Robert Sobukwe, first PAC president, dies

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.