PAC vows to expose Thabo Mbeki for being an ‘impostor Africanist’

Although the focus of Thabo Mbeki’s land policy pamphlet has been on the fact that he opposed the ANC and blamed Jacob Zuma for the party abandoning non-racialism in its land policy, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania has qualms of their own with the assertions made by Mbeki.

The 30-page document issued by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, titled What Then About Land Expropriation Without Compensation?, first made headlines late last month and the PAC has decided to revive it just after the furore around it has died down.

In a response titled Response To Thabo Mbeki On The National And The Land Question In South Africa, the PAC lists a number of reasons for their response, chief among them being “the abuse and attack by Thabo Mbeki, the former ANC and president of South Africa on the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa)”.

The PAC then vows “to present the Africanist argument in exposing Thabo Mbeki as an impostor Africanist, who is wooing the innocent into believing that he is for Africanism and Pan-Africanism”.  

They have called Mbeki the enemy of Pan-Africanism and Africanism citing his defence of the African National Congress and Congress Alliance Kliptown Freedom Charter of 1955.

ALSO READ: Mbeki’s land policy pamphlet gets support from surprising quarters

The PAC has published a 14-point Africanist argument and these are their highlights:

They argue that the land question has been at the centre of the PAC’s political programme since its inception and that “the current debate of the land expropriation without compensation favours the PAC land issue”.  

The party said that although the EFF successfully brought the land issue to the fore, the fact that the EFF also believes in the ANC Freedom Charter, which declares that South Africa belongs to all who live in it is a “highly nonsensical concept that goes against Africanism”.

The PAC wrote: “In his argument, Mbeki insists that on land expropriation without compensation, the ANC is deviating and shifting to the PAC position. He is hysterical that his own comrades in the ANC cannot even articulate the land question but want people to follow this new trend adopted in their recent elective congress.”

They go on to accuse him of poaching the PAC concept of non-racialism without acknowledging it as the PAC’s idea. According to them, the ANC’s position has always been that of multi-racialism.

“This is intellectual dishonesty of which honourable Mbeki must apologise,” stated the PAC.

READ NEXT: Magashule tells Mbeki to toe the line

They assert that the Freedom Charter “rejected both the land and the national question in the liberation of South Africa” and lambasted Mbeki for implying that PAC was not fighting against all forms of racism and colonialism.  

According to the PAC, the ANC only adopted its current position on land because it is the current trending topic, adding that: “this infuriated Thabo Mbeki as he considers it a deviation from their charter. But even when one looks at this reform, that ANC does not go far enough to resolve the land problem for the landless African people.”

The PAC maintains that the African is not at the centre of the ANC’s land restitution as the foreigner is still a priority, and under Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership, the ANC will continue to consolidate the monopoly of the Europeans over the land at the expense of the Africans.

The party called out the ANC for always creating obstacles in the effort to restore the land to its rightful owners.

“It says ‘the land be restored to the people without placing undue financial burden to the state! It must not threaten foreign investment and capital, it must not threaten minorities and must not cause anarchy in the country!’” added the PAC.

In arguing that there was a deviation towards the PAC, Mbeki was reminded of infighting within the ANC over the years that has seen many side with the PAC. The PAC stated: “He is bitter that this ANC move is to return the land to the formerly dispossessed from the former colonial European groupings.”

They also accused Mbeki of “deliberately distorting PAC political line, by quoting out of context Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA) and the PAC military wing slogan of ‘one settler one bullet’”.

The PAC went on to explain that their slogan was a war-cry of the foot-soldiers of APLA which they later resolved should be used solely in reference to the soldiers.

“It was not meant to drive the so-called white men to the sea as was propagated by the ANC,” added the party.

They also believe that Mbeki suffers from a sort of Stockholm syndrome, developed during his residence in London and he now mimics the “former oppressors by disliking his own ilk”.

The PAC goes on to accuse Mbeki of subtly fighting to preserve the privileges of the white minority in South Africa at the expense of the indigenous African majority.

“In his failures as the president of South Africa and after, he and his ANC are fighting tooth and nail to preserve their deals with the white minorities agreed upon during the era of the Talks about Talks pre 1994.”

They conclude by stating that everyone is speaking the PAC language and this bothers Mbeki and the ANC leadership.

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