New Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) president Motsoko Pheko says the party will now take its rightful place of honour in the country’s political landscape.
He was speaking after yet another dramatic and divisive congress, the kind that has become the hallmark of PAC politics in recent years.
Pheko was referring to the fact that despite the relevance of its ideology and its unquestioned struggle credentials, the PAC remains a ”one-percent party” in Parliament.
This is in no small measure caused by the party’s inability to articulate its positions to the electorate and rid itself of factions, say PAC veterans.
Pheko is a long-time member of the PAC who has served as a deputy for the past 10 years.
After having failed to secure the presidency at the abandoned PAC congress in Umtata in December last year because of allegedly busing in under-age supporters, Pheko won this round because of the disorganisation of his opponents.
Limpopo legislator Maxwell Nemadzhivhanani came to the congress an expelled member while secretary general Thami ka Plaatjie’s support base had been gradually eroded by the firing of youthful supporters like former Pan Africanist Youth Congress leader Cameron Tabane and former deputy Wonder Masumbuka from the PAC’s head office.
Nemadhzhivhanani managed to convince the congress to overturn his suspension but, with little time to lobby properly, fared poorly in his bid for the presidency.
Ka Plaatjie disappeared just before voting. His supporters from the Eastern and Western Cape did not vote but did not explicitly question the outcome of the presidential vote.
With the general elections just around the corner, will the PAC contest them as a united party or will it once again be a fragmented organisation?
When outgoing president Bishop Stanley Mogoba was elected he was brought into the party as a credible pan Africanist who was supposed to clean up the image of an organisation still caught in the revolutionary rhetoric of the past.
Mogoba was supposed to unite the party and win over undecided voters but it is a fact that the PAC fared worse in the 1999 elections than it had in 1994.
Mogoba was not an accomplished politician and members were sometimes embarrassed by outbursts, such as his promise that the PAC would chop off the hands of criminals.
He also got entangled in leadership battles and the last straw for him was that he received death threats in the run-up to last week’s congress.
Will Pheko fare any better? His critics say he lacks political acumen and often relies too much on anti-African National Congress rhetoric. They also say he does not work within a collective.
”It is important that Pheko works with Nemadhzivhanani, Ka Plaatjie and all other opponents within the PAC if the party is to make any impact,” says a PAC insider.
PAC veteran Jaki Seroke said the party should focus on uniting and consolidating.
”There is a need for a party like the PAC in our politics but it has not really been strong since 1994. It is the only party with the credibility to go toe-to-toe with the ANC.
”It will not necessarily come out of next year’s elections as the official opposition but it needs to play a critical role and ensure that it moves from at least 1% to win about 5% of the votes. That will be the first stage of the revival of the PAC,” he said.
Seroke has been part of a group of formerly active PAC members who have been trying to guide the beleaguered party.
He said ever since the unbanning of the PAC in 1990 and its merger with its then internal front, the Pan Africanist Movement, the party has had to battle with democratisation and unity issues.
Over years the PAC has lost prominent leaders such as Dikgang Moseneke, Ngila Muendane, Cla-rence Makwetu, Patricia de Lille and others.
Just before the congress, the party said it had initiated the idea of working with the Socialist Party of Azania, the United Democratic Movement and the Azanian People’s Organisation to form a strong black alternative to the ANC.
But with the congress occupied with resolving personality issues, the PAC failed to come up with a clear strategy of co-operation for next year’s elections.
It remains to be seen whether this congress, ironically held in the same township where the PAC was born, will lead to its revival or mark the beginning of its end.