Title: In the Twilight of the Revolution
Subtitle: The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa) 1959–1994
Author: Kwandiwe Kondlo
Publisher: Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Basel, Switzerland 2009
ISBN 9783905758122 / ISBN 978-3-905758-12-2
Softcover, 17 x 24 cm, 340 pages, illustrations, maps, index
Not much has been written about the history of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) in a manner which presents a complete and integrated picture of the organisation. There is no complete work examining the history of the PAC from the time it was established in 1959, its period in exile, to its re-establishment as a legal political organisation inside South Africa in 1990. Its role during the "uncertain transition," 1990 to 1994, has not been dealt with extensively in research works. Yet the PAC is one of the oldest liberation movements in South Africa. It was an important role-player during the liberation struggle, which was recognised during the exile period as one of the two authentic voices of the people of South Africa (the other was the African National Congress - ANC) by international bodies such as the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU - now the African Union, AU). In fact, without a complete story of the PAC, it is difficult to conclude a credible story of national liberation in South Africa.
The fact that the story of the PAC has existed in the form of isolated, fragmented and sometimes discrete pieces of work creates difficulties for readers to access the full picture of the organisation's history, creating gaps in our understanding of the 20th century history of liberation movements and the liberation struggle in South Africa and in particular the exile politics of former liberation movements. The dominant historical narrative in South Africa's liberation struggle historiography is that of the victors, the ANC and its alliance partners. This needs to change, lest the next generation of scholars accuse us of tendentious scholarship. The liberation struggle in South Africa produced many liberation movements, among them the Pan Africanist Congress as well as other organisations. The liberation struggle also produced heroes and heroines who were not members of the ANC. Some of them are mentioned in this book, but others will need to be recuperated into the mainstream of historical knowledge and memory of post-apartheid South Africa.