Johannesburg – The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) has slammed the use of images of its late founder, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, on uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party T-shirts as an “abuse of his struggle credentials”.
Members of the MK party have been seen at events donning T-shirts with mugshots of struggle stalwarts Sobukwe and Steven Bantu Biko.
Sobukwe and Biko were proponents of pan-Africanism and Black Consciousness respectively.
They were both opposed to the inclusion of white liberals in the struggle for black emancipation.
The African National Congress (ANC), of which MK party leader Jacob Zuma was a member and leader, supported and favored a non-racial approach to the liberation struggle of the then-downtrodden black majority in South Africa.
In a statement, PAC national executive member Jakie Seroke said the MK party had followed what the ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) had done in the past – using other party leaders’ pictures.
Seroke said: “It’s a political trick to use images of icons of the struggle, who are acceptable for their clean image of patriotism, to enhance themselves.”
However, Seroke said the PAC was aware of the complexity of ownership of such images, especially in the courts.
“We could lose and open the gates for further abuse of struggle credentials,” Seroke warned.
In the run-up to last year’s national elections, the ANC launched an urgent court action to stop the MK party from using the name and logo of its military wing which was disbanded on 16 December 1993.
However, the ANC lost the case and is appealing.
“You are probably aware that the MK party even claims to be in the political line with the PAC,” Seroke said.
“They say so in parliamentary debates.
“It’s obviously a distortion and sheer opportunism.”
Messages seeking comment on the matter that were sent to the MK party went unanswered.
