Robert Sobukwe: How can a man die better? By Benjamin Pogrund
Growing up as an activist within the structures of the Progressive Youth Alliance, the name Robert Sobukwe was seemed like a name of an enemy, a man who vehemently opposed everything that the ANC stood for. It is a view I held till I read this book.
Obviously, it is an official biography and as such, it will obviously be filled with a lot of biographical details. His birth, the parents he was born to, his lineage, education, activism, marriage, fatherhood and his subsequent death.
The author is also another interesting aspect of the book, his race, background, education, marriage, political views and his friendship with Sobukwe. They came from different parts of South Africa, one from the privilege of race and the other disadvantaged by the same issue, race. Their friendship was founded and flourished at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits).
The closeness of the author to the subject, doesn’t come without its own disadvantages. For example, at times the author tries to portray Sobukwe as the brightest political mind to come out of South Africa, he at times falls the apartheid orchestrated comparison between Robert Sobukwe and Nelson Mandela. He (the author) is biased in that regard, portraying Sobukwe as a better revolutionary than Nelson Mandela, whatever a better revolutionary is.
He speaks of the time when Sobukwe was active in the structures of the ANC and the ANCYL. His commitment, discipline and intellectual prowess. The book tells of how a small group of comrades within the Transvaal branches of both the ANC and the ANCYL eventually managed to breakaway from the Congress movement to form the Pan Africanist Congress.
Benjamin Pogrund goes into detail of the congress that lead to the mass resignations of members who were not happy with the direction that the congress movement was taking. It speaks (the book) of the dynamics that were dominant in the congress, how the Africanist were unhappy with the Congress of The People, hosted in Kliptown in June 26th in 1956 and the subsequent alliance with organizations that were predominantly non African, ie, Congress of Democrats, Coloured People’s Congress and the Indian Congress. The Africanist felt that the freedom charter, a document which was an outcome of the congress of the people was deflection from the 1949 program of action.
The book tells of the inaugural congress of the PAC, Sobukwe’s unopposed election as President, the 1960 Sharpeville, Langa and Orlando pass protests which ultimately lead to the death of many and the subsequent arrests of Robert Sobukwe and a plethora of others.
We are told of how Sobukwe was moved from Pretoria, Witbank, Boksburg, Vereeniging and eventually to Robben Island. It tells us of how after serving his 3 years sentence, he was plainly refused by the apartheid regime to be released. It tells us how the apartheid regime created the Sobukwe clause in the legislations to ensure that Sobukwe was not released. BJ Voster, the then minister of Justice in the apartheid regime made it a point that Sobukwe remains incarcerated regardless of serving his sentence fully.
We are told of the fate of Robert Sobukwe, how he died in Kimberly isolated from the people whom he dearly loved. The book argues that after Sobukwe, the PAC began it’s slow and painful demise under the leadership of Potlako Leballo.
A book I really liked, I also rate it highly just like I did in this video.
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