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While the Congress of the People made itself the butt of jokes this week, the Pan Africanist Party of Azania (PAC), which held its congress in Seshego outside Polokwane in Limpopo this past weekend, survived its fair share of drama this week.
Although the organisation has taken a break from the endless court battles against another breakaway faction, there were scenes of fighting when a group of young individuals stormed the PAC conference venue, claiming that they were legitimate voting delegates.
However, the situation was brought under control and the party elected new leadership.
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For the past few years, two groups have been taking each other to court regarding the legitimacy of the party’s leadership.
But last week, it was at a conference led by Mzwanele Nyhontso that a brief drama unfolded before he was re-elected unopposed as the president of the party.
Speaking to City Press, Nyhontso said despite the ugly incident, which they managed to deal with, he had managed to stabilise the PAC over the past two years. He said his next mission is to unite the party and grow its membership to at least 250 000.
“Those numbers will give us eight to 10 seats in parliament. I don’t want to lie and say we’ll have a million or 10 million members or that we’ll be a ruling party, no,” He said:
According to the party data, the PAC has members ranging between 30 000 to 50 00.
“We are rebuilding because we want to become a serious political player and be taken seriously,” he said.
In the national elections in 2019, the party managed to retain its one seat in parliament after receiving just over 32 000 votes nationally.
Nyhontso said they had challenges in the past year and could not speak the same language.
“The NEC was divided, but it was my responsibility to keep it united, at least in the face of the public, because that NEC came out of a unity process. But, when you open the windows of your house to get fresh air, you’re also inviting uninvited mosquitoes.”
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He admitted that there was a scuffle before the election, but they contained it. He said a group of young people supporting the former deputy president wanted him to be the president.
“They even broke the gate in the hall. They were drunk because they wanted to be voting delegates when they were not registered. They were just disrupting everything, but we dealt with them. Nobody can collapse the PAC congress because it was formed through the blood of our martyrs.”
The leader added after defeating the rival faction, led by Narius Moloto, in court, they still went to congress, which was divided into two camps and had ideological differences.
“Some people want us to go back to the revolution and they want the PAC to get out of government. There was a suggestion that we must stop participating in elections. But they don’t tell us what to do when we are out of government.” He asked:
Nyhontso said the group could not even identify the enemy they would fight after getting out of government.
“We want to see a modern political party and have already identified the enemy. We believe the enemy is poverty, unemployment, high crime rate, landlessness and everything that bedevils the African majority in this country. We want to combat these enemies that I’ve mentioned.”
The rival PAC faction released a statement condemning fighting in the name of the organisation.
“This was an illegitimate meeting of PAC renegades and fraudsters, who have nothing to do with the legitimate PAC. These renegades ceased to be members of the PAC when they broke away from the party in 2019,” read the statement.
The group said it didn’t recognise the new leadership and the conference.
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“The PAC of Azania disassociates itself from the chaotic scenes of violence and mayhem seen over the weekend at Seshego,” added Moloto in the statement.
“These renegades behaved like hooligans while the cameras were turned on, and they expect the people of South Africa to support them? All they have done is taint the good name of the PAC and confuse the public as to who are the legitimate leaders of the party.
“The Seshego congress is similar to the previous congress held in Bloemfontein in 2014. These renegades went ahead with their congress in total disregard for the pending legal cases, which had to decide who were the legitimate party leaders. These cases were initiated by the renegades, who are a breakaway group and are not the real PAC.”
The newly elected leadership includes Nyhontso as the president, Victor Serakalala as the deputy president, Apa Pooe as the secretary-general, Edward Mfulwane as the deputy secretary-general, Mbuyiswa Gantsu as the organiser, and Jackie Seroke and Chairman Sbusiso Xaba as treasurers.
