Bennie Bunsee
THAT the Pan Africanist Congress has been going through a trying time is well known. But the M&G’s response to the PAC’s recent convention (“PAC convention achieves little,” September 27 to October 3) misunderstands a genuine attempt to correct the organisation’s problems arising from decades of leadership mismanagement.
Getting the PAC right will be a long process: the will to make it right is there. Those who dismiss the PAC easily are grossly mistaken. It represents a political ideology based on the African conception of liberation whose dynamism will carry all before it in the decades to come.
The crisis facing the PAC goes beyond that of mere leadership change. True, a more dynamic leadership structure would have served the PAC better in the national and local elections. Even President Nelson Mandela acknowledged in Umtata recently that the PAC’s political strength is greater than its weak electoral showing.
The future of the PAC has to be understood in the context of the history of our struggle against colonialism and racism. Also, the PAC’s own history is filled with contradictions and obstacles that weak leadership has not handled effectively. It has also not been able to articulate its views effectively and counter the ANC’s more conciliatory approach to colonial prejudices, or match its propaganda offensive. Nor too, must the manner in which the apartheid regime’s infiltration of the PAC be underestimated.
Despite this, throughout its history the PAC has consistently maintained a firm radical line based on its deep beliefs. There is no ideological split currently facing the organisation.
Nor is the PAC just another splinter from the ANC. There are deeply held differences between the parties. The PAC is a party committed to the liberation and unity of the African people throughout the globe. I frankly do not know of a single major African thinker, writer or artist who does not think on a Pan-Africanist basis or who does not see the resurrection of the African people from the ashes of colonial domination.
How does the PAC overcome the often negative view that it is a racist organisation (when it is not) because it calls itself Africanist? How does it form alliances with other interests and relate to the ANC constructively? It realises that ultimately it must carry the Indians, “coloureds” and whites, and this poses enormous challenges. How does it engineer transformation in various fields so that the interests of the African people are met, and South Africa itself becomes a cog in the larger wheel of Pan-African unity and progress?
It needs to have a keener notion of tactics and strategy and not behave like a loose cannon as has been its wont. It needs to abandon ultra-leftism, become more sensible in its approach, and accept the reality of parliamentary democracy with all its limitations.
The convention was the first shot in attempting to deal with these problems in a constructive and mature way. The party acknowledges that because of internal problems it has not been able to play a more significant role in the politics of transition. But talent and ability in the PAC is abundant. It needs a wise leadership to bring it to the fore, and to make links with its innumerable sympathisers and supporters, here and internationally.
The December congress for which the convention was a preparation will be a battle between the elements who hold back its progress, and those which constitute its bulk and wish to move it forward and create an atmosphere of free debate within the organisation. Thereafter the PAC, if it can re-structure its leadership, will begin the more serious task of confronting the enormous challenges facing true African liberation. A revitalised PAC will benefit the country enormously and contribute to its security for all citizens, black and white.
— Bennie Bunsee is the PAC’s parliamentary adviser