WE MUST RETURN HOME ARMED OR UNARMED: A biography of John Nyati Pokela (1921-1985), with selected speeches and writings

214pp., illus., paperback, (Johannesburg), 2021

Africanist John Nyathi "Poks" Pokela, originally a member of the African National Congress Youth League, left the ANC in November 1958 to help found the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In 1966 he was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Robben Island after being found guilty of acts of sabotage related to the activities of Poqo (later APLA), the militant wing on the PAC. While in prison he worked to unite PAC factions on Robben Island. Shortly after his release in 1980 he fled the country. In 1981 he was appointed Chairman of the Central Committee of the PAC in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he continued his attempts to reunite and re-organise the fragmented PAC. He died in Zimbabwe in 1985.