Robert Mangoliso Sobukwe

Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe: New Reflections brings together a fresh and diverse range of contributors to reconsider the life, ideas and legacy of Robert Sobukwe – teacher, thinker, Africanist and founder of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). For leading the anti-pass campaign of 1960, Sobukwe was jailed for many years by the apartheid government, including solitary confinement on Robben Island, and then banished to Kimberley. Today, there are few memorials to Sobukwe, and while his followers venerate him, he has largely been written out of the history of the liberation struggle. Yet his ideas and example have enduring resonance in contemporary South Africa.
Sobukwe’s pan-Africanism was an inspiring contribution to the development of Black Consciousness, which continues to energise new generations of young people. From his stances on the land question and racism to his love of gardening and knowledge of literature, as devoted family man and principled political leader, Sobukwe is revealed at every turn to be profound, erudite, compassionate and concerned with the betterment of all who identify with the advancement of Africa and Africans.