In the Twilight of the Revolution. The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa) 1959–1994

  • Language: English
  • 354 pages
  • Illustrations, maps, index
  • ISSN: 2296-6986
  • ISBN:
  • Print: 978-3-905758-12-2
  • PDF: 978-3-905758-51-1
Kwandiwe Kondlo

In the Twilight of the Revolution. The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa) 1959–1994

Clear

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.

Kwandiwe Merriman Kondlo obtained his PhD from the University of Johannesburg. His doctorate covered exile liberation movements in southern Africa, with a special focus on the PAC. He is currently the Executive Director of the Programme of Democracy and Governance at the Human Science Research Council in South Africa. He is also Visiting Adjunct Professor at the University of Witwatersrand’s School of Public and Development Management where he teaches aspects of South Africa’s public policy, and an Honorary Research Associate attached to the NRF Chair in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cape Town.

The Long Revolution of the PAC. An Introduction by Patrick Harries

1 Sources in the Study of the History of the PAC

2 Historiographic Overview

3 The PAC: Formation, Banishment and Road to Exile

4 The Exile Experience: Impact on the Functioning of Liberation

Movements

5 The Reconstitution of the PAC as a Liberation Movement

in Diaspora (1960–1963)

6 The Generation of Strained Intra-PAC Relations in Exile

6A The Leballo Era and its Immediate Aftermath (1962–1981)

6B The Revival of the PAC: From John Nyathi Pokela to Johnson

Mlambo (1981–1990)

7 The PAC Camps: A Case Study of Ruvu Camp in Tanzania

8 The Evolution of the PAC’s Military Strategy (1961–1993)

9 PAC Unbanned. Dealing with the Negotiated Transition

to Democracy (1990–1994)

Conclusions

“Dr Kondlo uses PAC documents and veterans’ memories to produce an innovative
history of the movement …, the first academically reputable history of the PAC
from its turbulent beginning in 1959 to the twilight years of the revolution that
ended in 1994.”

Patrick Harries, University of Basel

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