Sons and Daughters of Africa, we today are on the threshold of a historic era. We are about to witness, some momentous events. Very soon now, we shall be launching. The step we are taking is historical, pregnant with untold possibilities. We must therefore, appreciate our role. We must appreciate our responsibilities. The African people have entrusted their whole future to us. And we have sworn that we are leading them, not to death, but to life abundant.

- Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe

Sobukwe Would Have Given Africans True Freedom

by

Dr. Motsoko Pheko
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, is undeniably one of the greatest and most respected revolutionaries this country will ever have, belongs to a genre of African leaders who were the most feared and hated by imperialists. These great visionaries and luminaries were Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Sekou Toure and Modibo Keita. They never compromised the fundamental interests of the African people. They demanded that Africa's riches benefit Africa's people and the wealth of Africa be in the hands of the African people.
Today, Sobukwe's brand of Pan Africanism is more relevant than ever. It is the only counter power that can get South Africa, the African continent and African people everywhere out of the quagmire. Africa requires Pan Africanism to steer it towards a new internationalism. It needs anti-imperialism/anti-globalization forces led by the Pan Africanist movements, to challenge the present order. This has to be done if the United States of Africa is to be realised by the African continent. In the history of the world no country has developed without a strong State playing a central role. A lot more needs to be done to shake off the "debilitating economic and geopolitical aggression" in the present hegemonic offensive. The neo-liberal agenda on democracy, human rights, good governance, accountability and the economic policies are not presently determined by the African people.
"A new chapter has opened in South African history, and you are makers of that history"
Sobukwe's ideas and thought serve as a reminder that Africans need to do more to keep the memories of the past and present alive, which would enable them to shape their destiny for a better future. Let Africans expand the frontiers of their memories and do a rethinking on the historical and other complex and hard processes that have been their bondage. This must include experiences of slavery, colonialism and racism, anti-colonial nationalism, independence and the post-colonial projects and proxy regimes that serve Western interests. Africa has to do a rethinking about its dominant political leaders, ruling classes and governments that have been implementing brutal economic policies against their own citizens and those that are at the centre of igniting xenophobia against sections of the citizenry.
Fundamentally there ought to be a rethink about the promoters of the scourges and the beneficiaries at the different phases. It is worth noting that in each of these processes there have always been those who stood and struggled for the larger interests of the continent and the people, on the one hand, and those who have never relented in keeping the continent within the hegemonic noose, on the other. Africa has to do more to solidify regional and continental integration and employ more mechanisms towards the resolution of violent intra-and-inter state conflicts.
There is need for Pan African peoples' movements and political parties to intensify the struggles for democratic governance on the continent, as alternative to the superimposed neo-liberal hegemonic variant. Instructive is the stark reality that defiance can only be meaningful if real power in all spheres is taken seriously. For defiance without power would be as if nothing has been learned over the centuries. If Africa has to free itself, determine its place in the present world, and be a strong player in global politics, there is the need to beat its tragic internal swords into ploughshares. The continent must put in place mechanisms to achieve true independence, and advance its interests, in the face of the hegemonic hurricane. Only when Africa abandons erecting its economic, political and social systems - as well as their structures and institutions - on weak and subservient foundations, thereby building itself on solid grounds, that it will achieve lofty heights for present and future generations.
A Thinker of Great Thoughts
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, or simply "Prof", stands out as a relentless Pan Africanist Nationalist who sought the unity of the African people with a passion. A thinker of great thoughts today he reminds us of the need to revive the African intellectuals to create new knowledge about Africa, to interpret events accurately in order to mobilise Africa act decisively concerning their interests. Prof, the teacher who taught the African people to refuse to accept any "indignity, any insult, any humiliation or inferiority." Today resistance is considered criminal. When people can no longer pay their water and are punished with water cut-offs many are afraid to resist. When the youth are denied free education many fear demanding a better future for them. When unemployment escalates to the extent that people have to commit crime to survive, society is afraid to act. Sobukwe was a master resistor. The lessons he has left on defiance are rich and provide new levels of understanding how change happened. Sobukwe, the freedom fighter who became one of the founding fathers of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, laid a firm foundation for the African people to start their long and arduous quest towards self-determination, democracy socialism African unity freedom and solidarity both nationally and continentally.
Sobukwe espoused a Pan Africanism that advocates for the riches of Africa be used for the benefit, upliftment, development and enjoyment of African people. Pan Africanism a system of equitably sharing food, clothing, homes, education, health care, wealth, land, work, security of life and happiness. Pan Africanism is the privilege of African people to love themselves and to give themselves and their way of life respect and preference. Pan Africanism was developed by outstanding African scholars, political scientists, historians and philosophers living in African and the Diaspora. It was conceived in the womb of Africa and a product made in Africa by Africans.
Sobukwe was an amazing eloquent orator, a magnetic personality, fluent, a man with great intellectual vigour, a great organising ability, a divine sense of his mission and impressive personal dignity. He had an exceptionally disarming humility towards everybody, friends and foes alike. Unashamed of where he came from, he boldly declared " I am the son of Sobukwe born in Graaf Reinet that land of goats, the animal which we often have to quarantine when it has scabies." In touch with his roots he proclaimed a message to the masses that spoke of cultural dignity and identity of the African people. In so doing he was able to detribalise and cement social cohesion and integration.
Sobukwe was a 'symbol of African hopes, African dignity and African successes, He carved himself a reputation as a most respected and staunch Pan-Africanist whose qualities of warmth, humility and oratory skills captivated the public and helped to win widespread support for PAC.
His political militancy earned Sobukwe revolutionary credentials and the title "defier of the undefiable." At the age of 35, he orchestrated the first crisis of its kind that shook the South African government out of complacency. He transformed the political thinking of many Africans and forced many government leaders of the day to tighten their political seat-belts. On March 21, 1960, he defied opposition from the ANC by launching the anti-pass campaign which met with an overwhelming public response. The police opened fire killing an injuring many in Sharpeville, and Langa in Cape Town.
He is the only political leader in South Africa who had a special law called the "Sobukwe Clause to destroy his leadership and his unconquerable liberation movement, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). Sobukwe was arrested and on May 4 1960, he and Zephania Mothopeng, Potlako Leballo and Selby Ngedane were sentenced to jail terms. Rioting throughout the country followed Sobukwe's arrest and the Sharpeville incident. After three days, on March 24 when the situation was getting out of control, the government banned public meetings in 265 magisterial districts. On March 27 it suspended pass laws fro 17 days, during which period there were no pass arrests.
Indeed, a renowned journalist, Lewis Nkosi describing Sobukwe said, "…a tall, distinguished political leader…who at the age of 36 has a rare distinction of having scared the South African apartheid regime out its wits…Sobukwe helped to orchestrate a crisis that panicked the South African colonial government and nearly brought about the kind of political situation which more often makes the transference of power over night."
Refusing to release him from prison after visiting him several times in Robben Island, various ministers of the apartheid colonialist regime gave reasons in their parliament why Sobukwe was not to be released. One of them said, "I asked Sobukwe, have you considered changing your ideology? He replied 'Not until the day of the resurrection.'"
Another regime's official told the colonial parliament, "In his life and aspirations, Sobukwe has not changed in his attitude and aims."
Yet another said, "Sobukwe is a leader, a man who had the entire country in turmoil within the space of a few months."
In fact, the regime became so scared that it banned the PAC on 8th April 196O. The PAC was only one year one day old. The ANC was also banned after 48 years of existence. But its white sympathizer, Lee-Warden Len who was a "Native Representative" of African interests protested against the banning of the ANC.
"…if ever there was a need, it exists today for the government to realize that it has in the ANC a fiend and not an enemy, because these organisations which we are asked to ban are so diametrically opposed that the government should seize the opportunity of appealing to the ANC to assist it to restore order in South Africa."
The truth of the matter, however, is that Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe as President of a liberated South Africa would have given the majority people of this country real freedom.
Imperialists Preferred Their Own Puppets to Genuine African Leaders
The strategy of divide and conquer is evident everywhere on the African continent. Those who champion the cause of Pan Africanism are never allowed to ascend to State power. Competition for foreign direct investment is being used as an effective tool to derail African unity and principled African leadership.
The founders of Pan Africanism championed the true liberation of Africa. For this reason, Nkrumah the first President of Ghana was overthrown in a military coup d'etat organised by imperialists and their puppets while he was on his peace mission to Vietnam. Lumumba the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo who had invited the United Nations to come and help him restore peace in his country was killed like a wild animal.
Sobukwe the first President of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) was poisoned while imprisoned on Robben Island by the apartheid colonialist regime of South Africa. This was to prevent him from becoming the first President of a liberated South Africa (Azania). Like Nkrumah and Lumumba, Sobukwe was considered an "extremist", a "radical" a "militant."
The 27th February 2007 is the 29th anniversary of Sobukwe's death. Cancer was injected into his body while he was on Robben Island. He confided this in his PAC colleagues such as Comrades Zephania Mothopeng and Nyobo.
Sobukwe was the architect of the Sharpeville Uprising of 21st March 196O, which shook the whole world including the United Nations Security Council and mobilized international opposition against apartheid. He is the only leader in South Africa who was imprisoned on Robben Island without even a mockery of a trial. The apartheid regime's Minister of Justice said he was a "heavy weight compared with all ANC leaders."
Sobukwe Warned about a Captured Black Leadership
When a section of the liberation movement came up with a document which declared that their colonized country belongs to the colonized and the colonizers, he warned:
"Following the capture of a portion of the Black leadership of South Africa by a section of the ruling class, the masses of our people are in extreme danger of being deceived into losing sight of the objectives of the struggle. This captured leadership claims to be fighting for freedom when in truth it is fighting to perpetuate the tutelage of the African people. It is tooth and nail against the Africans gaining the effective control of their country…These leaders consider our country and its wealth to belong to all who live in it, the dispossessor and the indigenous victim."
Apart from the yearnings for African identity and freedom, another ideal to come out without ambiguity was the equality of all people. Sobukwe subscribed to the manifesto of the Fourth Pan-African Congress stated in part: 'we ask in all the world, that black folk be treated as men. We can see no other road to peace and progress'. Part of the resolutions of the pivotal Pan-African Congress of 1945 in Manchester demonstrated what the ideals of the Pan-Africanists were. In the declaration to the colonial powers subsumed under the 1945 resolutions, the desire for freedom, education, democracy and social betterment were reemphasised.
What may stand in sharp contrast to current ideological posturing by neo-Pan-Africanists was the critique of monopoly capital and 'the rule of private wealth and industry for private profit alone'. This part of the resolution at the Pan-African Congress of 1945 implied that even from its early beginnings Pan-Africanists had cause to assail the monetarist pretensions of economic management embedded in current neo-liberal practices of the Bretton Woods institutions. The belief was that hankering for private profit by private entrepreneurs was not in the best interest of Africa. This stands in sharp contrast to the current prevailing notion that sees private capital and entrepreneurship as the engine of economic growth and development.
The danger that Sobukwe warned about is today manifested in the fact that the vast African majority has less land and its resources are not benefiting them. There has been no equitable redistribution of land. The minority has more land. They are selling land at sky high prices without any government intervention. There is resistance on the part of the present government to stop the sale of land to foreigners.
In fact, there is what is known as "Property clause" in South Africa. It is perpetuating land dispossession of the African people. According to the present constitution, colonially land robbed Africans have to claim land only from 1913. That land is 13% of the total land area of the country.
The Restitution of Land Rights Act 1994 has made sure that even these crumbs of the Native Land Act 1913 are forfeited if not claimed by the 31st December 1998. The present government refuses to open claims forfeited by the "cut off date" of December 1998.
Pan Africanism the Counter Strategy against Neoliberalism
Sobukwe knew that Africa's mental revolution would be essential for imparting a message of self-reliance which will make them choose "to starve in freedom rather than plenty in bondage". He went on further to say "the campaign will be the mind of the African - and once the mind is free, the body will soon be free. Once white supremacy has become mentally untenable to our people, it will become physically untenable too - and will go".
That most African countries, after over a decade of neo-liberal economic management practices, are still basket cases makes the global call for Pan Africanism more compelling than ever. The political future of Africa is tied more or less to the economic well-being of the generality of the people. As it stands now, the synergies between Pan-Africanism and neo-liberalism are few while the contradictions are legion.
PAC has always been the pace setter and most reliable barometer the politics of this country and the African Continent. Speaking at the inaugural Congress of the PAC on 6th April 1959, President Sobukwe said:
"We honour Ghana as the first independent state in modern Africa which under the courageous Pan Africanist leadership of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention Peoples' Party, has actively interested itself in the liberation of the whole continent from colonial domination.
We, in the Pan Africanist Congress, regard it as a sacred duty of every African state to strive of every African state to strive ceaselessly and energetically for the creation of a United States of Africa from Cape to Cairo and Madagascar to Morocco.
The days of small independent countries are gone. Today we have, on one hand, great powerful countries in the world. America and Russia cover huge tracts of land territorially and number hundreds of millions in population. On the other hand small weak independent countries of Europe are beginning to realize that for their own survival, they have to form military and economic federations, hence NATO and the European Market….
It is for the reasons stated above that we, in the PAC identify ourselves with the entire Pan African Movement. They are the core, the basic units, the individual cells of that large organism envisaged, the United States of America; a union of free sovereign independent democratic states of Africa.
For the lasting peace of Africa and the solution of the economic, social and political problems, the continent, there needs must be a democratic principle. This means that foreign domination under whatever disguise must be destroyed.
Sobukwe was conferred with an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws bythe University of Ahmadu Bello in Nigeria for his dedication and defence of Pan Africanism. Conferring this degree seven years after Sobukwe's death, the Dean of the Faculty of Law said:
"Honourable Chancellor, I present to you this courageous African revolutionary, this strong believer in the principles of Pan Africanism, this great fighter for the liberation and unity of al African peoples, this symbol of the struggle against apartheid and colonialism; for the posthumous conferment of the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws…."
A Nigerian scholar, Madam Abiola Lipede after becoming aware of Sobukwe's contribution to the vision of the United States of Africa wrote, "Sobukwe and his movement, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) deserve more attention from researchers."
There is a perfect agreement between Sobukwe's Pan-Africanism and human security in its current usage. All that remains is to ensure concerted global and continental actions that will strengthen and, indeed, enhance human security whilst minimising the negativities of neoliberalism. It does not appear, as the experiences of the last two decades show, that neo-liberal economic practices will fulfil the aspirations of Pan-Africanists of the past, the present and the future. In other words, what matters most in the face of the apparent failure of neo-liberalism is adjusting neo-liberalism to suit Pan-Africanist Legacies of the past and the requirements of the present as well as expectations in the future.
It is clear that there is a level of coherency and consistency in Sobukwe's Pan-Africanist thought and ideals over the years. Pan-Africanist viewpoints on issues such as economic growth and development, human security, human rights, general national aspirations, and so forth are unambiguous. Embedded in several statements or pronouncements by Sobukwe, past and present African leaders or Pan-Africanists was the need for concerted continental, and indeed, global actions to deal with diseases, poverty, ignorance or illiteracy, environmental degradation, governmental transparency, accountability, full employment. Sobukwe affirmed Nkrumah when he said "Only a united Africa can redeem its past glory, renew and reinforce its strength for the realization of its destiny. We are today the richest and yet the poorest of continents, but in unity our continent could smile in a new era of prosperity and power". With it's obsession with the export driven economies, it is obvious that Sobukwe was correct in affirming the vision of the founders of Pan Africanism for an African Common Market, devoted uniquely to African interests, and efficaciously promote the true requirements of the African states. Such an African Market presupposes a common policy for overseas trade as well as for inter-African trade, and must preserve our right to trade freely anywhere... Indeed, the total integration of the African economy on a continental scale is the only way in which the African states can achieve anything like the levels of the industrialized countries.
Under Sobukwe's Government African Riches Would Benefit Africans
From that day at Sharpeville, the apartheid regime and its imperialist backers worked hard not only to stop a PAC government, but to make sure its leaders like Sobukwe would be killed secretly to make way for what they called "moderates" to come to power by all means necessary.
If Sobukwe's vision and that of his organisation, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania was temporarily halted, this country and the African continent would have long ceased to be the looting ground of African riches by imperialists and their agents; and a cesspool of poverty amidst abundant riches which God has given to Africans.
Speaking on the use of African riches and economic development and control. Sobukwe said, "Africa will be free from foreign rule. The question is: After freedom then, what? The ready answer of the white ruling minorities is chaos and reverts to barbarism. The ready answer of all Pan Africanists….is the creation of a United States of Africa and the advent of a new era of freedom, creative production and abundance.
"The potential of Africa in minerals, oil and hydro-electric power and so on, is immense. By cutting out waste through systematic planning a central government can bring the most rapid development….By the end of the 2Oth century the standard of living of the masses of our people will undoubtedly have raised dramatically under an Africanist Socialist Government.
"Subsistence farming will have disappeared, and a large internal market will absorb a large percentage of industrial and agricultural products of the continent."
"Our Policies Must Flow From the Logic of the African Situation"
Many countries in Africa have been messed up by policies that never worked for their countries, but were imposed from outside to serve foreign interests.
Sobukwe cautioned that "we must develop policies not merely aping this or that country, or merely fashioned to approximate to or please certain powers or constellation of powers or people. Our policies must flow from the logic of the African situation and from the fundamental long-term interests of vast African millions…."
His conviction of course, was that the "vast illiterate and semi-illiterate masses of the Africans are the cornerstone, the key and very life of the struggle for democracy…the philosophy of Africanism holds out the hope of a genuine democracy beyond the stormy sea of struggle."
Sobukwe was a great believer in the eventual triumph of the struggle for genuine liberation of the Africa people. He is no more. But he has left a legacy few can match, a legacy no power will hold in abeyance forever.
Sobukwe, like Nkrumah and Lumumba was a visionary.
"We Are But the Tools of History"
Sobukwe told an apartheid court that tried him and his fellow Pan Africanists, that "As individuals, we do not count. We are but the tools of history which will always find new tools. We are not afraid of the consequences of our action and it is not our intention to plead for mercy."
The greatness of Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe lies more in the fact of his personal sacrifice for the cause of his people and the denial of his own personal comfort. He was well educated individual. He would have enjoyed the best of this world if he had wished. He could have principles to the wind if he wished and lived a very comfortable life, but he wanted nothing but genuine liberation for the millions of Africa who even today have not experienced any economic change in their lives.
Sobukwe was a fearless warrior against the evil colonialism and apartheid. He is in his grave. But he remains the dynamo of inspiration for the economic liberation and social emancipation of the still land dispossessed people of AZANIA South Africa.
(Sobukwe persuaded graduating students to be lovers of Africa and "to carry with them into the world a vision of a new Africa, an Africa rejuvenated, an Africa recreated.")
Sobukwe's Government Would Never Give Inferior Services to Africans
Under Sobukwe's government, there would many jobs, decent housing, good health care, free education, equitable redistribution of land and its wealth. No African would be living in a "mukuku" or match box size "houses" which the people today call vezunyawo or sutha re kwale.
Sobukwe painfully observed that Africans suffer inferiority complex. When he launched the PAC status campaign to mentally prepare his people for the revolution against the forces of colonialism and imperialism he said:
"Now, for over 300 years, the white ruling colonial minority has used its power to inculcate in the African the feeling of inferiority. This group has educated the African people to accept the status quo of white supremacy and Black inferiority as normal. It is our task to exorcise this slave mentality."
Under President Sobukwe's government Africans would be mentally decolonized through a cultural revolution. They would reject any kind of inferiority imposed on them.
They would reject to live in inhuman squatter camps when non-Africans live there. They would reject poverty and ask where the money from their minerals such as gold, platinum, diamonds, uranium, and etc go. Why do they have small houses? Why is education not accessible to them? Why are their hospitals and clinics inferior? Why are they short on skills for jobs? Why is everything African small or inferior? Who were being liberated? Are the Africans liberated economically? Why are foreign values of the minorities imposed on the African people?
Sobukwe would have argued that if neo-liberalism aims at rapid national economic development and growth, and then it cannot under any circumstance be said that its ideas conflict with those of Pan Africanism. However, if the components of the neo-liberal creed undermine the broader conception of human security in current usage, then arguably it contradicts the aspirations of Pan-Africanists.
What then is neo-liberalism? Neoliberals welcome the triumph of individual autonomy and the market principle over state power. While neo-liberals had served a useful historic function of questioning the viability of existing forms of state intervention, they have failed to provide an intellectually successful and workable programme for comprehensively rolling back the state, and achieving their vision of a 'brave new world.
If one follows the theme of Sobukwe's nationalism it would connect with what Anton Lembede said,
"The white man regards the universe as a gigantic machine hurtling through time and space to his final destruction: individuals in it are but tiny organisms with private lives that lead to private deaths: personal power, success and fame are the absolute measures of values; the things to live for…"
"The African, on his side, regards the universe as one composite whole: an organic entity, progressively driving towards greater harmony and unity, whose individual parts exits merely as interdependent aspects of one whole realising their fuller life in the corporate life whose communal contentment is the absolute measure of values."
Today, neo-liberal political economy rests on the assumption that African development depends, to a large extent, on the downsizing of the state in economic activities. Thus neo-liberalism abhors state intervention in the development process. The neo-patrimonial and rent-seeking pretensions of the state in Africa run counter to development, and the statist approach. It distorts markets through misguided policies such as protectionism, nontariff barriers, overvalued exchange rates, price controls, subsidies, and state monopolies. Indeed, the statist approach of the past has been termed 'wasteful authoritarian intervention' but this is in line with current conceptions that approve a minimalist state and frown upon anything that amounts to statism. The hegemonic political discourse in the post-Cold War era has been strongly neoliberal in both its economics and its politics'. This is essence destroys the values of human beings.
To bring about urgent development Sobukwe advocated for democratic centralism, which also meant state control of national economic activities. Sobukwe and other Pan-Africanist leaders were convinced that state participation was an imperative to assure equitable distribution of national resources apart from facilitating full employment and the enjoyment of other economic goods in developing economies.
Neo-liberals demand a high degree of economic freedom even though evidence suggests that statist intervention in direct support of more equitable growth, including restraints on pure market forces, restrictions on certain property rights, and state-guided rather than radical, trade liberalization' have been more beneficial than the neo-liberal model.
By implication, state interventionism, which conforms to the development paradigm favoured by the immediate post-independence Pan-Africanist leaders, proved to be more development orientated than the neo-liberal model, which is clearly anti-state.
Sobukwe would have pronounced that neo-liberalism is an attack on big government and bureaucratic welfare state 'with a policy mix based on free trade and the establishment of an open economy'. The components of the neoliberal model include the following: economic liberalisation or rationalisation characterised by the abolition of subsidies and tariffs, floating the exchange rate, the freeing up of controls on foreign investment; the restructuring of the state sector, including corporatisation and privatisation of state trading departments and other assets, 'downsizing', 'contracting out', attack on unions and abolition of wage bargaining in favour of employment contracts; and finally, the dismantling of the welfare state through commercialisation of health, welfare and education.
Education and health become mere services and products to be traded in the marketplace. Given the ramifications of neo-liberal economic policies one could argue that their strict implementation has been a great disservice to Africa and has undermined Pan-African ideals.
Such neo-liberal policies call for reductions in public expenditure on services, including education (a sector where massive support is required to assure effective national participation in the global information technology). The concept of privatisation, which is one of the pillars of the neo-liberal ideology, has provided the rationale to reduce the size of the state.
As Le Grand and Robinson point out, "... any privatization proposal involves the rolling back of the activities of the state." Basically it involves three main activities that also constitute the modes of state intervention: a reduction in state subsidy; a reduction in state provision; and a reduction in state regulation.
Sobukwe would have expected a lot from the state in assuring the economic development and growth of the state itself and the wellbeing of the citizenry. One rationale for the statist policies adopted by the Pan-African leaders was the equalisation of opportunities. The state is deemed apolitical and not likely to discriminate unduly in the disbursement of state largess to the people. Even though this assertion would seem to ignore the fact that human beings with peculiarities operate state institutions, it was believed that inequities emerging from state management of economic resources would comparatively be minimal.
To all intent and purposes, Pan Africanist ideals found a better expression in the statist policies adopted by the immediate post independent African leaders than in the prevailing neo-liberal model. The dogged pursuit of structural adjustment policies represents the implementation of neo-liberalism in its classic form. The failure of adjustment that engendered recourse to mechanisms that would ameliorate the extreme negative outcomes of the programme such as the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Consequences of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) in Ghana is just one example of the failure of neo-liberalism and thereby the need to temper such policies with the views and insights of Pan-Africanist thinkers.
Neo-liberal policies could not guarantee social justice, national cohesion, national development, democracy, and enhanced standard of living. That being the case, the neo-liberal model must be infused with Pan- Africanist ideals that extol some level of state intervention, if not absolute statism, especially state ownership of key industries, and state support for education and health, in addition to the provision of the necessary conditions that will assure human security. That is to say that a blend of neo-liberalism with sound Pan-Africanist ideals that perceive man as the centre of all political and economic initiatives will augur well for African development and human security than is the case through the instrumentality or the zealous implementation of classical neoliberal orthodoxy.
Sobukwe's Government Would Never Imprison Freedom Fighters
Under Sobukwe's government all former freedom fighters of the Azania Peoples' Liberation Army (APLA) and MK members languishing in the jails of "New South Africa" would have long been released or would never been paraded before the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (TRC) with the perpetrators of apartheid. The reason is simple. Through the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, the United Nations declared apartheid a crime against humanity.
This Convention is on par with genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing. Former freedom fighters never committed these crimes, and, therefore, must never have been imprisoned as the case is under the present government.
Sobukwe valued all heroes of the struggle against oppression and colonialism. He never forgot those who fell in struggle. In fact, in South Africa it is only the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania that has a Heroes' Day -31st July every year. On the very first day of the Heroes Day of his organisation, among other things Sobukwe said:
"We are met here today to commemorate our National Heroes Day. We are today going down the corridor of time and renewing our acquaintance with the heroes of Africa's past. Those men and women who nourished the tree of African freedom and independence with their blood. Those sons and daughters of Africa who died that we may be free in the land of our birth...."
We are here to draw inspiration from the heroes of Thaba Bosiu, Isandlwana. Sandile's Kop. Kaiskma Hoek and numerous battlefields where our forefathers fell before the bullets of the foreign invader….We are hereto commence the tremendous task of rebuilding the destroyed walls of Africa. We are gathered here today, to reiterate our resolve to declare total war against the demigods of white supremacy. We are to say Africa must free and shall be free….We are here to serve an ultimatum on the forces of oppression."
Sobukwe Regarded Education as Service to Africa
Sobukwe regarded education as a tool for service for Africa. That is probably why his organisation, the Pan Africanist Congress has been campaigning tirelessly for freed education for the poor.
Speaking to students, Sobukwe said, "To us education means service to Africa. In whatever branch of learning you arte, you are there for Africa. You have a mission. We all have a mission. A nation to build, a contribution to make towards the blessing of mankind. We must be the embodiment of our people's aspirations."
On leaders who betray the cause of the liberation struggle, Sobukwe spoke very frankly. He said, "Watch our movements keenly, and if you see any signs of 'broad-mindedness' or 'reasonableness' in us or if you hear us talk of practical experience as a modifier of man's views, denounce us as traitors to Africa."
To those who accused him or the PAC of extremism, radicalism etc and always told Africans that "half- a loaf is better than nothing." He said:
"Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm, Tell a man moderately to rescue his wife from the arms of a rapist. Tell a mother to extricate gradually her baby from the fire into which it has fallen, but do not ask me to use moderation in a cause of freedom. We dare not compromise, nor dare use moderate language in the cause of freedom."
Indeed, how can oppression, evil and injustice are confronted moderately?
The "Race" Question And Who Is An African?
Sobukwe was greatly influenced by other Pan Africanist leaders on the African continent. There is great coherence and resonance in the following statement:
"To dominate a people is, above all, to take up arms to destroy, or at least to neutralize, to paralyze, its cultural life. For, with a strong indigenous cultural life, foreign domination cannot be sure of its perpetuation. The value of culture as an element of resistance to foreign domination lies in the fact that culture is the vigorous manifestation on the ideological or idealist plane of the physical and historical reality of the society that is dominated or to be dominated. Culture is simultaneously the fruit of a people's history and a determinant of history, by the positive and negative influence which it exerts on the evolution of relationships between man and his environment, among men or groups of men within a society, as well as among different societies"
Amilcar Cabral, the late President of the Republic of 14 October 2003. Guinea-Bissau.
Much has been said about "race" and African identity. In a court of law where he was charged for the Sharpeville Uprising and subsequently sentenced to three years imprisonment with his colleagues such as P.K. Leballo and Selby Ngendane, Sobukwe said:
"We believe in one race only - the human race to which we all belong. The history of that race is a long struggle against all restrictions, physical, mental and spiritual. We would have betrayed the human race if we had not done our share….We stand for equal rights for all individuals. But must first accept allegiance to Africa first. Once a truly non-racial democracy exists in South Africa…all individuals, whatever their colour or race, will be accepted as Africans."
The bold cultural choice that Sobukwe made by adopting the term M'Afrika to refer to all Afrikans was not only a rejection of Euro-centricity but a tool that could facilitate social integration and unity of the people, both nationally and continentally. Sobukwe did not tolerate the balkanisation of Africa, and in one of his speeches he expressed his displeasure that:
"South Africa is an integral part of the indivisible whole that is Africa." In this context, he said, "South Africa cannot solve her problems in isolation of the rest of the continent." "Africa is one," he declared, "and desires to be one and nobody have the right to balkanise our land."
It clearly appears that lack of meaningful unity and solidarity of the African peoples is a result of failure by the players to recognise and appreciate the inherent power enshrined in our cultural heritage which can be harnessed to foster social integration.
Accordingly the lack of political will for an economic transformation may in part be due to a state of mental and cultural dependency. It is a painful legacy of Western civilization that whatever comes from there is the best. This myth is reinforced by tailoring its educational, cultural and social values to Europeanize and de-Africanize the African via European languages and culture. The acquisition and imitation of these languages and culture was rewarded thoroughly and made a status symbol. Those who learned these languages tended to despise those who did not. They identified more with the colonisers, as they out-did each other in speaking the foreign tongue with eloquence. This had to do with maintaining intercourse with the masters and by securing the opportunities availed by such knowledge. Describing the situation then Emerson (1962:136) writes:
"The imperial languages were of course tied to the prestige system of the white since the Whiteman, with the partial exception of the missionary and the scholar, generally learned the local languages as an act of grace or better to rule or trade with the subordinate peoples where it was assumed that the native who wanted to advance must rise to the level of the foreign language."
Sobukwe's thinking on pride, independence, freedom and self-reliance related not only to political liberation but also to economic, social and cultural spheres.
Language has an overwhelming capacity of bonding people together. People who speak one language are united by the ease with which they can communicate. Africa needs to keep alive the dream and vision of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe for a shared destiny of the African people. The full realization of our being lies in our collective as Africans. Our freedom, strength, dignity, survival and prosperity as a people depend on our unity as Africans, for only in unity can strength be found.
Sobukwe was cognizant of the Euro-centric cultural tyranny that was imposed on Africa during the colonial era and the need to provide a framework in which indigenous cultural practices could be safeguarded. It's no wonder that he personally fostered social cohesion and unity. People did not feel alienated. It widened the range of political leadership as all citizens had equal opportunity to vie for any position. Opportunities were flung open for people with no knowledge whatsoever of foreign tongues.
These gave the citizens a sense of involvement in the running of their country. A sense of identity was created in them. Pan-Africanism was born out of a realization that African people were a downtrodden group and that they are not only culturally related but also share similar problems and aspirations. It therefore made sense to pull together for mutual support to liberate themselves and even to have a more effective voice in the affairs of the world it is this realisation that ignited the desire and the quest for eventual unity for all the Africans, and even the coming together of the African people in Diaspora.
Sobukwe took the question of race seriously. His organisation the PAC was the only liberation movement to have in its constitution as one of its aims, "the establishment a non-racial society."
When settler colonialist Les de Villiers referred to Sobukwe as a racist, he sued him and was awarded damages when the High Court in London found that de Villiers was merely malicious.
He had written that Sobukwe had led a following of militant men away from the moderate ANC in 1958. "The newly formed Pan Africanist Congress preached Black Power. Other races should be exterminated or sent packing, said Witwatersrand lecturer Robert Sobukwe."
African Unity & Human Security an Imperative for Africa
African unity was another favourite theme of Sobukwe. A united continent with interlinking federations was preferred. There was equally a call for African renaissance and African personality that were to take into account the valuable and desirable heritage of the past and 'marrying it into modern ideas'. African nationalism or loyalty was more preferable than parochial tribal affiliations. The desire for the regeneration of economic activities in place of the existing colonially structured economy was another ideal that was relentlessly stressed by Sobukwe. It has relevance today for Africa whose economy is externally controlled.
The initial players in the pan-African movement were intellectuals and thinkers from this continent and people of African descent in the Diaspora. With more countries attaining their independence from colonialism, it was realized early by the political leaders that the fragile nation-states, born out of the accidents of history that colonialism had bequeathed to Africa, would be too weak, too poor, too politically vulnerable to serve the needs of her peoples after the heroic struggle for independence. Sobukwe believed that Africa could never be truly independent of the former colonial powers unless it was strong, and it could only be strong if it was politically and economically united. Sobukwe's belief was shared by many other progressive pan-Africanists, among them, Kwame Nkrumah Sekou Toure of Guinea, and Modibo Keita of Mali.
The quest for freedom, African identity, the regeneration of economic development, a belief in a non-exploitative mode of economic production, rejuvenation of African moral virtues and cultures, belief in democracy as the most desirable mode of government based on the principle of 'one man one vote' by Sobukwe could be seen from the human security perspective in its current usage.
Such quests today, conform to the primary role of the state, which is 'to provide peace and security for its citizens both within the nation-state and to ensure their protection against threats from outside'. For most people of the world, a sense of insecurity comes not so much from the traditional security concerns, but from the concerns about their survival, self-preservation and wellbeing in a day-to-day context'. For these people, 'security meant protection from the threat of diseases, hunger, unemployment, crime, social conflict, political repression, and environmental degradation'. Sobukwe's conceptualisation brings under the fold of human security the variegated interests of the people. Economic, social, health, and political well-being have all been incorporated in the broader modern day concept of human security.
Human rights for citizens, social security among the workers, and collective security among the populations, and noted that African unity would be strengthened if leaders succeed in resolving the problems created by the processes of social interactions in Africa. The relevance of Pan Africanism and human security in the current global situation underlines the need for it to play a central role in the policy orientation of all African countries.
Democracy & Pan Africanism
From the onset Sobukwe's Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania the question of democracy was never marginalised. Democracy formed an important aspect of the whole struggle. It was obvious that Africans lacked representation in their own country. They were subjugated politically and economically. Since democracy assures effective representation of the people through the principle of one man, one vote, Sobukwe embraced democracy.
There was also a strong belief in democracy, which was seen as the most desirable mode of government that hinged on the principle of one-man-one vote. However, the type of democracy expressed by some African leaders after independence runs counter to the liberal democratic principles we know of today. According to George Padmore who also had a great deal of influence on Mangaliso Sobukwes thinking, "Panafricanism subscribes to the fundamental objectives of Democratic Socialism, with state control of the basic means of production and distribution". With reference to the same democratic mode, Dr. Nkrumah noted: "Democracy, for instance, has always been for us not a matter of technique, but more important than technique - a matter of socialist goals and aims. It was, however, not only our socialist aims that were democratically inspired, but also the methods of pursuit were socialists."
It appears that Mangaliso Sobukwe's preference for Democratic Centralism, which was the true expression of the socialist technique of democratic engineering, was influenced by Kwame Nkrumah Democratic Centralism/Scientific Socialism and George Padmore's Democratic Socialism. The preference for a one party state that came into vogue across the continent in the 1960s was the natural translation of the theoretical ideals of Democratic Socialism or Democratic Centralism into reality. Dr. Azikiwe was emphatic on the need to guarantee this with regard to a continental market:
Sobukwe on Pan Africanism and Nationalism
As a pan- Africanist Sobukwe lived his entire life pursuing unity both at the national and at the continental level. He cherished a strong belief that only in unity can strength be found to tackle other challenges of life. He understood that the question of development is inextricably linked to whether or not a majority of the people are included in decision making by virtue of being conversant with the language of governance. And this he did by example. Neither did he believe in continued dependence on foreign languages to articulate African concerns as this tended to retard Pan-Africanism. Nationalism traversed national boundaries, and its ultimate objective was to secure unity and solidarity for all Africans for greater growth, development and security.
He understood that the question of development is inextricably linked to whether or not a majority of the people are included in decision making by virtue of being conversant with the language of governance.
African goals and objectives, realise a renewal and a reawakening for the African people, Africa must embrace a new approach. The challenge for future generations of Pan Africanists is on recognition of the role of language, an indigenous African language, which will not only facilitate social integration but also spur technological and economic prosperity. It must be realised that continued reliance on imperfectly mastered foreign languages retards ingenuity and performance in scientific and technical pursuits. This hampers economic growth, political stability and social cohesion
Sobukwe was the embodiment of The African Personality which is understood to mean a definitive state of the conscience imbued by African morality, values and integrity typified among other essentials by the air that we breath, our mode of self expression, the words we utter and the blood that flows in our African veins and arteries. It should be noted that Frantz Fanon perceived African hood, as an ascension of the cultural heritage of Africa signified by the efforts to uphold an ideology that seeks to emancipate the African from mental slavery resulting from centuries of slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism, and imperialist (now, superpower unilateralist) subjugation. Another very central concept to this debate is 'Pan-African' which refers to recognition of the need for countries 1in Africa to cooperate and help one another.
Sobukwe taught that Pan-African Nationalism is a powerful ideology without which the African or Pan-African cannot be emancipated from mental slavery to rediscover him or herself. Consequently, Pan-Africanism holds fundamentally that all Africans all descendants of Mother Africa are equal members.
Today, it is evident that the anti-thesis of Pan-Africanism, is neo-colonialism conceived of as the manifestation of an indirect form of control of the former colonies through economic and cultural dependence, and the ruling native elites, compliance with the neo-colonial powers, populations that are exploited for their labour and resources in order to feed an insatiable appetite for finished physical or cultural commodities made by the metropole. Much more important is the systematic and accurate articulation of these terms within the globalization discourse in as much as Pan- Africanism indexes not only a recognition of the need to be supportive but also to practice cooperation on which the survival and identity of Africans, and African descendants, has to find expression.
Why is NEPAD being so keenly promoted by the African (and many industrialized) governments, but denounced by so many others? NEPAD's roots go back to the failure of Western policies. Devised and promoted as a Pan African initiative primarily authored by South Africa's Mbeki and Nigeria's Obasanjo, with support from Algeria and Senegal, NEPAD's direction towards "partnership" and "ownership", self-monitoring and African peer review of policies, assigns Africans responsibility for their actions, and not indicting western powers for their external interference in African affairs. This is entirely consistent with, as we have seen the somewhat vacuous language of responsibility and partnerships to found in the paragraphs of every development document these days. It demands African governments commit to liberal democratic governance to ensure the restitution of peace and security and to give Africans better market access for their exports, increased foreign direct investment, and improved kinds of development assistance. Despite its provenance, and the fact that it is promoted by the African Union, NEPAD is surely the latest prescription for African leaders to honour donor expectations of economic and political liberalization, human rights and good governance, and is consistent with World Bank loan conditionality and structural adjustment agreements. The pitiful financial commitments by the G8 countries at the last G8 summit (less than 10th of what Africans asked for) drew ire from numerous commentators and activists; this pointed to dependencies and constraints NEPAD sought to avoid, but which are built into its contradictory terms of reference. Others have criticized NEPAD leaders, not only because they appear to capitulate to international capital, but also because, and consistent with their elitism, they have barely consulted with the African people, forcing home-grown adjustment programs upon the majority of Africans without voice. Whatever the criticisms, the origins and debate about NEPAD shows the narrowing way in which Pan Africanism is understood and is expected to be practiced.
Today we are at a juncture when globalisation has become a focal point around which so many Pan Africanist political and social movements are struggling to create new, progressive sovereignties against the supposed universalistic norms of globalisation from above. Today, Pan Africanism in the tradition of Sobukwe, Nkrumah, Toure and Lumumba must emerge as a radical and only alternative for Africa.
Once again, as in 1949, the African people are waiting expectantly and eagerly the emergence of a bold and courageous programme from the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania - an organisation that has its roots among the masses, and whose leadership comes from their loins. Not only has PAC succeeded in raising the eyes of our people above the dust of immediate conflict to the genuine democracy that lies beyond the stormy sea of struggle, but is has also imparted a meaning and a purpose to their struggle. The African people therefore are awake! They are waiting eagerly and expectantly; waiting for the call; the call to battle - to battle for the reconquest of the continent of Africa which for over 300 years has been the prostitute of the philanders and rakes of western capitalism. "Mayibuye I Africa", that is the cry ringing throughout the continent. Africa for the African! Izwe Lethu - I Afrika! Those are the worlds that spell the doom of white supremacy in Africa. - Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe