Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe OMSG (5 December 1924 – 27 February 1978) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), serving as the first president of the organization.
Sobukwe was regarded as a strong proponent of an Africanist future for South Africa and opposed political collaboration with anyone other than Africans, defining "African" as anyone who lives in and pays allegiance to Africa and who is prepared to subject themselves to African majority rule. In March 1960, Sobukwe organized and launched a non-violent protest campaign against pass laws, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison on grounds of incitement. In 1963, the enactment of the "Sobukwe Clause," allowed an indefinite renewal of his prison sentence, and Sobukwe was subsequently relocated to Robben Island for solitary confinement. At the end of his sixth year at Robben Island, he was released and placed under house arrest until his death in 1978.
Sobukwe was born in Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape Province on 5 December 1924. Robert Sobukwe was the youngest child. He had five siblings which consisted of four brothers and one sister. While his father who was from Lesotho worked as a general store clerk and part-time woodcutter, Sobukwe's Xhosa mother served as a domestic worker in white homes and as cook at the local hospital. Robert's earliest education was a mission school in Graaff Reinet located in South Africa. His older brother was his first real exposure to literature at an early when at age 15, Sobukwe continued and eventually completed his secondary education at the Healdtown Institute, which provided a Methodist Christian and liberal arts education to all students. He spent six years at Healdtown Institue where he spent six years studying with financial assistance from George Caley. There he earned his Junior Certificate. When he finished his education there he enrolled for a Primary Teachers' Training Course for two years. However he didn't receive a teaching post. Later on Sobukwe's education went on a pause in 1943 when he suffered from tuberculosis.
In 1947, Sobukwe enrolled at the South African Native College at Fort Hare, the premier undergraduate institution for black students of his time. Sobukwe registered for a BA at Fort Hare, majoring in English, Xhosa, and Native Administration. Although Sobukwe was initially not interested in politics, his study of Native Administration (relating to the administration of South Africa's Bantustans), combined with his exposure to politics at Fort Hare, made Sobukwe keener to the topic. Later on, he became more focused on poetry and drama. His focus on politics was driven by the influence of his lecturer, Cecil Ntloko. He was a follower of the All-African Convention (AAC). Sobukwe and his three friends started a daily publication called Beware. The publication had non-collaboration and critiques of Native Representative Councils and Native Advisory Boards.
He joined the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in 1948. The organizational branch had been established on the university campus by Godfrey Pitje, who later became its president. In 1949, Sobukwe was elected as the first president of the Fort Hare Students' Representative Council, where he proved himself to be a distinguished orator. In 1949, Sobukwe met Veronica Mathe at Alice Hospital. The couple later got married in 1950.
In 1950, Sobukwe was appointed as a teacher at a high school in Standerton, a position he lost when he spoke out in favour of the Defiance Campaign in 1952; he was, however, later reinstated. In 1952, Sobukwe achieved notoriety backing the Defiance Campaign. During this period he was not directly involved with mainstream ANC activities, but still held the position of secretary of the organisation's branch in Standerton.
In 1954, after moving to Johannesburg, Sobukwe became a lecturer of African Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. As a lecturer he earned the nickname "The Prof." During his time in Johannesburg he became editor of The Africanist newspaper and soon began to criticise the ANC for allowing itself to be dominated by which he termed "liberal-left-multi-racialists". He stood for an Africanist Socialist Democracy. was an ardent supporter of Africanist views about liberation in South Africa and rejected the idea of working with Whites.
Pan-Africanist Congress: 1959–1960
Sobukwe was a strong believer in an Africanist future for South Africa and rejected any model suggesting working with anyone other than Africans, defining African as anyone who lives in and pays his allegiance to Africa and who is prepared to subject himself to African majority rule. He grew discontented with the progress of the liberation struggle during the 1950s, in which the apartheid government continually introduced new means to suppress the liberation struggle. Resonating with many members of the ANC, Sobukwe had become impatient with the ANC's inability to achieve results. Sobukwe, an anticommunist, also rejected the ANC's alliance with the South African Communist Party. He later left the ANC to form the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and was elected its first President in 1959.
The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) was held in Orlando from April 4 until April 6. It was at this congress where Sobukwe was unanimously elected the parties first president. The people elected Sobukwe because of his eloquence as a public speaker while also being very intelligent and a commitment and passion for the cause which easily allowed the people to rally around him. In his inaugural speech he focused on his stance of multi-racialism and how he fondly disagrees with that idea. Instead he was for non-racialism and he brought that idea into the PAC.
Sobukwe became known as the Professor or simply "Prof" to his close comrades and followers, a testament to his educational achievements and powers of speech and persuasion. He spoke of the need for black South Africans to "liberate themselves" without the help of non-Africans; Sobukwe defined non-Africans as anyone who lives in Africa or abroad Africa and who does not pay his allegiance to Africa and who is not prepared to subject himself to African majority rule. His strong convictions and active resistance inspired many other individuals and organisations involved in the anti-apartheid movement, notably the Black Consciousness Movement.
Sobukwe argued that whites should be excluded from the ANC as it was impossible to have a relationship between blacks and whites until further progress had been made. He argued that a reliance on whites would disempower the realization that many of these Africans had, that they had the power to overtake a society that had been taken from them. Sobukwe rejected collaboration with sympathetic whites as he considered such multi-racial cooperation between slave owner and slave as an "ungodly alliance" before equality was attained.
On 21 March 1960, the PAC led a nationwide protest against the pass laws which required black people to carry a pass book at all times. Sobukwe led a march to the local police station at Orlando, Soweto, in order to openly defy the laws. He was joined en route by a few followers and, after presenting his pass to a police officer, he purposely made himself guilty under the terms of the pass law of being present in a region/area other than that allowed as per his papers. In a similar protest on the same day in Sharpeville, police opened fire on a crowd of PAC supporters, killing 69 in the Sharpeville Massacre. In the aftermath, Sobukwe was taken without a fair trial and both the ANC and PAC were banned. Other organizations such as Steve Bikos's Black Consciousness Movement were inspired by the actions of Sobukwe.
Initial imprisonment: 1960–1963
Following Sobukwe's arrest after the Sharpeville massacre, he was charged with and convicted of incitement, and sentenced to three years in prison. He served one year of his sentence in Witbank Prison (1960—1961) followed by two years in Pretoria Gaol (1961—1963). On October 4, 1961, Robert Sobukwe wrote a letter to Benjamin Pogrund explaining to him that he could write and receive one letter per week and have one visit per week. With this type of permission, with his imprisonment at Pretoria Gaol; Robert was able to write regularly to people and see his wife frequently. In a later letter by Robert to Veronica on June 19, 1962 he found out that his wife came to visit him but was turned away due to a visiting error. Robert had no visitors that month, and because of that, he wouldn't accept any visitors unless they were accompanied by his wife or his wife had informed him of who they were and given him warning.