A looming clash between rival factions of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) is set to cast a shadow over this year’s commemoration of the Sharpeville Massacre, with both groups planning separate programmes in Sharpeville, Gauteng, on Saturday, March 21.
The divisions within the PAC have resulted in two competing events being organised to mark the 66th anniversary of the anti-pass campaign protest in which 69 people were killed by apartheid police in 1960.
One faction, aligned with the Revolutionary PAC-Poqo of Occupied Azania, has called for a mobilisation under the theme “Defiance, Revolution and Power”. According to its programme, supporters will gather at the old Sharpeville police station before proceeding to Dlomo Dam, the Phelindaba gravesite of the Sharpeville victims, and the grave of Nyakane Tsolo, culminating in a main rally.
Group leader Prince Mathebula, alias Chris Sankara—also the former national organiser—said, “We start at the police station where the shooting happened. After that we go to the river because it was raining that day and their blood was washed into the river. We then go to the grave sites where they were buried before our main event.”
Promotional material circulated by the group features slogans such as “Down with collaborators” and calls for “Azania”, reflecting a militant tone as organisers urge supporters to commemorate the historic anti-pass protest through what they describe as revolutionary mobilisation.
PAC secretary general Apa Pooe, aligned with the group currently in Parliament and forming part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of national unity (GNU), said the party was aware that a small group was planning parallel activities but insisted the organisation remained structured and organised nationally.
“We are not particularly worried about them because they are just a small group, about five people or so, and we have branches and structures.
“They understand that the media is attracted to spectacle, so they try to create noise around those moments,” he said.
Their official programme for the same day begins earlier, at 7am at the Phelindaba Cemetery in Sharpeville.
According to its schedule, supporters will gather at the cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony at the graves of the Sharpeville martyrs before embarking on a march along Seeiso Street to the Sharpeville Memorial Site. The procession will then return along the same route to Dlomo Dam, where the main commemoration event is scheduled to take place at 11am.
The existence of parallel programmes has raised concerns that rival supporters could converge at key locations in Sharpeville, particularly at Dlomo Dam and the Phelindaba gravesite.
The Sharpeville commemoration is one of the most symbolic events on South Africa’s political calendar. The massacre of unarmed protesters who had gathered to oppose the apartheid government’s pass laws became a turning point in the liberation struggle and later inspired the annual observance of Human Rights Day on March 21.
Historically, the PAC has claimed Sharpeville as a defining moment in its political legacy because the anti-pass campaign that led to the protest was organised by the party.
But years of internal disputes and leadership battles have splintered the organisation into rival groupings, each claiming legitimacy and authority over the party’s heritage.
Sankara said activists aligned with his grouping had played a key role in earlier political campaigns. “Before that election we were the ones campaigning,” he said, adding that their efforts contributed to the election of several councillors.
He said they parted with Pooe’s group after raising concerns about decisions taken within the PAC in the past, saying that even the GNU announcement was made outside the party’s formal structures.
“We started seeing announcements being made outside the PAC, outside the NEC (national executive committee) and outside the branches of the PAC. It became a coalition with the DA and a coalition with the ANC,” he said. “In our view, that process was unconstitutional.”
Despite the tensions, Sankara said his group did not anticipate confrontation with other Africanist formations during the commemorations.
Pooe said the PAC was examining possible legal steps regarding the use of the party’s identity by groups that claim affiliation with it.
