Robert Sobukwe

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Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (1924-1978), who helped found and led the Pan-African Congress, was a militant opponent of white supremacy in South Africa.

Robert Sobukwe was born in the South African town of Graaff-Reinet on December 5, 1924. His mother was a South African of Xhosa background; his father was from Lesotho and had been both a worker in the Graaff Reinet water system and a woodcutter. Like most Black families in South Africa, Sobukwe's was poor. With financial help from the local Methodist mission, Sobukwe went to Healdtown, a Methodist boarding school, and was an outstanding student.

In the late 1940s he went on to Fort Hare University College, the only such institution open to Blacks, and was elected president of the Students' Representative Council. At Fort Hare he also joined the African National Congress (ANC), the principal organ of Black resistance to race discrimination, and became associated with its Youth League. Begun by Anton Lembede, Nelson Mandela, and others in the 1940s, the Youth League challenged the moderate policies of older ANC leaders.

After graduation from Fort Hare, Sobukwe took a teaching position, from which he was fired in 1952 for participating in the ANC's Defiance Campaign, a mass refusal to obey apartheid laws. He then taught in the languages program of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

In the mid-1950s Sobukwe opposed the ANC's policy of allying itself with anti-apartheid organizations of other races. This led him and others to leave the ANC in 1959 and found the Pan-African Congress (PAC), which rejected cooperation with other races. Sobukwe was elected its first president.

Convinced that a direct challenge to the apartheid government would spark a mass uprising, the PAC planned a nationwide attack on South Africa's hated pass laws - laws that forced Blacks to carry identity cards to certify their right to be in areas reserved for whites. The demonstration on March 21, 1960, did not attract mass participation. But in one of the few places where the turnout was heavy, the township of Sharpeville, the police fired on the crowd, killing 67 and wounding hundreds more. Many victims were shot in the back as they fled. This event profoundly altered South African history.

In the aftermath of the Sharpeville killings, the government declared a state of emergency. Sobukwe and other anti-apartheid leaders were jailed and the PAC and the ANC were outlawed. As a result, both groups decided that because decades of peaceful protest against race discrimination had led only to intensified violence by the state, violent countermeasures were necessary. For the next 30 years both groups launched occasional raids and sabotage campaigns against the state. The ANC became more popular than the PAC among Blacks during this period. The armed struggle and other factors culminated in the government legalizing the PAC and the ANC in 1990, releasing Mandela and other leaders, and beginning negotiations that were eventually to lead to the end of apartheid, though the process was a bloody one.

After his arrest in 1961, Sobukwe denied the legitimacy of the judicial system that tried him and refused to defend himself. He served a prison term from 1961 to 1964. In prison he studied law by correspondence and earned a degree. Upon release he was re-arrested immediately under what came to be known as the "Sobukwe clause" - Article 4 of the General Law Amendment Act of 1963 - which allowed the government to detain indefinitely without trial anyone who, having completed a prison sentence, was deemed by the minister of justice to be a danger to the state.

In 1969 Sobukwe was allowed to settle in the town of Kimberly but was banned - prohibited from speaking in public or being quoted and from participating in any group activity. He could not leave the Kimberly area; nonetheless, he practiced law until his death from cancer in 1978.

From all reports, Sobukwe was a reluctant, self-effacing leader who radiated warmth, generosity, and intellectual vigor. An instructor at Fort Hare reported that he was "by far the most brilliant fellow we have at college …. It is doubtful if Fort Hare will ever get the like of him in the foreseeable future." One of his colleagues referred to "his clear, incisive mind …, his glowing honesty …, his concern for the welfare of each of us, his willingness to assist in whatever capacity." One student of Black politics concluded that his activity was "wholly the product of a sense of duty, never an outlet for frustrated ambition."

Sobukwe's reason for rejecting cooperation with white and Asian anti-apartheid groups was that he believed that years of white supremacy had conditioned whites to be dominant and Blacks to be submissive. Blacks thus needed psychological independence. He admitted that "there are Europeans who are intellectually converts to the African's cause, but, because they materially benefit from the present set-up, they cannot completely identify with that cause." Real democracy, he argued, can come only when Blacks "by themselves formulate policies and programmes and decide on the method of struggle without interference from … the minorities who arrogantly appropriate to themselves the right to plan and think for the African." These ideas draw much from the "Africanist" philosophy articulated earlier by Anton Lembede. It was refined and extended by Stephen Biko in the 1960s and 1970s.

Sobukwe was aware of the danger that this would become an anti-white, rather than a more precise anti-white supremacy, position. He frequently stated that, even though Blacks must be independent of the influence of sympathetic whites, ultimately loyalty to Africa was the crucial requirement for citizenship in a liberated South Africa. Whites and Asians would have full rights, so long as they viewed themselves as Africans and acted accordingly.

Before his death Sobukwe worried that younger PAC militants, unwilling to see the subtleties in the PAC philosophy, would develop hatred of whites, rather than of apartheid. The fact that in the 1990s the PAC boycotted negotiations, announced a policy of "one settler, one bullet," and was linked to random killings of whites during the difficult transition to a post-apartheid society suggest that his fears were realized.

Further Reading

Benjamin Pogrund's Sobukwe and Apartheid (1991) is a highly personal biography. For a superb study that places Sobukwe's life and ideas in a larger context, see Gail Gerhart's Black Power in South Africa (1978). Peter Walshe's The Rise of African Nationalism in South Africa (1971) and Tom Lodge's Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 (1983) are also valuable.

Additional Sources

Pheko, S. E. M., The land is ours: the political legacy of Mangaliso Sobukwe, New York: Pheko & Associates, 1994.

Pogrund, Benjamin, How can man die better: Sobukwe and apartheid, London: P. Halban, 1990.

Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe
President of the Pan Africanist Congress
In office April 6, 1959 – 1963
Succeeded by	Potlako Leballo
Born	December 5, 1924(1924-12-05) Graaff Reinet, Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Died	February 27, 1978 (aged 53) Kimberley, Cape Province, South Africa
Political party	Pan Africanist Congress

Apartheid in South Africa
Events and Projects
Sharpeville Massacre Soweto uprising · Treason Trial Rivonia Trial · Church Street bombing CODESA · St James Church massacre Cape Town peace march Purple Rain
Organisations
ANC · IFP · AWB · Black Sash · CCB Conservative Party · ECC · PP · RP PFP · HNP · MK · PAC · SACP · UDF Broederbond · National Party COSATU · SADF · SAP
People
P. W. Botha · Oupa Gqozo · D. F. Malan Nelson Mandela · Desmond Tutu F. W. de Klerk · Walter Sisulu Helen Suzman · Harry Schwarz Andries Treurnicht · H. F. Verwoerd Oliver Tambo · B. J. Vorster Kaiser Matanzima · Jimmy Kruger Steve Biko · Mahatma Gandhi Joe Slovo · Trevor Huddleston
Places
Bantustan · District Six · Robben Island Sophiatown · South-West Africa Soweto · Sun City · Vlakplaas
Other aspects
Afrikaner nationalism Apartheid laws · Freedom Charter Sullivan Principles · Kairos Document Disinvestment campaign South African Police
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Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (5 December 1924 ; 27 February 1978) was a South African political dissident, who founded the Pan Africanist Congress in opposition to the apartheid regime.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Mainstream politics 3 Internment 4 Robben Island imprisonment 5 Kimberley: internal exile 6 Illness and death 7 Trivia 8 See also 9 External links

Early years

Sobukwe was born in Graaff-Reinet in the Cape Province on the 5 December 1924. He came from a poor household and was educated locally. He attended a Methodist college at Healdtown and later Fort Hare University where he joined the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in 1948.

Mainstream politics

In 1952 Sobukwe achieved notoriety backing the Defiance Campaign. He identified with the Africanists within the African National Congress and in 1957 left the ANC to become Editor of The Africanist newspaper in Johannesburg.

He was a strong believer in an Africanist future for South Africa and rejected any model suggesting working with anyone other than blacks, despite the large non-black minorities in the country. He later left the ANC and formed the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), where he was elected its first President in 1959.

Robert Sobukwe became known as the Professor or 'Prof' to his close compatriots and followers. This was witness to his educational achievements and powers of speech. He spoke of the need for black South Africans to "liberate themselves" without the help of non-blacks. His strong conviction and active resistance inspired generations of South Africans, and also inspired many organizations involved in the anti-apartheid movement, notably the Black Consciousness Movement.

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 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 ' Newapaper and soon began to criticise the ANC for allowing itself to be dominated by what he termed 'liberal-left-multi-racialists'. He was an ardent supporter of Africanist views about liberation in South Africa and rejected the idea of working with Whites.

Internment

On 21 March 1960, the PAC led a nationwide protest against the hated Pass Law which require black people to carry a pass book at all times. Sobukwe led a march to the local police station at Orlando, Soweto in order to openly defy the laws. He was joined on route by a few followers and, after presenting his pass to a police officer, he purposely made himself guilty under the terms of the Pass Law for being present in a region/area other than that allowed in his papers. In a similar protest the same day in Sharpeville, police opened fire on a crowd of PAC supporters, killing 69 in the Sharpeville Massacre.

Following Sobukwe's arrest, he was charged and convicted of incitement, and sentenced to three years in prison. After serving his sentence, he was interned on Robben Island. The new General Law Amendment Act was passed, allowing his imprisonment to be renewed annually at the discretion of the Minister of Justice. This procedure became known as the "Sobukwe clause" and went on for a further three years. Sobukwe was the only person imprisoned under this clause.

Robben Island imprisonment

Sobukwe was kept in solitary confinement but permitted certain privileges including books, newspapers, civilian clothes, bread etc. He lived in a separate area on the Island where he had no contact with other prisoners. The only contacts were his secret hand signals whilst outside for exercise. Despite this he succeeded in giving his approval to the external PAC to adopt a Maoist political program. He studied during this time and received (among others) a degree in economics from the University of London.

It is speculated that the South African administration had profiled Robert Sobukwe as a more radical and difficult opponent than the regular ANC prisoners.

Throughout his imprisonment, Sobukwe maintained communication with his friend Benjamin Pogrund who later became his biographer ("Sobukwe and Apartheid," Johannesburg, J.Ball, 1990).

Kimberley: internal exile

Sobukwe was released in 1969. He was allowed to live in Kimberley with his family but remained under house arrest. Kimberley was suggested as an area where he could not easily foster subversive activities and also a place where he could live and work, whilst being easily monitored by the state. He was also restricted through a banning order, which disallowed political activities.

Various restrictions barred Sobukwe from traveling overseas, thus curtailing his attempts at furthering his education. For this same reason he had to turn down several positions as a teacher at various locations in the United States.

Robert Sobukwe finished his law degree with the help of a local lawyer, in Galeshewe. On completion he then started his own practice in 1975 in Kimberley.

Illness and death

Due to lung cancer, he was hospitalised in 1977. His doctors requested that the authorities allow him freedom of movement on humanitarian grounds. This request was refused. He died on 27 February 1978, and was buried in Graaf-Reinet on 11 March 1978.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2009)

In 2004 Sobukwe was voted 42nd in the SABC3's Great South Africans.

See also

• Benjamin Pogrund, Sobukwe's biographer

External links

• Robert Sobukwe - Leader of the Africanist
• Collection of historical papers on Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe at The University of the Witwatersrand Library

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