~B RIE -F 1" N G P A -P E R - . . . NOV EM BER 1 9 9 a
ashin ton Office on frica ducational Fund, nc.
••
helps split the
rank and file in
the unions.
The Con
gress ofSouth
African Trade
Unions
(COSATU),
churches and
other anti
apartheid
organizations are
deman~gan
end to the
violence and~
] freedomof~
~ organization for
{ unions and
~ community
groups. African
National Congress (ANC)
leaders are trying to restrain
their followers. But peace will
be elusive unless the
government's security forces
take a more even-handed role.
This briefing paper presents
an overview ofthe background
to this violence which threatens
to derail the transition to a post
apartheid South Africa.
and any other independent po
litica! forces in its territory. In
Natal and at the nationallevel
right-wingers in the police are
working with Buthelezi's
Inkatha rnovernent to provoke
violence and sidetrack peaceful
negotiations. And sorne em
ployers are encouraging Inkatha
because the ethnie strife be
tween Zulu and Xhosa workers
ightingin
South
Africa's
Natal province
since 1987 has
killed more than
3,000 people,
more than the
strife in Beimt or
in Northern Ire
land. In August
of1990, the
battle spread to
the Johan
nesburg area,
leaving more
than 800 dead
by mid-Septem
ber. But the me-Demonstra,tors protestfighting tha,t ha,s cJa,imed thousa,nds oflives in the Na,ta,l province.
dia catchphrase
"black-on-black violence" does
nothing to explain what's be
hind the killing. And references
to "tribal violence" or "rival
anti-apartheid groups" seriously
distort the reality.
ChiefGatsha Buthelezi's
one-party KwaZulu state, set up
by the apartheid regime to rule
Zulu South Africans, is attempt
ing to forcibily suppress unions
Printed on Recycled Paper
What's Behind the Violence?
it fàiled to attraet more than a few.As the 1980s began, Buthelezi's
support rested on severa! pillars. RuralZulus in particular responded to hisappea1s to ethnic and traditional values and in any case were accustomedto taking direction from their chiefs.üthers less convinced on thesegrounds saw him as an anti-apartheidspokesperson. In a 1977 survey byGerman researchers, 78 percent ofurban Blacks in Natal said they supported Buthelezi, as did 28 percent inthe Johannesburg area. WithinKwaZulu, however, this support depended as much on patronage as onconviction. Access to land, govemment jobs, housing and recruitmentfor labor in the mines depended ongood ties with the Inkatha politica1machine.
In the last decade, as organizingby students, unions and anti-apartheid groups took root among BlackSouth Afiicans in Natal as elsewhere,Buthelezi's support dropped precipitously. In response, Inkatha tumed
Black Consciousness movement thatbecarne prominent in the mid-1970sstrongly criticized Buthelezi andother homeland leaders for collaboration with the apartheid regime. But aslate as 1979, the exiled leadership ofthe ANC maintained regular contactwith Buthelezi, hoping that his ambivalence would be resolved in favorofthe anti-apartheid cause.
In 1975 Buthelezi revived an earlier Zulu cultural organization ca1ledInkatha. The new organization wasdesigned to reinforce traditional Zuluidentity and to serve as a political machine tying all Zulus to the KwaZulupower structure. Inkatha leadershipand the KwaZulu legislative assemblyare tightly intertwined. Butheleziclaimed in 975 that "aIl members ofthe Zulu nation are automaticallymembers ofInkatha if they areZulus." Inkatha also adopted theANC colors and sought to portray itselfas the heir ofANC founding fa-thers like ChiefLu i. In theoryInkatha was open to non-Zulus, but
iA policem/l,nforces Il, township resident to remwe Il, street bIJrrf,&lUi.e. Residents ereaed bIJmclUles to preventpolice IJccess becIJuse they believed police were supporting In/ut,thIJ IJttIJclts.
Bu elczi, KwaZuluand Inkatha
ChiefGatsha Buthelezi is oftendescribed simplyas the leader ofmorethan six million Zulus. But his rise topower and the shifts in bis politicalfortunes are in flet a complex story.
A minor chiefin the 1950s and1960s, Buthelezi was part oftheSouth Afiican system for administration ofthe rural areas reserved for Africans. Unlike his fellow Zulu chiefAlbert Luthuli, who W3S dismissed byPretoria for his leadership in ANCprotests, Buthelezi kept a low politica1profile. When South Afiica createdthe Zululand territorial authority in1970, the other chiefs choseButhelezi as chiefexecutive officer.The KwaZulu constitution in 1972,drawn up by the South Afiican govemment, strengthened Buthelezi'spowers and relegated the traditionalZulu king, Goodwill Zwelethini, to apurely ceremonial role.
In line with the apartheid policy,the KwaZulu administration wasgiven direct authority over ruralZulus, as weIl as sorne living close tourban areas in Natal province,. Zulusliving in 'white' areas were also eligible for KwaZulu citizenship. Themajority ofthe KwaZulu legislativeassembly is composed ofappointedchiefs; the minority ofeleeted members also consists entirely ofsupporters ofButhelezi.
In the 1970s, Buthelezi portrayed bis participation in the homeland government as a strategy forworking against apartheid fromwithin the system. He occasionallyclashed v:erbally with the centralSouth Afiican government. At timeshe appealed to traditional symbols ofZulu greamess; on other oc~ons heevoked the heritage ofthe ANC,hinting that he symbolically represented the banned organization insidethe country.
Black resistance inside South Mrica was only gradually reemerging after the repression of the early 1960s,and Buthelezi's stand had sorne credibility at the rime. Steve Biko and the
. 2.
What's Behind the Violence?
repeaiedly to violence, often with thetacit cooperation ofthe South Africansecurity forces.
Anti-Apartheid sistance inNatal: Stud ts, Workers andCommuni -es
As portrayed by the media overseas, Buthelezi often appears as amoderate advocate ofnon-violent opposition to apartheid, distinguishinghimselffrom the ANC by his opposition to the anned struggle. In practiec, Buthelezi bas also opposed thenon-violent resistance that grew inside South Africa, because it posed achallenge to his political monopolyand to bis role as administrator ofapartheid institutions. l.lntil recently,the conflict was almost entirely in Natal. Far from being conflict betweendiffer-ent ethnic groups, it wasButhelezi's effort to suppress any rivalorganization among Zulus.
The first prominent confrontation was with student activists, who in1980 organized successful boycotts ofapartheid education in KwaMashuand Umlazi, two Durban townshipsunder KwaZulu administration.Buthelezi denounced the studentsand organized anned Inkatha members to force the students to retum toclasses. They attacked ManY students
. in the townships and at the UniversityofZululand. In 1983 protest at theuniversity against a planned Inkatharally on campus resulted in an Inkathaattack on student dormitories, killingfive students.
Even larger confrontations camein the second halfof the decade, afterthe fonnation ofthe United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983 and theCongess ofSouth African TradeUnions (COSATU) in 1985. TheUDF's community organizations directly threatened Buthelezi, becauseInkatha was involved in governmentsponsored community councils evenin townships not directly underKwaZulu administration. Rent strikesand other campaigns in black townships targeted these govemment bod-
ies, and were suppressed by the apartheid regime. Inkatha was allowed tooperate freely, and became even moreidentified with the govemment structures.
Of200 violent
incidents in Natal
from January
April 1990,
195 were attributed
tolnkatha.
The KwaZulu administration,moreover, had deve10ped close linkswith white business in Natal, who invested in cheap labor in"the homeland, and had promoted a smallgroup ofblack businessmen with patronage. In early strikes in Natal in1973, KwaZulu official Barney Dladlahad helped Mediate and won respectfrom workers and unions. But he wassoon dismissed by Buthelezi.
In the 1980s Buthelezi opposedindependent union organizing, andpromoted an Inkatha-linked tradeunion federation, with a slate ofofficers primarily ofbusinessmen andInkatha officiais.
In addition to criticizing theA1~C's armed struggle, Buthelezi opposed strlkes and stay-aways as weIl aseconomic sanctions because, he said,they damaged the South Africaneconomy. He also denounced theUDF and COSATU as surrogates forthe ANC. He especially attackedprominent Indians and Xhosa-speaking blacks among the leaders ofthethree organizations.
A 'moderate' vis-a-vis the apartheid regime, Buthelezi quickly turnedto the rhetoric ofviolence whenspeaking ofaction against his opponents, reca1ling the martial virtues ofZulu conqueror 5haka. More andmore Black South Africans concluded
.3.
that his ambivalence was tilting to theside ofthe regime. By mid-1985, asurvey among urban Blacks by the Institute for Black Research showedthat ChiefButhelezi's support in Natal had dropped to 33 percent, 45percentage points less than in 1977.In the Johannesburg area it was downto only five percent. A Sunday Timespoli the same year showed onlyslightly higher percentages forButhelezi.
The Escalation ofViolenceand the Role of the Police
In 1984 and 1985, with initialoutbreaks in Durban, and sustainedconflict around Pietennaritzburgsince 1987, Inkatha repeatedlylaunched violent attacks on antiapartheid unions, community organizations and communities perceived tobe supporters ofthe ANC. ANC'comrades' in the townships foughtback in self-defense and sometimesinitiated retaliatory raids. There havebeen incidents ofindiscriminate violence on both sides.
Evidence from independent observers as well as legal affidavits colleeted by C05ATU and UDFattorneys show, however, that:
• Almost alllarge-sca1e attacks havebeen initiated by organizedgroups ofarmed InkatQa warriorsagainst individuals and communities who declined to join Inkatha.
• Prominent Inkatha members, aswell as members of the KwaZulupolice, which is recruited and direeted by Buthelezi's administration, have been involved in theattacks.
• With onlya few exceptions, neither the KwaZulu police nor theSouth African police have takenaction against Inkatha gangs, norhave perPetrators been chargeddespite affidavits naming specificindividuals and killings,.
• Retaliatory actions by township'comrades' have been largely
What's Behind the Violence?
spontaneous, not organized byleaders ofthe ANC, COSATU orUDF. Nevertheless, police actionafter clashes bas included raids todisann township residents andrepeated detentions ofanti-apartheid leaders.
Detailed chronologies and support for these conclusions can hefound in the sources listed below.The following is a briefoutline oftheevolution ofthe violence.
Du" ,,1984-1985In 1984 tension rose in the
Durb town$ips ofLamontville andHambanathi, whefi residents opposed plans for incotpOration intoKwaZulu. In one incident in AugustInkatha vigilantes, accompanied bySouth African police, bumed tenhouses and killed Alfred Sithole, a
In some incidents
aroundJohannesbut;g,
special squads of
provocateursstarted
the violence, then lefttownship residents and
Zulu migrantworkers
tofight each other.
schoolteacher and community leader.UDF supporters were driven out ofHambanathi in fear oftheir lives.
On August 1, 1985, UDF activist and civil rights lawyer VictoriaMxenge was assassinated, reportedlybya South African govemment deathsquad. Student protests in Blacktownships were followed by sornelooting. Buthelezi threatened that the"anger of the peo le" would he unleashed against what he tenned "misguided children and thugs." Inkatha
accused the UDF, the South AfricanCouncil ofChurches (SACC) and local pastors ofstirring up trouble. OnAugust 7 a memorial service forMxenge in Umlazi township was attacked by 300 Inkatha warriors. Atleast four moumers were killed. But aSouth African police spokesman saidhe was unaware ofthe incident.
Over the next weeks Inkathawarriors roamed through Umlazi andKwaMashu townships, purportedlyrestoring lawand order. Newspaperreports and affidavits catalogued attacks on funerals, burnings ofhomesofanti-apartheid leaders and killingsofyouth who refused to join Inkatha.The police teargassed and dispersedanti-apartheid gatherings, but withdrew their pattois during Inkatha attacks. Among the victims of theunrest were Indians in Inanda township' whose houses and shops wereburned by unknown Africans suspected to be linked with Inkatha.
As a result of the violence, support for Inkatha among urban Africans in Natal dropped even lower. Arandom survey by the Institute forBlack Research in the Durban metropolitan area in September found thatsupport for Inkatha fell from 20 percent to five percent, while support forthe UDF jumped from 26 percent to51 percent.
Pietermaritzburg 1987-1990Inkatha attacks in this area ofNa
tal grew initially out ofa protractedstrike at BTR Sanncol by the Metaland Allied Workers Union. Inkathaopposed sympathy strikes for theBTR Sarmcol workers and in Decernber 1986 three strikers were killed bya group oflnkatha mernbers. Although police arrested severa! suspects, they were never brought tocourt and later released.
In May 1987 COSATU and theUDF called a national stayaway toprotest the whites-only elections.ChiefButhelezi opposed thestayaway, but sorne 90% ofworkers inthe Pietermaritzburg area stayedhome. Buthelezi blamed union busdrivers, and as manyas 12 were killed
&by te/l1'IJ/lssed in township 1'iolmee.
as Inkatha tried to force the drivers toleave COSATU and join the Inkathabacked United Workers Union. Thiswas accompanied by massive Inkathaforced recruiting drives in townshipsaround Pietennaritzburg. Communiries which refused were bumed out;opponents oflnkatha sometimes retaliated against communities seen asInkatha strongholds. According to aUniversity ofNaral compilation, therewere 403 political killings in the areain 1987, 690 in 1988, and a total ofover 3,000 by mid-1990.
Following the release ofNelsonMandela in February 1990, the violence escalated, as it became clear thata one-person-one-vote system wouldIeave Butheiezi a marginal figure.Short1y after his release Mandela drewa crowd of120,000 supporters inDurban; Buthelezi, who claimed torepresent Durban's Zulu-speaking Mricans, only drew 10,000. Inkatha'sresponse was to rely on its advantagein force: of200 violent incidents inNatal from January-ApriI1990, 195were attributed to Inkatha.
Inkatha warriors, allowed by police to carry "traditional" weapons, atracked townships repeatedly. In somecases, according to eyewitnesses,thousands ofwarriors were bussed infor the attacks. Charges ofinvolvement ofKwaZulu police were confinned when the Natal SupremeCourt in June 1990 issued an injunc-
What's Behind the Violence?
tion "interdieting members ofthe police from assaulting, harassing or engaging in any unlawful attlcks" in thetownship ofKwaMakhuta.
In 1989 and again in 1990, attorneys for COSATU compiled detailed dossiers ofbias and occasionaldirect involVl m nt in the violence byboth KwaZulu and South African police. But despite legal âctions, and thepresence at times ofmilitary unitsseen as less partial than the police, thegovemment refused to arrest warlordsand other named individuals responsible for killings.
TrllnspIUIl1990Beginning in late July 1990, the
violence spread to the Transvaal. Thefirst inàdent came only a week afterButhelezi announced Inkatha's transformation into a politica1 party thatwould recruit whites as well as Blacksaround the country. By mid-September the death toll exceeded 800. As inNatal, observers reported that Inkathasupporters initiated most attacks, andthat police action was rarely impartial.But in the multiethnic Transvaal context, the violence often took on anethnic charaeter. It aIso pitted migrant residents ofthe single-sex hostels against longer-tenn urbanresidents in townships and squattercamps.
Inkatha organized first amongZulu-speaking hostel residents withties to fàmilies in KwaZulu. Sornewere already Inkatha supporters, buteyewimess reports said others wereforced to join in the violence. Hosteldwellers who refused to join Inkatha,especially Xhosas and other nonZulus, were killed or expelled fromthe hostels. Then Inkatha attackedsquatter camps near the hostels; residents retaliated with attacks on thehostels.
As in Natal, observers reportedthat police were slow to disarmInkatha, but concentrated their raidsagainst Inkatha's opponents. Butthere were also persistent eyewitnessreports that whites were involved in anumber ofanacks. Themba Khoza,leader ofthe Inkatha Youth Brigade,
who was among the few Inkathamembers arrested, was seen leadingan attack in Sebokeng in September,anned and accompanied by fourwhites. In this and other incidents,the ANC charged, special squads ofprovocateurs moved ioto an area tostart the violence, then left hosteldwellers and township residents tofight each other.
A Zulu hostel resident interviewed anonymously by the WeeklyMail reported that he was forced tojoin in the fighting and wear the redheadband identifying Inkatha supporters. His only alternative would beto flee the hostels, he said, and eventhen Inkatha might retaliate againsthis family at home.
Although senior police officiaIsprofessed the desire to maintain impartiallawand order, and Inkathawarriors were disarmed in sorne inàdents, the general perception in thetownships was that rank-and-file police tended to side with Inkatha.
Additionally, new accusationssurfaced, so· far without specific confinnation, that sorne of the killersmight not be Inkatha at aIl, but pro-
(cm must take
responsibilityfor
restraining ourforces ...
but when the other
side is constantly
attacking and irs
not being restrained,
then there can be
no success. ))
- Willies Mchunu,National Union of
Mineworkers ofSouth Africa
.5.
fessionals linked with South Africa'sdeath squads and surrogate anniessuch as Renamo from neighboringMozambique. In one attack on acommuter train in early September,gunmen killed at least 26, withoutsaying a word, leading to speculationthat they might be concealing foreignaccents.
In mid-September, the South Mrican police announced Operation"Iron Fist" to crackdown on the violence, but the ANC charged that thecrackdown was aimed at the community rather than the violence. President de Klerk admitted the possibilityofinvolvement ofa 'third force' inthe Violence, but refused to allow anindependent inquiry.
Prospects for Peace
Negotiations between Inkathaand representatives ofCOSATU, theUDF and recently the ANC as wellhave repeatedly failed to end the violence. Before this year, key negotiators on the anti- apartheid side havesometimes been detained by police.At times the violence has taken on amomentum which the leadership cannot control. Recently, negotiatorshave met on severa! occasions. ButButhelezi has claimed that the violence can ooly be resolved throughthe ANC's recognition of Inkatha'sequaI status, and bilateral talks between himselfand Nelson Mandela.
In September and October, localnegotiations appeared to stem theviolence in sorne areas. In sorne casespolice officiais were credited for rnaking an effort to keep the peace and arrest offenders. And a high-levelmeeting including Mandela andButhelezi was planned. But the prospects for a durable peace were stillprecarious given the differences.
The ANC and COSATU agreethat Buthèlezi and Inkatha shouldparticipate in the fonnulation ofanew constitution for South Africa,but say that competition for politicalsupport should be peaceful and thatelections to a constituent assembly
What's Behind the Violence?
must he democratic. In the interimthey demand that policing he impartial and that anyone responsible forviolence he arrested and charged inthe courts.
In conttast, Buthelezi, like theSouth African govemment, is fearfulto give up the option offorce whendemocracy would leave mm with only
a minority ofvotes. The more theANC mns public support, the greaterthe temptation for Inkatha to useviolence.
Since the South Mrican government is still responsible for law andorder, the demand for impartial policing is direcred to President deKlerk. It is still unclear, however,
whether de Klerk is most interestedin stopping the violence or in usingit to weaken the ANC. As long asthe government is seen as promoting Inkatha, and as failing to controlthe right-wing within its own security forces, any talks to stop the violence are unlikely to produce lastingpeace.
Wa hln ton Office on AfrlcaEdu tional Fund, Inc. Hw U this Briefing Pa
Staff
Aubrey McCutcheon, IIIExecutive Director
Dr. William MinterAssoc. Dir. for Communications and Education
Imani CountessAssoc. Dir. for Publications and Public Maies
Jim TvarianVolunteer
Church of the Brethren
Tonya BrooksIntem
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