Who is this Sobukwe that I must be so traumatised by the failure of our government and our people to preserve his legacy? Sobukwe, born in Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape province, is the founding president of the PAC and former commander-in-chief of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla), the armed wing of the former liberation movement that played a critical role in our liberation struggle. In 1960, the year after the formation of the PAC, Sobukwe led the anti-pass campaign, an intensification of the Defiance Campaign that had employed a Gandhist approach of passive resistance. The anti-pass campaign took place on March 21, with hundreds of thousands of black people marching to police stations to demand they be arrested for not carrying their pass books, which was compulsory under apartheid laws. This brave confrontation between the oppressed and the oppressor led to the most violent responses the apartheid police had ever meted out against our people. Hundreds were injured and over 70 people were killed nationwide (including women and children), mostly in Sharpeville and Langa. The Sharpeville/Langa massacre became a turning point of our struggle. Liberation movements were banned and struggle activists were arrested (a few months later, Apla entered into an armed struggle, followed a year later, in 1961, by Umkhonto weSizwe, the military wing of the ANC). Among those arrested was Sobukwe, who spent almost a decade in solitary confinement on Robben Island. Sobukwe was meant to be released in 1963, but a legislation known as the Sobukwe Clause was passed. It made allowance for the regime to detain political activists without trial “until this side of eternity”. As a result, Sobukwe was only released in 1969 and then banished to Galeshewe, where he started a law practice to assist poor black people with legal matters. It is because of the appreciation of this man’s contributions that I battle to comprehend how his legacy can be allowed to die such a painful death, at the hands of a majority government. That our democratic regime failed to turn Sobukwe’s house into a historic monument is criminal. But equally criminal is that the PAC allowed it to happen. And most criminal is that we, the people, the motive force of Sobukwe’s contributions to the struggle, are doing nothing to preserve the legacy of an African giant. It is clear that both the ANC and the PAC have failed Sobukwe, and therefore it is our responsibility to ensure the restoration of his name to its rightful place in our history. - MALAIKA WA AZANIA
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 03:52:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015