Election Manifesto of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) Page 14

In all areas where African Royalty has jurisdiction, the system of councillors being
responsible for the running of these areas will be abolished. This will resolve the current
dual system which has led to lack of clarity of roles and has undermined service delivery.

The PAC will establish partnerships with the religious fraternity to address the issue of
moral regeneration and the involvement of religious institutions as agents of community
development and education.
10. PAN AFRICANISM AND AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
As Pan Africanists who for many decades have consistently been at the forefront of the
struggle for the total unity of the African continent, we remain resolutely committed to this
noble goal. The PAC maintains that the ultimate objective of African continental unity must be
the formation of a United States of Africa, stretching from Cape to Cairo, Morocco to
Madagascar. In this regard, we consider ourselves as having an obligation and responsibility
to work closely with fellow Africans on the continent towards the shaping of our common
destiny.
The PAC therefore rejects current notions of so-called ‘new partnerships’. Such arrangements
with Western imperialist powers will lead to nothing more than the perpetuation of the
present unequal system which continues to marginalise the masses of our people. Moreover,
the various African states will be permanently allocated a position of junior partners within
the global economic, political and cultural system. We believe that Africa can only rise and
take its rightful place as an equal partner in world affairs if its various states were to unite in a
concrete way and around a cohesive and coherent strategy for self-determination and selfreliance.
10. CONCLUSION
The PAC believes that the strategies and policy alternatives that we have presented in this
Election Manifesto are based on a clear understanding of the needs of our people and country
at the present stage of its existence. We believe that we have stated the truth boldly and
without fear or favour. We are confident that, if given the opportunity to implement these
initiatives, the PAC will lead our country on a path to prosperity and peace, and will eliminate
the current status of the majority of our people, who are poor and marginalised, as the
wretched of the earth.
The policy initiatives outlined above, we believe, will help restore the dignity of our people
and begin to position our country as a truly equal player within the community of nations.
IZWE LETHU!! I-AFRIKA!!

http://www.pac.org.za/2009-Election-Manifesto.pdf