Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
Very little has been written on this subject, especially during the exile period, which is covered by the research. As a result, a lacuna exists in our understanding of 20th century history of the liberation struggle in South Africa. This study is an attempt to reconstruct aspects of the missing link. It locates the exile history of the Pan Africanist Congress within a broader framework of political developments in Southern Africa. By so doing a wide canvas of factors essential to the colouring of this period are brought to the fore. The study therefore focuses on the internal conflicts in the PAC and how they impacted on the functioning of the organisation during the exile period.
The thesis traces the events which led to the banning of the PAC and demonstrates how the organisation re-established itself in exile. Most importantly, it focuses on a critical period which existing scholarly works and even popular literature has overlooked, i.e. the period between 1960 to 1962. The thesis traces the re-formation of the PAC’s official infrastructure in Lesotho. It proceeds to examine the organisational developments and internal conflicts at the headquarters of the PAC in Tanzania from 1964 to 1990. It examines sources of conflict during various periods of leadership, i.e. from P.K. Leballo (1962 - 1979), Vusumzi Make period (1979-1981), Nyathi John Pokela (1981-1985) to Johnson Mlambo (1985-1990). In the last two chapters the thesis examines conditions inside PAC camps and the evolution of the PAC’s military strategy as sources of conflict.
In all the chapters, the permeating theme is that the PAC lacked solid organisational foundations, which manifested in the lack of clear organisational policies respected by everyone, including the leadership of the organisation. The thesis concludes that the history of the PAC in exile is an example of how poor organisational structures can immobilize the progress of a liberation movement.
Prof. G. Verhoef