Has Biko's party lost its Black Power?

We have seen the evidence: it seems voters are not impressed by Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness or Robert Sobukwe’s Pan-Africanism.

There is now sufficient evidence for people to form their own judgement as to whether Azapo and the PAC have the potential to become a formidable opposition to the ANC.

It has already been suggested by some that infighting, power-mongering, big egos and self-serving ambition by leaders in the two organisations has plunged them into political limbo.

It is curious, indeed, that they are nowhere to be seen in the most exciting election since 1994. Perhaps it is too soon to make final judgments on Azapo and the PAC.

I hope my opinion — and it is only an opinion — will not be regarded as being in any way authoritative until the final results have been announced.

But this is an exceedingly slippery age for Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanism. There are many Africans who have vested interests in the election outcome and the fate of these erstwhile organisations.

Battles have been fought over the last 15 years over different interpretations of the events surrounding the disappearance of what was once upon a time considered “authentic African political leadership”.

It should be noted that these organisations were seen as such because they not only espoused African self-determination but rejected leadership by those who came outside their community like whites and communists.

In fact, they asserted that everyone must subject themselves to the will of the indigenous majority and do as Africans do in their country.

It may not be fair to say this type of political thinking was bordering on the racist and was bound to end up in the dustbin of history with its exclusivity and African superiority.

The fact is that in the last 15 years, former Bantustan leaders like Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Bantu Holomisa, or a conservative liberal like Helen Zille have done much better than Azapo and the PAC combined.

The African National Congress has, now, established itself as the dominant force in articulating and representing the aspirations and hopes of the African majority. It is the most credible organisation.

There was a time not too long ago when Azapo and the PAC were mentioned in the same breath as the ANC when people spoke of political leadership and the liberation struggle.

But it now seems strange that when people discuss politics or go to vote, it seems that these two organisations do not feature in the radar of African political consciousness.

Yet these organisations have a great advantage when it comes to being intuitively connected to the African masses.

Ironically, the people they claim to love seem now to look down upon them from the ANC pedestal and condemn their outdated, irrelevant and ineffective strategies.

The only yardstick to measure their political presence, relevance and credibility is to look at how they fared in the elections. This is the only measurement to determine whether the spirit of Biko and Sobukwe are alive.

Occasionally, a clever and well-educated comrade might challenge the association of the two organisations with the late heroes claiming that they have morphed into something else.

But if Nelson Mandela belongs to today’s ANC, so Biko and Sobukwe live in their own organisations or their offshoots. It would be safer to say that Azapo and the PAC are not yet dead but definitely in the political intensive care unit.

Well, the situation might change when the final results are announced. But things seem to be really bad for Azapo and the PAC.