Robert Sobukwe, first PAC president, dies

Updated: 26 Feb 2020

Founder and first president of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (54), passed away in the Kimberley General Hospital between midnight and 01h00 on February 27, 1978. Sobukwe died of lung complications after having been hospitalised in 1977. His medical doctors requested that he should be granted freedom of movement on humanitarian grounds, as he was banned to Galeshewe Township, Kimberley, but it was turned down by the authorities. The day is now celebrated by PAC members as Sobukwe day.

How we know this

01SAHO,"Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe", From: SAHO,[online] Available at: www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed on 21 February 2013]

Last updated · 26 Feb 2020

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Robert Sobukwe, first PAC president, dies. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012340

South African History Online (2011) 'Robert Sobukwe, first PAC president, dies', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012340 (Accessed: 14 October 2026).

South African History Online, Robert Sobukwe, first PAC president, dies [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012340, (accessed 14 October 2026).

"Robert Sobukwe, first PAC president, dies." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012340. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Robert Sobukwe, first PAC president, dies." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012340.