Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe

1. Related
2. The Sharpeville Massacre (1960)
3. The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)
4. Sources
5. Robert Sobukwe [online] Available at: wikipedia.org [Accessed 27 March 2009]
6. Inaugural Convention of the PAC, April 4-6, 1959 - "Opening Address" by R.M. Sobukwe [online] Available at: pac.org.za [Accessed 27 March 2009]
7. History: Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe [online] Available at: liberation.org.za [Accessed 27 March 2009]
8. Biography: Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe [online] Available at: answers.com [Accessed 27 March 2009]

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Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe was born in Graaff-Reinet in the Cape Province in 1924. His father was a farm worker and his mother had no formal education. Sobukwe was an excellent student, which won him a scholarship to the Methodist boarding school at Healdtown in the Eastern Cape. Afterwards he enrolled at Fort Hare University, where he displayed a keen interest in literature.

At Fort Hare, where generations of young Black South Africans were exposed to politics, he joined the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in 1948. The organisation had been established on the university campus by Godfrey Pitje, who later became its president. In 1949, Sobukwe was elected as president of the Fort Hare Students' Representative Council, where he proved himself to be a good orator.

In 1950, Sobukwe was appointed as a teacher at a high school in Standerton, a position he lost when he spoke out in favour of the Defiance Campaign in 1952. He was, however, reinstated. During this period he was not directly involved with mainstream African National Congress (ANC) activities, but still held the position of secretary of the organisation’s branch in Standerton.

In 1954, after moving to Johannesburg, Sobukwe became a lecturer of African Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. During his time in Johannesburg he edited The Africanist and soon began to criticise the ANC for allowing itself to be dominated by what he termed 'liberal-left-multi-racialists'.

The “Prof”, as his friends called him, was a charismatic speaker, and in 1958 he was instrumental in initiating a breakaway from the ANC, resulting in the birth of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). He was unanimously elected as the president of the movement at its inaugural congress. Sobukwe's eloquence as a public speaker, his intelligence and commitment to his cause soon established him as natural leader, and helped him rally support for the PAC.

Sobukwe’s opposition to what he termed “multi-racialism” in favour of “non-racialism” is supported by an extract from his inaugural speech to the PAC in 1959:

"Further, multi-racialism is in fact a pandering to European bigotry and arrogance. It is a method of safeguarding white interests, implying as it does, proportional representation irrespective of population figures. In that sense it is a complete negation of democracy.

To us the term "multi-racialism" implies that there are such basic insuperable differences between the various national groups here that the best course is to keep them permanently distinctive in a kind of democratic apartheid. That to us is racialism multiplied, which probably is what the term truly connotes.  We aim, politically, at government of the Africans by the Africans, for the Africans, with everybody who owes his only loyalty to Afrika and who is prepared to accept the democratic rule of an African majority being regarded as an African.

We guarantee no minority rights, because we think in terms of individuals, not groups."

On 21 March 1960, at the launch of the PAC anti-pass campaign, he resigned from his post as teacher. He made last minute arrangements for the safety of his family and left his home in Molofo. He intended to give himself up for arrest at the Orlando police station in the hope that his actions would inspire other Black South Africans. On the 8-km walk to the police station, small groups of men joined him from neighbouring areas like Phefeni, Dube and Orlando West. As the small crowd approached the station most of them, including Sobukwe, were arrested.

He was harshly sentenced to three years in prison, at the end of which Parliament enacted a General Law Amendment Act, which empowered the Minister of Justice to prolong the detention of any political prisoner indefinitely. Subsequently, he was moved to Robben Island, where he remained for an additional six years.

After his release in 1969, Sobukwe was allowed to join his family in Kimberley but remained under twelve-hour house arrest. He was also restricted from any political activity as a result of a banning order that had been imposed on the PAC. During his incarceration Sobukwe obtained an Honours Degree in Economics from the University of London, and began studying Law. He completed his articles in Kimberley, and established his own law firm in 1975.

Although he was offered several teaching posts at American universities, he was prevented from going overseas by the apartheid government.

Robert Sobukwe passed away on 27 February 1978 from lung cancer. Today, he remains a celebrated political figure in the struggle for a democratic South Africa.