Pan Africanist Congress of Azania: Difference between revisions

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| headquarters = 2nd Floor, The Main Change Bld, 20 Kruger Street, [[Johannesburg]], [[Gauteng]]<ref name="PACHQ">{{cite web|url=http://www.pacofazania.org.za.org.za/contacts/|author=Pan Africanist Congress of Azania|title=Contacts|website=www.pacofazania.org.za.org.za|access-date=14 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019172353/http://www.pacofazania.org.za.org.za/contacts/|archive-date=19 October 2013}}</ref>

The '''Pan Africanist Congress of Azania''', (knownoften asshortened to the '''Pan Africanist Congress''' ('''PAC)'''), is a South African national liberation [[Pan-Africanism|Panpan-Africanist]] national liberation movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by [[Robert Sobukwe]], that broke away from the [[African National Congress]] (ANC) in 1959, as the PAC objected to the ANC's theory that "the land belongs to all who live in it both white and black" and also rejected a multiracialist worldview, instead advocating a South Africa based on African nationalism.<ref name=":0">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) (South African organization)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2014-07-06|date=2014-05-12|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440552/Pan-Africanist-Congress-of-Azania-PAC}}</ref><ref>[http://www.702.co.za/articles/260287/why-the-pac-wants-south-africa-renamed-azania Why the PAC wants South Africa renamed Azania]</ref>

The PAC was formally launched on 6 April 1959 at Orlando Communal Hall in [[Soweto]]. A number of [[African National Congress]] (ANC) members broke away because they objected to the substitution of the 1949 ''Programme of Action'' with the [[Freedom Charter]] adopted in 1955, which used [[multiracialism|multiracialist]] language as opposed to [[African nationalism|Africanist]] affirmations. The PAC at the time considered South Africa to be an African state by right an "inalienable right of the indigenous African people" and refused to support equal rights of the oppressed and oppressor, exploiter and exploited, the land dispossessor and landless Africans - "the dispossessed". They insisted that the Historic Mission of the PAC of The People of Azania is "The complete freedom, liberation and independence of Afrika." This entails political, social, economic and military independence. [[Robert Sobukwe]] was elected as the first president, and [[Potlako Leballo]] as the Secretary General.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania {{!}} South African organization|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pan-Africanist-Congress-of-Azania|access-date=2020-06-15|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Pan Africanist Congress Of Azania (PAC) – The O'Malley Archives|url=https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv03445/04lv03446/05lv03488.htm|access-date=2020-06-15|website=omalley.nelsonmandela.org|quote="They feared that the liberation struggle would be taken over by white and Indian communists and rejected the aspects of the Freedom Charter* that protected minority interests rather than those of Africans throughout the continent."}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) {{!}} South African History Online|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pan-africanist-congress-pac|access-date=2020-06-15|website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=South Africa – Political Parties|url=http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/78.htm|access-date=2020-06-15|website=countrystudies.us|quote="...1959 prompted a split by black nationalists from the ANC to form the militant Africanist, anticommunist PAC." ... "The PAC also opposed the ANC's alliance with the SACP because most PAC leaders rejected Marxist economic dogma."}}</ref>

The PAC historically rejected [[Marxism]], opposed [[communism]] (though it itself had borrowed from some [[Maoism|Maoist]] tenentstenets) and the inclusion of ethnic minorities within the liberation struggle, instead advocating black liberation exclusively within a [[Black nationalism|Black nationalist]] concept.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

The PAC has been beset by infighting and has had numerous changes of leadership since its transition to a political party. In 1996, [[Clarence Makwetu]], who led the party in the [[South African general election, 1994|1994 elections]], was removed on the basis of "bringing the party into disrepute".<ref name="mg_backwards">{{cite web | url=http://mg.co.za/article/2014-04-24-sa-has-moved-backwards-says-pac-stalwart-makwetu | title=SA has moved backwards, says PAC stalwart Makwetu | date=24 April 2014 | publisher=Mail and Guardian | access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref>

In November 2020, speaker of the National Assembly [[Thandi Modise]] received notice that the PAC had expelled Nyhontso, and notified him that he had therefore lost his seat in parliament as the PAC's sole representative.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Toit |first=Christelle du |title=PAC's sole MP loses his seat in Parliament |url=https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/politics/2402563/pacs-sole-mp-loses-his-seat-in-parliament/ |access-date=2020-12-05 |website=The Citizen |date=28 November 2020 |language=en}}</ref> The opposing faction got a court order in December 2020 to reinstate Nyhontso, pending a court order challenging his removal from the party.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Western Cape High Court Orders Reinstatement of PAC MP – Parliament of South Africa |url=https://www.parliament.gov.za/index.php/press-releases/western-cape-high-court-orders-reinstatement-pac-mp |access-date=2020-12-05 |website=www.parliament.gov.za}}</ref>

In August 2021, the court confirmed that Moloto's election was invalid, confirming Nyhontso as president, and in September 2021 Nyhontso was again sworn in as the party's sole MP.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-23 |title=Mzwanele Nyhontso declared PAC's lawful leader |url=https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/politics/2596748/mzwanele-nyhontso-declared-pacs-lawful-leader/ |access-date=2021-09-09 |website=The Citizen |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-04 |title=Return of PAC’sPAC's voice: New president swearing in a victory for embattled party |url=https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/politics/2604989/return-of-pacs-voice-new-president-sworn-in/ |access-date=2021-09-09 |website=The Citizen |language=en}}</ref>

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