VOL 10 NO 11
26 MAR – 01 APR 2010
@hotm
HUMAN RIGHTS DAY CELEBRATION ADDRESS
Let us honour all our martyrs who
sacrificed their lives in pursuit of
the noble goals of freedom
My grandmother had taught us to say
goodbye when we went to the shop in town,
because we never knew if we would come
back or not. We use to say „If you don‟t see
me, check me at Number four‟.”
These are the words of a brave woman who
dared to express her democratic right to
protest against oppression and
discrimination, by burning her passbook like
the thousands of others on that fateful day of
21 March 1960.
“Again it was resentment of the pass laws which roused Africans to new heights
of protest and plunged South Africa into the Sharpeville crisis, so that the name
Sharpeville became, like Amristar, Saint Bartholomew or Peterloo, a symbol of
massacre.
Sobukwe‟s programme was a simple one. The masses would follow a pure African
leadership if that leadership was prepared to lead them in struggle against the racial
laws. On a given day the PAC would call on the people to disobey the pass laws and
that would be the beginning of the end of white domination.
The campaign Sobukwe declared in a press interview would operate under the
slogan „No bail, no offence, no fine‟, and the leaders of the PAC would be the first to
take part. The date eventually fixed for the slow-down was Monday 21, 1960. The
PAC called on Africans on that day to leave their passes at home and surrender to
the police” (Time Longer than Rope by Edward Roux).
The history of the African people is punctuated by uprisings and massacres like the
Bulhoek massacre, the Bambatha rebellion, the Race Riots and Liliesfontein
carnage where 35 Khoisan people were killed for allegedly being British
sympathisers.
Hardly two months before the Sharpeville massacre, the potato boycott erupted in
Bethal in the old Eastern Transvaal where prisoners were mistreated, killed and
buried as paupers.
Likewise on the 24th January 1960, the community of Cato Manor near Durban
revolted against constant police harassment and brutality - nine policemen were
killed on that day. Many similar incidents of political resistance were grisly crushed
by the successive whites-only governments of our country.
What is ironic of course is that the regime‟s response was followed by Commissions
of Inquiry which never found anybody guilty or liable for prosecution.
-1-
WEEK IN REVIEW
President Jacob Zuma launches
the National Registration
Campaign | President Jacob Zuma
accompanied by Minister of Home
Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
launched the National Registration
Campaign in Libode, Mthatha in the
Eastern Cape. The outreach
programme aims to ensure that all
South Africans, including those in
rural areas, have birth certificates
and identity documents. It aims
to end the late registration of births
and ensure that all new births are
registered within 30 days of delivery.
The launch was preceded by a visit
to a local Home Affairs office as part
of President Zuma‟s commitment to
ensure that all people receive
efficient, quality service.
President Zuma concludes visit to
Namibia | President Jacob Zuma
concluded his visit to Namibia. He
joined other African and International
Heads of State and Government in
celebrating Namibia‟s 20 years of
Independence and the inauguration
of President Hefukinye Pohamba.
“Swapo‟s liberation history and the
historical close links with the ANC
makes our visit and attendance of
the celebrations all the more special.
We are happy that Namibia is
celebrating 20 years of
Independence and that SWAPO has
led Namibia for two decades that
have been charactarised by peace
and stability”, said President Zuma.
President Zuma also took time to
meet with President Armando
Geubuza of Mozambique, who is
also the Chair of the SADC Organ
Troika on Defense, Politics and
Security, to brief him about his
recent visit to Zimbabwe. President
Zuma also briefed President Joseph
Kabila of the Democratic Republic of
Congo, who is the current Chair of
SADC, on the visit to Zimbabwe.
The Sharpeville and Langa massacres were a tipping point in that they served to
trigger off deep revulsion and disgust both locally and internationally against the
apartheid government. .
The government of the day responded by banning the ANC and PAC and this
precipitated the end of the non-violent forms of struggle and impelled our people to
take up arms.
What is important to note here is that, this Human Rights Day reminds us of our
common history that needs to be told objectively for the benefit of this present and
succeeding generations.
We need to take active ownership of this history both as people and various political
organisations, as we are affiliated to different political organisation.
By the same token, conscientious admirers of history must acknowledge the roles
played by certain communities and political organisations on all sides of the political
and ideological divide. We cannot fail to remember to pay homage to the unsung
martyrs who paid the supreme price in order for us to attain our freedom. They
delegated us the living to fulfill their dreams and we dare not fail them!
The first step is to take ownership of our history, all of it, as our common heritage as
a people. This is the basis of nation-building and must never be undermined by any
sectarian interest based on the subjectivity of race, religion, class or ideology or
political organisation.
For the most part, the seminal events in Sharpeville in 1960 nudged the international
community to confront the negative effects of racist policies not only in South Africa
but globally.
The massacre of sixty-nine (69) people and the injury incurred by more than 180
defenceless ordinary men, women and children, placed the struggle of the African
people on the agenda of all progressive peace loving people of the world.
Let us also note that laws of even more severe state repression followed from
Sharpeville. These barbaric pieces of legislations were the Terrorism Act, the
Unlawful Organisations Act which banned the PAC and ANC and empowered the
authorities to imprison people indefinitely without trial. Moreover, they indemnified
the jailers from taking full responsibility for those in their custody.
I made mention of the local and international abhorrence against the events of
Sharpeville 1960 because up to that point, South Africa was a member of the
international community. However, the massacre began the decisive isolation of
South Africa from the international community and the United Nations which adopted
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Furthermore, in 1966, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 21
as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Such
proclamation was evidence that the international community was pledging its
solidarity and support for the marginalised and oppressed people of South Africa
and elsewhere in the world in their fight for human rights and human dignity.
Therefore 21 March now belongs to the entire community of nations of which we are
a proud and integral part. For us as South Africans, Sharpeville is our shrine. It
inspires us to sustain the pursuit of civil liberties that are enshrined and guaranteed
in our Constitution which was signed by our first democratically-elected President,
Nelson Mandela, here in Sharpeville in 1996.
The question remains however: what does this significant event mean and imply for
us in present-day South Africa sixteen years after attaining our hard-won
democracy.
Allow me to refer to an apposite verse from the popular icon, James Douglas, when
he says:
“Not unto us, but unto the noble army of the heroic dead be the praise, the glory, and
the laurels of the divine liberty that purifies the earth, the sea and the air. Greater
love knoweth no man than the love of the soldier who lays down his life for the
unborn generations of mankind”.
-2-
CONTINUED
President Zuma visits Uganda |
President Jacob Zuma undertook a
state visit to Uganda at the invitation
of President Yoweri Kaguta
Museveni of Uganda. The visit is
aimed at further enhancing
economic and political relations
between the two countries,
developments in the East African
region as well as multilateral
cooperation in the African Union,
United Nations and other key
forums. During the visit, South
African ministers are scheduled to
sign agreements in the fields of
agriculture, trade, science and
technology, and customs
cooperation. President Zuma is
accompanied by 9 cabinet ministers
and more than 30 businesspersons.
A South Africa-Uganda Business
Forum meeting was held, co-chaired
by the trade ministers of the two
countries.
South African Reserve Bank cuts
repo rate to 6,5% | The Reserve
Bank unexpectedly cut its repo rate
by 50 basis points to 6,5% to help
accelerate a recovery from last
year's recession and as inflation
slows. This move adds to five
percentage points of reductions
between December 2008 and
August 2009 to boost growth after
weak local and global demand hit
the key manufacturing and mining
sectors.
South Africa safer for British
tourists | The British Foreign and
Commonwealth Office released
statistics suggesting that South
Africa is a safer tourist destination
for British tourists than Spain,
Thailand or even Germany. The
report, which examined the
behaviour of British tourists from
April 2008, to March 2009,
measured how much help Brits
needed from their different
consulates abroad. Of the 451 580
Britons who visited South Africa in
the 12-month period - and a further
212 000 living in the country - there
were 23 arrests, 23 hospital
admissions and 48 deaths, due to
either accidents, natural causes or
murder. No rape or sexual assault
cases were reported.
A key message from the Human Rights Day is that we should honour all our
martyrs who sacrificed their lives in pursuit of the noble goals of freedom.
In effect, this means as public representatives - at local, provincial as well as
national levels - we should always remember the dead because we are their
living delegates as they have relinquished their rights to participate in this
freedom we enjoy today. This alludes to our obligations and responsibilities to
improve the socio-economic conditions of our people in honour of the departed
who paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
The freedom we enjoy today in South Africa means we must exercise our
responsibilities diligently so that even those who are aggrieved by slow pace of
service delivery will raise their concerns sharply without ever destroying public
facilities such as libraries and schools.
Freedom comes with responsibility! People must act responsibly not because we
appeal to them to do so, but because they have those responsibilities! I believe
freedom also obliges communities themselves to take ownership of protecting
everyone‟s human rights and protecting the vulnerable members of our society.
This fiftieth (50) anniversary of the Sharpeville, Langa, Nyanga and
Vanderbijlpark massacres takes place under the theme of “working together we
can do more to protect human rights”.
It is difficult to imagine that sixteen years ago South Africa was regarded as a
pariah state that was notorious for grotesque violations of human rights. Today
our Constitution enjoins each and every one of us to strive for the creation of a
non-racial, non-sexist, open and democratic society based on human dignity,
equality and freedom.
In fulfillment of these values enshrined in our Constitution, government continues
to support and value the work of the independent institutions established under
Chapter 9 of the Constitution. These include the Human Rights Commission, the
Commission on Gender Equality, and the Office of the Public Protector. We urge
all South Africans to make use of these important defenders of democracy.
To adequately commemorate the victims and survivors of the Sharpeville
massacre and other bloodbaths, we must ensure the progressive realisation of
the socio-economic rights as envisaged in the Bill of Rights. This means as ANC
government working with our social partners, we must strive to improve the
quality of life of all our people by providing shelter, basic amenities, education,
and security.
To achieve the provision of the Bill of Rights, government has identified five (5)
national priorities. These priorities are:





education,
health,
rural development and land reform,
creation of decent work, and
fighting crime and corruption.
The President of the Republic, Jacob Zuma, has remained steadfast in stating that
as government we need to work faster, harder and smarter to build a united and
prosperous South Africa. It is therefore imperative that we deliver services efficiently
and these must be accelerated at all levels of government.
I would like to believe that all of us, including all political and civil formations,
business and organised labour must share this responsibility and work constructively
with government to improve the lives of our people for the better.
Experience has shown that working together at community level, we can
successfully unlock bottlenecks that constrain effective delivery and collectively
agree on community priorities.
-3-
CONTINUED
Government plans 4,200 meetings
with communities | The
government announced plans to
hold 4,250 community annual
meetings to listen to service delivery
concerns and try to close the gap
between itself and a disaffected
public. The meetings are an attempt
to actually bring government closer
to the people and solicit relations
with the general communities.
Performance Monitoring and
Evaluation Minister Collins Chabane
would oversee the outreach
programme to make sure follow-up
meetings were held to see whether
promises were being implemented.
Treasurer General’s mother
passes on | The ANC was deeply
saddened to learn of the passing on
of the ANC Treasure‟s General
mother, Mme Reshoketjoe Phosa
(87). She surrendered to breast
cancer after having been in and out
of hospital for a very long time. Mme
Reshoketjoe was the only surviving
parent to her four children, her
husband and father of her children,
Paul Moyahabo Phosa, passed
away in 1970. At the time of her
death, Cde Matthews Phosa was
hard at work in Japan executing his
ANC responsibilities and he had to
cut his trip short. Mme Reshoketjoe
was highly political. She was a nurse
during the World War II, and her
stories had a strong impact on Cde
Matthews political activism.
The ANC extends its heartfelt
condolences to the Phosa family,
relatives and friends as we mourn
this mother of the nation.
The people of Langa and Sharpeville in 1960 did not voice their protests by
burning libraries and looting public facilities. On the contrary, they left their
passes at home and marched peacefully to the police stations to hand
themselves over for arrest. Therefore, in a democratic era, I urge you to hold
government accountable by using democratic institutions available to us to voice
our grievances and demands. This is our collective responsibility, as much as it is
the responsibility of government to respond promptly and fast-track the creation
of a better life for all.
The challenge to those responsible for public policy formulation and
implementation is: do we display selflessness, diligence and dedication in the
execution of our tasks?
I am sure you would agree that when the people of Sharpeville and other parts of
the country waged struggles for emancipation from apartheid, they did so in a
selfless and dedicated manner. In the State of the Nation Address, President
Jacob Zuma urged all social partners to work together to grow the economy,
create jobs, improve education, develop rural communities and protect the
environment and to create safer communities. This would be a fitting tribute to the
people who laid their lives during the Sharpeville Massacre for all of us to be free.
Let us pledge to show the world our abhorrence to the heinous acts of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Let us remind ourselves
that the lives lost on that fateful day in history and the scores of people injured
were not in vain. We must say never, never and never again will a government
arrogate to itself powers of torture, arbitrary imprisonment of opponents, and the
killing of demonstrators.
In the same breath, we state that our democratic government undertakes to never
ignore the plight of the poor, those without shelter, those without means to an
education and those suffering from abuse and neglect. This is a day on which we
re-commit ourselves to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law.
We are a united nation bound together by the very history that sought to tear us
apart. We must always uphold the Constitution, respect our national symbols and
celebrate our national days as one people bound together by a common history
and a shared destiny.
I wish to restate that, on Human Rights Day, we should remember that a common
ownership of our history is the basis of nation-building and must never be
undermined by any interest group based on the subjectivity of race, religion,
class, gender or ideology.
Together we can do more to protect and make human rights real.
Together we can do more to build a better future we can all be proud of as a
nation united in its diversity.
And we need to remember that freedom is the recognition of necessity.
>> Kgalema Motlanthe is the ANC Deputy President and Deputy President of the
Republic of South Africa. This is an edited extract of his address at the
Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Human Rights Day in Sharpeville
-4-
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
26 March 1990: the Nationalist Party
government announced that the
principle of segregated state
education was to be abandoned. As
of January 1991, white state schools
would be allowed to admit black
students on condition that the
majority of parents gave their
consent for this move. This
announcement came after years of
separate education systems, which
was implemented by the government
in the late 1950s.
27 March 1975: the Nationalist party
government announced its intention
to consolidate the total number of
separate 'homeland' areas from 113
to 36. The homelands were officially
instituted in the 1950s as a form of
apartheid separate development and
a way to strip blacks of their South
African citizenship. The idea was
that the 'homelands' would, from the
point of view of the apartheid
government at least, be like
countries where blacks could live
and vote for their own governments.
The reality was that they became
impoverished cheap labour pools
ruled by chiefs controlled by the
apartheid state.
27 March 1994: South Africa was
readmitted to the Olympic games on
condition that it complied within thirty
days to terms laid down by the
International Olympic Committee
(IOC). The terms included the
abolition of Apartheid laws, the nonracial unification of sports bodies
and normalisation of relations with
sports bodies elsewhere in Africa.
The country had been banned from
the games since 1970.
28 March 1960: the ANC calls a
nation-wide stay-at-home to protest
the apartheid government
introduction of Passbooks. The aim
of these passbooks was to limit and
control the movement of black
people in the country. During this
protest Walter Sisulu together with
thousands of ordinary black people
burned their passbooks. The stay
away call followed the Sharpeville
massacre when people opened fire
on protesters handing themselves up
for arrest at police stations for
refusing to carry a passbook.
VIEW POINT | BY DR BLADE NZIMANDE
In memory of the heroes of the
Seven Day War
th
th
Thursday 25 March 2010 marked the 20 anniversary of the
beginning of the bloody Seven Day War in Pietermaritzburg,
which ended on 31 March 1990. The „Seven Day War‟, which, as
far as I can recall, was actually given this name by the late Cde
Harry Gwala, the then leader of the ANC in the Natal Midlands.
The impact of this attack left an indelible imprint on the physical
and social geography and history of Edendale, and of
Pietermaritzburg as a whole. The Seven Day War was an attack
on greater Edendale by a combined force of marauding gangs
led by the IFP warlords and the apartheid regime‟s police force
on the people of Edendale as part of destroying the UDF,
COSATU and fledgling ANC structures in the area.
At the time both the IFP and the police openly declared their intention to destroy the
structures of our movement in Edendale and claim the area as an IFP territory.
Under the pretext that buses to IFP dominated areas were being stoned along
Edendale Road, amabutho targeted our activists‟ houses, burning some, hacking
and shooting at their targets. What was striking about the Seven Day War was that
most of the attacks, often on whole communities perceived to be ANC, happened in
broad daylight in full view of the police, yet it was our comrades who were being
arrested.
We still hope that one day those policemen, who were perched at the then notorious
police HQ Davies Alexander House, will have the courage to tell us about their role
in the seven day war. Much as we do not want to open old wounds given the peace
we now have, not least through, amongst others, the efforts by our now President,
Cde Jacob Zuma, at the same time our history needs to be properly told, as part of
honouring those who fell during this period. The heroes and heroines who fell during
this war spilt their blood so that we could realise the 1994 democratic breakthrough
and all the advances made by our democracy since then.
It is a sad and cruel irony of history that at the time that we should be erecting a
monument to the heroes of the Seven Day War, our Umsunduzi City is bleeding
from unnecessary internal factionalist battles from inside our own movement. It
should otherwise be a time when our focus should be on fixing the „black hole‟ of
Pietermaritzburg - Edendale - a settlement that should be rid of the smelly pit
latrines, gravel roads and mud houses.
In memory of those who fell during the Seven Day war, we should be committing
ourselves to rid our movement of tenderpreneurship and all the ills associated with it,
a scourge at the heart of the problems at Umsunduzi and many other municipalities.
When honouring those who fell during this period, understandably difficult as it may
be for some of our own comrades and affected families, we must also mention and
remember those who died on the side of the IFP, as many of them were used as
ordinary foot-soldiers and pawns in the apartheid regime‟s grand scheme to try and
frustrate South Africa‟s transition to democracy.
When the unbanning of the ANC and the SACP was announced by FW de Klerk on
nd
2 February 1990, Mzala Nxumalo, a member of the ANC and the SACP and a
cadre of the class of 1976, warned that our movement must be careful that De Klerk
must not do „a Dingane‟ on us. By this he was recalling what Dingane, the Zulu King,
th
did on the boers led by Piet Retief and Gert Maritz in the 19 century.
The story goes that when the first boers arrived in the then territory of the Zulu King
Dingane, he invited them to his headquarters in Umgungundlovu and called upon his
amabutho to kill them „Babulaleni abathakathi‟ („Kill the witches‟). What Mzala was
warning about was that in the wake of the unbanning of our organizations and the
release of Nelson Mandela we must remain vigilant that the apartheid regime must
not invite us to emerge from the underground only to smash us.
-5-
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
29 March 2005: the third session of
the Pan African Parliament (PAP)
began at its temporary home in
Gallagher Estate in Midrand. The
opening of parliament coincided with
the launch a PAP website and also
marked the first full year of operation
since it was launched in 2004 in
Ethiopia.
30 March 1951: the Group Areas
Act became law and divided South
African residential areas along racial
and ethnic lines designating
residential areas for Blacks, Whites,
Indians, and Coloureds. This
resulted in a many forced removals
from areas like District Six and
Sophiatown.
31 March 1946: a 6 000 strong
march supporting the South African
Indian Congress resolution for
Passive Resistance against the
Asiatic Land Tenure Act, or Ghetto
Act took place in Durban. The Asiatic
Bill was one of the many anti-Indian
legislation bills passed by the
apartheid government. Dr G M
Naicker, President of the Natal
Indian Congress addressed the
demonstrators wherein
representatives of African and
Coloured communities declared their
support for the Indians in their
struggle.
01 April 1990: Nelson Mandela
addressed a crowd of 300 000 in
Port Elizabeth in what was described
as South Africa's biggest ever
political rally. Mandela announced
that he would be meeting State
President FW de Klerk to discuss the
intensification of violence throughout
the country, with specific reference
to KwaZulu-Natal and the Rand in
now Gauteng where things were
getting out of hand. On the very
same day, Mandela flew to KwaZuluNatal to see for himself what the
violence had done to that region.
Source: South African History Online
Indeed Mzala was right, as our movement had anticipated, because as soon as the
ANC and the SACP were unbanned, apartheid-sponsored violence in KZN was
intensified. This soon spread to Gauteng and other areas. The primary aim was to
prevent the ANC from rebuilding its structures inside the country. The Seven Day
War was part of this offensive. However, the Seven Day War must also be
understood within the specificities of apartheid‟s counter-revolutionary warfare in
KwaZulu Natal in general and Pietermaritzburg in particular. Pietermaritzburg, and
especially Edendale, acted as a bulwark against the extension of the apartheid
regime‟s tentacles, through the then KwaZulu Bantustan, as it became a centre of
resistance against apartheid in the 1980s.
LATEST STATEMENTS
ANC mourns the death of Cde
Matthews Phosa’s mother, Mme
Reshoketjoe Phosa,
25 March 2010
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc
=ancdocs/pr/2010/pr0325.html
The Seven Day war was therefore targeted at initially removing ANC (and
UDF/Cosatu) influence from areas controlled by the IFP in the north of Edendale
(known as „Ngaphezulu‟), and seeking to turn these areas into a springboard to
destroy our movement structures in Edendale. It was therefore of no surprise that
the Seven Day War started in some of these areas north of Edendale where there
was some UDF and later ANC presence, especially in Gezubuso, Taylor‟s Halt,
KwaShange, KwaMnyandu and Enadi. Thousands of people fled this area and most
of them settled at KwaDambuza, which had long become a UDF and ANC
dominated territory.
ANC welcomes and accepts the
apology from Cde Jackson
Mthembu, 24 March 2010
Error! Hyperlink reference not
valid.
It was through the heroic sacrifices of many UDF, ANC, SACP, Cosatu and
uMkhonto WeSizwe cadres from the above areas that the Seven Day war was
stopped in its tracks at the border of Caluza and the rest of Edendale that we can
today be proud of the birth of a democratic South Africa.
ANC statement on the 50th
Anniversary of the Sharpeville
Massacre, 20 March 2010
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc
=ancdocs/pr/2010/pr0320.html
In honour of the heroes of the Seven Day War we should indeed erect a permanent
monument in Edendale. This monument must indeed be accompanied by an
intensified struggle against corruption in order to rid our movement of
„tenderpreneurs‟ and focus the attention of our people to the five priorities of our
government: decent work, education, health, fight against crime and rural
development.
Reburial of Comrade Leslie
Massina, 19 March 2010
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc
=ancdocs/pr/2010/pr0319b.html
>> Dr Blade Nzimande is an ANC NEC member and Minister of Higher Education
and Training
ANC upbeat about vote of
confidence on the President of the
Republic, 19 March 2010
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc
=ancdocs/pr/2010/pr0319a.html
ANC disturbed by FF Plus "Anti
Malema Campaign",
19 March 2010
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc
=ancdocs/pr/2010/pr0319.html
-6-
VIEW POINT | BY JULIUS MALEMA
Let the correct history be told
The political implosion that today we have come to know as
the “Sharpeville Massacre” and commemorate as integral
to Human Rights Day, was a tragedy of unparalleled
proportions in the struggle against apartheid in South
Africa. Never before had so many innocent and
defenceless people been senselessly killed since the
Africans were united under the banner of the African
National Congress from 1912. Of course, there were other
battles with far many more people being killed, with the
famous Bambatha Rebellion of 1905 being amongst the
last of such rebellion against colonial oppression, but not at
such a large scale as the Sharpeville Massacre. This was
nonetheless a beginning of increased repression, leading
amongst others to the events of June 1976, when within a
space of less than a year more than 1000 young people
were killed.
The magnitude of the massacre warranted direct condemnation of those barbaric
acts committed against defenceless peaceful protesters. As a result, the question of
what led to the massacre became obscured in the international condemnation of
those criminal murders committed with impunity. Precisely because many people
died on that fateful day, those who claimed victory for the historical significance of
the ultimate sacrifice by ordinary people went on to do so unchallenged to this day.
In accordance with African customs, antagonistic debates are often suspended in
respect of the departed.
For years, the PAC perpetually made the claim that they are being ignored by the
majority party in Parliament, and that their historical role in dismantling apartheid
should accordingly be recognised. Amongst such roles is the claim that they were
behind the popular mobilisation leading to the unfortunate Sharpeville massacre.
We do not intend to be history‟s revisionists. Neither do we as the ANC intend to
claim easy victories, for surely the death of 69 people on what became Sharpeville
Day was no easy victory! Indeed as some have said, it was victory written in the
blood of our people. That victory saw amongst others, India‟s President Nehru acting
against apartheid South Africa.
But what is it that the PAC did leading to that fateful day? About three years earlier
in 1958, Robert Sobukwe led a breakaway from the ANC, forming the PAC in 1959.
The PAC was always a small splinter organisation of disgruntled people who broke
away from the ANC, just like others such as COPE, albeit with the difference that
they (PAC), was more principled in the breakaway than the extremely hypocritical
COPE, as theirs (PAC) was based on policy differences with the ANC.
The build up of massive resistance in South Africa was undoubtedly led by the ANC,
and this was attested to by its popular support since the political unbanning to the
present. The ANC led in the Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws in 1952 and
mobilised the various sectors of our population in the 1955 Congress of the People,
hence our insistence that the real Congress of the People is the ANC. In future,
COPE will distort this historical fact, and in fact the name was intended to imply that
deception.
-7-
LATEST SPEECHES
Address by President Jacob Zuma
to the South Africa-Uganda
Business Forum Kampala,
Uganda, 25 March 2010
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc
=ancdocs/speeches/2010/sp0325a.h
tml
Address by President Jacob Zuma
of the Republic of South Africa, to
the Parliament of the Republic of
Uganda, Kampala, 25 March 2010
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc
=ancdocs/speeches/2010/sp0325.ht
ml
Toast remarks by the President
Jacob Zuma to the official State
Banquet held in his honour on the
occasion of the state visit to
Uganda, 25 March 2010
http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/sho
w.asp?include=president/sp/2010/sp
03252046.htm&ID=2095&type=sp
Replies by President Jacob Zuma
to questions for oral reply in the
National Assembly, 24 March 2010
http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/sho
w.asp?include=president/sp/2010/sp
03241437.htm&ID=2092&type=sp
Address by the Deputy President
Kgalema Motlanthe at the
Commemoration of the 50th
Anniversary of Human Rights Day
in Sharpeville, 21 March 2010
http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/sho
w.asp?include=deputy/sp/2010/sp03
21154.htm&ID=2091&type=sp
Newsmaker of the Year Award
acceptance speech by President
Jacob Zuma, 19 March 2010
http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/sho
w.asp?include=president/sp/2010/sp
03192153.htm&ID=2090&type=sp
There is no doubt that there have always been various ideological strands in South
Africa, even amongst the various forces fighting for liberation from apartheid.
However, these various forces were incapable of unleashing massive resistance,
hence they piggy backed on the activities organised by the ANC and the Sharpeville
massacre was no exception. All those political organisations opposed to apartheid
were united in their rejection of the pass laws. At the opportunity of mobilisation by
the African National Congress of people around the country, including Sharpeville,
the PAC saw an opportunity to kindle life into its own political activities by upstaging
the events as organised by the ANC. The ANC was mobilising the masses of our
st
people for a rally on the 31 March 1960. The PAC quickly organised a march
st
scheduled for the 21 , going door to door, distributed very misleading pamphlets
purporting that the march was organised by the “Congress”. As a result, many
people were misled into thinking that the march was organised by the ANC. The
question that could be asked, is why did the “Pan Africanist Congress of Azania”,
that is so evidently proud of its distinguishing name chose to use the name
“Congress” for what was to be arguably its biggest political event since their
formation in 1959? More so when it was the ANC that often went under the name
“Congress” or “the Congress” or in isiZulu “uKhongolose”?
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As it is, the Sharpeville Massacre remains an isolated incident in the history of the
PAC. There were no build ups to that fateful event, neither were there events
following that, except that the PAC was also banned when the apartheid regime
decided to ban the African National Congress in 1960. The Sharpeville massacre
finds proper locus in the events organised by the ANC before and after the
massacre itself.
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Other historical figures confirm the view that the ANC was responsible for the
popular mobilisation that led to the opportunistic door to door activities of the PAC in
st
the morning of 21 March 1960. Amongst these is Nelson Mandela in his “Long
Walk to Freedom”. If scholarly quotes and references add value to truth, we know
that Nelson Mandela would not tell lies or claim easy victories!
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Also, Alistair Boddy-Evans, in “The origins of the Human Rights Day”, make the
following assertion:
“The PAC and ANC did not agree on policy, and it seemed unlikely in 1959 that they
would co-operate in any manner. The ANC planned a campaign of demonstration
against the pass laws to start at the beginning of April 1960. The PAC rushed ahead
and announced a similar demonstration, to start ten days earlier, effectively hijacking
the ANC campaign.”
While Robert Sobukwe emphasised that the demonstration was to be peaceful,
Alistair Boddy-Evans further made the assertion that the PAC leadership was in fact
hoping for a violent response, if that be the case, the only reason was again for the
PAC to deliberately ensure the shedding of blood so as to elevate their supposed
importance in the struggle for liberation. Then the ANC could not correct the
situation because everybody was grieving for the dead and in shock, but in
retrospect, Sharpeville must be properly located in the struggle as led by the African
National Congress, of course admitting to the bloody opportunism that the PAC is.
In doing so, as the ANC we are neither revisionists nor opportunists that tell lies and
claim easy victories! Consequently, the ANC owes the PAC no political elevation
and no amount of grandstanding would turn the tide against its dwindling support
because its ideology was as irrelevant in 1958 and 1959 as it is today. That is why
the PAC has got no support even in the areas where it claims to be its stronghold.
But like every other party, they too are mistaken in the hope that a political collision
with the ANC would give them a breath of life.
The correct history should be told to the youth of South Africa by their own
organisation which played pivotal role in the defiance campaign.
>> Julius Malema is the President of the African National Congress Youth League
-8-
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