John Nyathi Pokela

John Nyathi "Poks" Pokela (1922 or 1923 – 30 June 1985) was a South African political activist and Chairman of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).

Early life Born in Herschel in the Transkei region, he was educated at Healdtown Comprehensive School and the University of Fort Hare. Graduating as a teacher he would teach in Standerton.

While incarcerated, Pokela worked towards uniting the various factions of the PAC. In 1980, having served his sentence, Pokela was released from Robben Island. In February 1981, he was appointed to succeed Vusumzi Make, (who had resigned after the Chunya massacre in March 1980 when APLA troops refused to accept his leadership), to become head of the Tanzanian backed faction of the PAC.

Chairmanship of the Pan Africanist Congress Attempts at intra-party reconciliation Once he assumed the position of chairman, Pokela set to work reuniting the PAC, which had been fractured since the 1979 Tanzanian-backed deposition of Chairman Potlako Leballo, leader of the party from 1962 to 1979. He held talks with the 70 member Azanian People's Revolutionary Party (APRP), a short-lived offshoot of the PAC formed by members expelled by 1978 PAC National Executive meeting in Arusha. Because of this reconciliation effort, they rejoined in 1982 and the APRP disbanded. "The Birth-Pangs of African Unity in the Sub-Continent" Manuscript, possibly written in 1962.