Thebe Mabanga
The Pan Africanist Congress plans to broaden its support base by pitch- ing to the white community and specifically Afrikaners.
This interesting shift in a party famed for its slogan “one settler, one bullet” was disclosed by PAC secretary general Thami ka Plaatjie this week.
Ka Plaatjie said the appeal to Afrikaners would be made through Afrikaans-medium publications, such as Beeld and Rapport, and a series of “talk shops”. The aim was to counter the impression that the PAC was anti-white. This, he said, had been “unwittingly” created by events ranging from golf course and farm attacks to the “one settler, one bullet” slogan and threats to drive whites into the sea.
He had made his first tentative step in the new direction by mediating in a dispute between two senior Afrikaner academics at a college in the East Rand. The PAC had also taken up the case of John Pollock, whom they allege was wrongfully arrested and is now held at the Stofberg prison in Sasolburg.
Ka Plaatjie said he saw no contradiction between the “try for white” strategy and moves to forge an alliance with black consciousness organisations, the Azanian People’s Organisation and the Socialist Party of Azania. This move is expected to now include overtures to the United Democratic Movement and should be completed by the middle of this year, he said.
Ka Plaatjie said the PAC was in the process of “repositioning itself as the authentic voice of the African people, and reviewing most of its policies in an attempt to make them resonate with the ever-changing political landscape”.
The policies, to be unveiled mid-next month, remained centred on land. The refrain “land first and everything shall follow” would be “unpacked” to various constituencies. The PAC advocates expropriation with compensation for added value only and expropriation for development and increased ownership of land for tribal areas. It is not clear how this will appeal to whites.
The party is opposed to the government plans to reduce the number of tertiary institutions. It would like to see more Afrocentric universities with broader access using a progressive, income-based fee structure.
To realise its African Utopia, the party will rely on a socialist economic platform that guarantees a minimum standard of life for all citizens, gives a social grant to the unemployed and introduces a selectively protectionist trade policy.