From UPoqo to APLA : the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and its armed struggle: 1960-1982

Abstract

Abstract

The Apartheid system can be categorised as one of the worst human rights violations of the last century. The total subjugation and oppression of the African race within South Africa (and in some cases Southern Africa) was as a result of one distinct pseudo belief. The belief was that the white race is superior to other races, particularly the “Black” African race. The policies of apartheid and the violence they promoted finally led to the African race standing up and fighting back. The most celebrated formation which stood against the oppressive regime is the African National Congress (ANC). Although the ANC contributed its share to the liberation struggle waged in South Africa, it is not the only movement to do so. In 1959 a little known faction of the ANC called the Africanist block broke away to form the Pan Africanist Congress. This group was disgruntled because of differing of approaches, with regards to the Programme of Action adopted by the ANC the previous year. The PAC quickly moved to adopt the Programme of Action as its own in rejection to the Freedom Charter, subsequently adopted by the ANC. The PAC boasts a long and bloody history within the struggle against oppression in South Africa. Today it stands as a forgotten memory of South Africa’s past. One of the roles of historians, ostensibly, is to bring the forgotten and significant voices out of the periphery. This study seeks to do this by focusing on the history of the PAC’s military formations, the UPoqo and the Azania People’s Liberation Army (APLA) , especially in the context of the African National Congress’ (ANC) tendency to present itself as the only movement which liberated South Africa from apartheid.