Political Violence in South Africa

Question 1

Colonization & expansion in South Africa

Answer 1

• First humans inhabited South Africa at least 100,000 years ago
• Several African ethno-linguistic groups had self-governing territories at the time of colonization
• First white colonizers arrived from Holland in 1652 at Cape of Good Hope; they began conquering inland
• The British began colonizing in 1815; discovered diamonds in the 1870s, then gold

Question 2

Colonization and Statehood in South Africa

Answer 2

• British fought the white Afrikaners (Dutch descendants) in the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902
• A series of laws restricted African (black) rights, especially including land ownership
• British grant South Africa independence in 1910 under white minority rule

Question 3

Apartheid

Answer 3

• “separateness” in Afrikaans
  state-sanctioned racism encoded in the laws and norms of state and society
• 1948: After a history of discriminatory laws against Africans, apartheid came into law with the election of the National Party
• Foundation of apartheid power lay in the Broederbond, or brotherhood, a kind of secret society of Afrikaans leaders
• Every single South African President until Mandela was a member
• “Blacks should never be shown the greener pastures of education, they should know that their station in life is to be hewers of wood and drawers of water” - Henrik Verwoerd PM

Question 4

African National Congress (ANC)

Answer 4

1912: ANC is founded to promote African human rights
1950s: After apartheid became law, organized protests to resist repressive, racist pass laws
21/3/1960: 69 unarmed African protesters killed and 200 wounded at Sharpeville; ANC decides peaceful resistance is futile

Question 5

Armed struggle emerges

Answer 5

• ANC leader Nelson Mandela: “the time
  comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight”
• ANC founds an armed wing: Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation” in Xhosa) known as MK
• MK guerrillas based in Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Mozambique

Question 6

Ideology and armed struggle

Answer 6

• strict ideology of non-racialism
• ANC framed apartheid as primarily a class problem of the rich exploiting the poor, with racial discrimination as a subsidiary problem
• Most combatants were African, but many were Coloured, Indian, and White in origin
• Cold War context of superpower alignment, the ANC and MK received weapons and training from the Soviet Union and other communist-bloc countries (East Germany, Cuba, Yugoslavia, etc.)
  diplomatic support from Nordic countries and Canada

Question 7

High Popular Legitimacy

Answer 7

• In many parts of South Africa, MK guerrillas were hugely popular within black communities
• “The regime did all our recruiting for us” – former combatant

Question 8

Challenges to Armed Struggle in SA

Answer 8

MK guerrillas based in northern Angola (very far from South Africa)
No common border with South Africa
Hardly any liberated zones for bases
Formidable apartheid war machine always on the attack

Question 9

1960s-70s: Onset of MK’s armed struggle in South Africa

Answer 9

1967-8: MK attempts to infiltrate guerrillas from Zambia across Rhodesia into South Africa; guerrillas never make it past Rhodesia
1976: Soweto Uprising- the regime massacred hundreds of students protesting harsh laws; thousands of youth left South Africa to take up arms
MK went out of its way to avoid civilian
casualties

Question 10

1980’s in south af

Answer 10

struggle intensifies
1980-85: MK operations against oil refineries, power plants, military bases
1983: Rise of United Democratic Front (UDF) protest movement in South Africa, launching demonstrations and labour strikes
1985-89: UDF protests and MK attacks make South Africa increasingly “ungovernable”; regime responds by escalating violence

Question 11

Apartheid and the international state system

Answer 11

• The UK had a keen economic and strategic interest in its former colony
  Western governments had long maintained economic investments in resource-rich South Africa
• During the Cold War, NATO countries cultivated strong ties with the apartheid regime
• The US, UK, France, West Germany, and Italy sold South Africa weapons and kept apartheid afloat via trade and loans

Question 12

Apartheid counterinsurgency

Answer 12

As Portugal lost its colonies, many Special Forces personnel joined the Rhodesians; after Rhodesia fell, they joined South African forces
The apartheid security forces monitored African communities closely using “Joint Management System”
They used death squads to assassinate both violent and non-violent insurgents
Extensive recruitment of African spies within the ANC and MK
African rebels captured and “turned” into colonial special forces (“askaris”)

Question 13

‘Black on black’ violence: a key apartheid strategy

Answer 13

Most black South Africans supported the ANC or other anti-apartheid movements
Some clung to narrow “tribal” African nationalism
The regime seized the opportunity to turn ethnic Zulus against the ANC, and against ethnic Xhosas
1986: South Africa secretly trained 206 Zulu impis (warriors) in Namibia’s Caprivi Strip
They formed the nucleus of the Zulu-nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
1987-94: IFP militants waged war against ANC loyalists, killing thousands
IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi recruited by CIA in 1973

Question 14

Negotiations and violence

Answer 14

2 Feb. 1990: National Party under Pres. FW De Klerk unbans ANC, starts repealing apartheid laws, releases Mandela and others from prison; negotiated transition begins
1990-94: Most violent period in South African history, with 16,000 killed (more than in entire previous decade)
- Most of this violence is attributable to the “Third Force”- apartheid Special Forces operating undercover
Widespread massacres of blacks on trains, at taxi stands, in homes, at bars; IFP militants attack ANC loyalists
National Party denies responsibility, but police appear complicit (Bill Berkley reading)