Potlako Leballo - Chairman of The PAC

Chairman of The PAC

In 1978 the PAC leader Sobukwe died in restriction in Kimberley and Leballo was elected Chairman of the PAC. His position was tenuous. Nkrumah was long gone and Mao Zedong died in 1976. The PAC had been forced to consider extremely unsavory allies such as Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin. The main threat however came from the US Carter administration that had resolved it needed South Africa as a stable element in the equation to settle the Zimbabwe issue. The ANC and PAC were urged to abandon guerrilla war and embrace détente and dialogue. Andrew Young, the (USA UN ambassador) and the Nigerians reportedly donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to David Sibeko, the PAC representative at the UN, to dilute Leballo's revolutionary ideology by getting his own supporters elected to the new PAC executive. Sibeko was largely successful (hence Leballo's title of "Chairman" rather than "President") but neglected the newly recruited Azanian People's Army (APLA), already victorious over the older APLA of Templeton Ntantala and demanding a greater share in finances. In 1979 Leballo left for medical treatment in England and a triumvirate of Sibeko, Vus Make, and Elias Ntloedibe announced they were the new PAC leadership following Leballo's "resignation." APLA commanders arrived in Dar es Salaam from Itumbi Camp, Chunya near Mbeya, and quarreled with Sibeko. The same evening they shot him dead. Vus Make was then declared the new PAC leader but APLA rejected him. In the ensuing standoff at Chunya Tanzanian troops allegedly killed eleven APLA soldiers, wounded forty and split the survivors up into detention camps. Many escaped to Kenya but were unable to regroup. In 1980 Leballo arrived in Zimbabwe and established a new PAC headquarters. He had no funds and was financially supported by a white APLA intelligence officer. Although he was welcomed by Edgar Tekere, the ZANU (PF) Secretary General and other party and military leaders, others including Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, pointedly kept their distance. Leballo's intelligence officer advised him to bolster links with North Korea, whose ambassador was enthusiastic and had even financed household purchases for Leballo, because the officer felt that however Pan Africanist the party was, it simply couldn't trust African governments and it was advisable to find a secure base in North Korea. Leballo declined, saying the party had to rely on Africa, however treacherous politicians were. He was encouraged by the Libyan government's promise to finance an exiled University of Azania in Zimbabwe.