ugnet_: Faction of PAC proposes unity with ANC

[RWalker949]

This article on developments in Azania/South Africa is very important to all of us; we thank Br. Lester Lewis, one of the drivng force motivating the 2005 Global Pan African Congress meeting in Zimbabwe, for keeping us informed on such vital matters.  
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Subj: PAC FACTION WANTS TO JOIN ANC
Date: 08/03/2004 4:23:03 PM Central Daylight Time
From:    [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lester Lewis)
To:    [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lester Lewis)




http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2004/08/01/politics/politics01.asp


PAC faction wants to join up with ANC
Party's deputy leader seeks co-operation at all levels

WALLY MBHELE

THE Pan Africanist Congress has proposed a political framework that seeks co-operation between itself and the ruling African National Congress at both government and party level.
The proposal to form an official political alliance with the ANC is already causing bitter divisions in the PAC and could spell yet another split if the party's bosses go ahead with it.
Documents leaked to the Sunday Times reveal an ambitious PAC strategy to join the ANC at all levels of government.
The chief proponent of this new strategy is the organisation's deputy president, Themba Godi, who is understood to have been involved in detailed talks with the ANC's secretary-general, Kgalema Motlanthe.
PAC national executive committee insiders say a faction led by the party's president, Motsoko Pheko, is opposed to the idea of "joining the ANC" both in government and at party level. This, they say, could lead to the PAC splitting into two factions if the party went ahead with Godi's proposals.
The party has been racked by internal divisions ever since 1959, when its founding leader, Robert Sobukwe, led a breakaway from the ANC.
Godi and Pheko are the party's sole MPs.
In a document setting out the framework for co-operation between the PAC and ANC, Godi says the basis for such co-operation is "the realities and challenges that face us as progressive forces... and as a liberation movement".
"There exists a unipolar world order with an environment unreceptive to progressive ideals generally and the liberation movement in particular," says Godi in the document.
He argues that this environment has produced "an agenda that seeks to reverse the gains made through the struggle".
He says Africa's independence from colonial rule has been undermined by unchanged colonial economic and political relations.
"There is a call from many progressive forces for South Africa to play a significant role in moves to combine continental efforts to regenerate Africa," he says.
"There is also the reality of our own South African forces of reaction that are working assiduously to undermine our liberation [and] resist and derail transformation efforts."
Godi argues that the ANC and PAC's history as liberation movements and the strategic objective of their struggle "points to the inescapable imperatives of unity". This, according to Godi, means the progressive forces in South Africa must consolidate that unity.
"A South Africa united and thus strengthened will then be able to play its positive role in helping to ward off the unwelcome designs on Southern Africa and make the region the springboard for the rejuvenation of Africa, the diaspora and a new world. The ANC and PAC have that historic challenge and obligation to form a pivot around which progressive and patriotic forces can be welded."
The starting point, according to Godi, is "to get the ANC-PAC co-operation going, generate its own momentum and rally the nation".
Godi foresees interaction and co-operation at party and government levels as well as in legislatures.
In his plan, the ANC and PAC will hold joint functions and issue invitations to each others' functions. Co-operation would also involve the youth, women's and students' components of the two parties.
Interaction at party and government level will ensure the creation of space for the best PAC talent to serve "our government and state. This implies a deliberate opening up for access to deployment..."
Godi suggests that co-operation in the National Assembly, provincial legislatures and local government will ensure the smooth functioning of these institutions.
Another document proposes that a working committee with a secretariat be established by the two parties to make recommendations to the President.
Recommendations will include providing a list of PAC members to serve in all government structures, including the judiciary, Reserve Bank and black economic empowerment ventures.
Motlanthe could not be reached for comment yesterday.