"In the twilight of the Azanian revolution". Leadership diversity and its impact on the PAC during the exile period (1962-1990)

Abstract

During the exile period (1960-1990) the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) of Azania was an organis ation continuously in a state of crisis. The crisis in the PAC was a result of internal squabbles which were a manifestation of the crisis of leadership. With Robert Sobukwe under house arrest and banishment inside South Africa, the organisation lacked a uniting symbolic figure at the helm. It was only in 1981 that a leader with the level of capabilities that approximated those of Sobukwe was identified and he was Nyathi John Pokela. Otherwise, for the first sixteen years PAC members "nursed hopes that one day Sobukwe will escape from banishment to come and save the PAC in exile". The Acting President of the PAC, PK Leballo, was regarded as a temporary replacement. The reality that the PAC had to find a leader only dawned after Sobukwe's death in 1978. It took the organisation two years to eventually appoint Pokela as the leader of the exiled organisation. His stint was also short as he died in 1985 in Zimbabwe after a short illness. What this points to is that the PAC never had stable leadership during the exile period. Between the years 1962-1990, the PAC had four chairpersons who led the organisation at different times. Their leadership styles were different and this had an impact on the organisation.