I. S.OTHER THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS OF CONFLICT IN MANDINI Three other basic theoretical positions account for the conflict and violence which
3. POLITICS AND VIOLENCE IN KWAZULU AND NATAL REGION 1. INTRODUCTION
3.7. THE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE IN THE REGION FROM THE 1980S : THE VIEWPOINT OF THE ANC AND ITS ALLIANCE
3.7.1. THE EARLY COLLABORATION OF CHIEF MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI
According to the ANC alliance, the collaboration of Chief Buthelezi with the apartheid state began as far back as the 1950s but participated actively in the 1980s. These early years of collaboration, the alliance argued, were thus important "precursors" of what was later to occur. In viewpoint of Nobleman Jabu Nxumalo, a prominent SACP member who was famously known as Mzala, Chief Buthelezi's collaboration began when he sought appointment to the chieftainship of the Buthelezi tribe. His entitlement to the office was uncertain because he was the son of the chiefs tenth wife (Chief Mathole) and was also illegitimate. As the dispute mounted between him and his brother Mceleli, the first born of the first wife of Chief Mathole, Buthelezi turned to the South African government for assistance. He was then told that this would be forthcoming if he provided a more tangible expression of his obedience and loyalty to Pretoria. Buthelezi then openly declared that he was in favour of the Bantu Authorities Act of 195191• Chief Burthelezi's record in the 1950s, Mzala argued, was one of the "non-involvement in the great issues of the day" because he neither protested against the Bantu Education Act of 1954 nor he participated in the Congress of the People in June 1955 and let alone the Defiance Campaign.
Chief Buthelezi's collaborationist tendencies and desire for personal aggrandizement proved too strong. Far from doing as the ANC had envisaged, Buthelezi dressed Inkatha
90 See Anthea Jefferey. (1997). The Natal Story: 16 Years of Conflict. Pp 43.
91 The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 increased the powers of the chiefs so as to give them primary responsibility for implementing apartheid in rural areas and envisaged the establishment of territorial authorities, which were ultimately to provide the foundation for homeland administrations.
in the clothes of the ANC to win the support of the black constituency and then proceeded to build Inkatha as a personal power-base far removed from the kind of organization envisaged by the alliance. After the failure of the 1979 London Meeting, the ANC contended, Buthelezi's collaboration with Pretoria began to take more active forms, with Inkatha supporters effectively doing the work of the SAP in repressing protests against apartheid institutions. The first emerged in Natal in 1980 when Inkatha supporters attacked schoolchildren protesting against Bantu Education in KwaMashu and other Durban townships .
. 3.7.2. INCORPORATION AND REPRESSION IN THE 1980S
While the 1976 Soweto Uprising did not affect schools in Natal and KwaZulu but the 1980s was a new turning point. School boycotts in 1980, which began in Cape Town, affected the KwaZulu-Natal schools as well. The initial objective of the boycott was based on the standard and quality of education offered to blacks. According to the ANC alliance, the school boycotts in 1980 reflected an important nation wide campaign and a significant renewal of student challenge to the apartheid government. When the boycotts spread to KwaMashu, the ANC alleges, Chief Buthelezi saw this as a challenge to his authority and became determined to crush them.
The Ongoye Massacre92, according to the ANC, was another exemplifying factor where Inkatha used its impis to attack students. The meeting was to be held in this University to
92 In 1983, at the University of Zulu land (Ongoye), students boycotted classes in protest against the meeting to commemorate King Cetshwayo to be addressed by Chief Buthelezi and [silo Samabandla- King
Goodwill. This was to be conducted on the Bhekuzulu Hall in the University Campus. The clash took place between the students and Inkatha impis. In this clash, five people were killed.
commemorate the Zulu king, King Cetshwayo. The students wanted the meeting to be cancelled because they feared a large contingent of armed Inkatha supporters would attend. The Inkatha youth armed with knobkerries, assegais and pangas entered the hostels and began assaulting and dragging the students out of their hostels. These Inkatha impis (grassroot-army) were also looking for the specific people, therefore, the prime targets for attacks were those rooms which had posters depicting support for UDF in their doors. Four students and one Inkatha member consequently died in this violence, thirteen students were seriously injured and 100 were wounded. The ANC alliance heavily criticized the Inkatha, particularly Chief Buthelezi, for this attack. The ANC's journal Sichaba blamed Chief Buthelezi for using his followers like the "Nazi Youth". It stated that "Gatsha's talk about non-violence is just an empty talk because he is very violent against blacks, perhaps this is what he means by national liberation struggle".
From 1984, the ANC, alliance alleges, Inkatha's proclivity to violence continued to increase. The next major incident occurred in 1984 in the townships of Lamontville and Hambanathi. Both these townships had for many years fallen under the administration of the Port Natal Administration Board (PNAB) and were subsequently earmarked for incorporation into KwaZulu Administration. In the period in question, the increased rent and bus fares for these townships resulted in the campaigns by the communities, under the leadership of Mr Harrison Dube in Lamontville, to oppose these actions under the slogan "Asinamali" (there is no money). Mr Dube was later assassinated in April 1983 of which Mr Moonlight Gasa, Chairman of Lamontville Community Council and a prominent Inkatha member, was arrested and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment for
his part in Dube's assassination. On 22 July 1984, a ceremony was held in Lamontville to unveil a tombstone for Msizi Dube. Violence then broke out when about 80 armed Inkatha supporters arrived shortly after the ceremony had ended looking for posters denigrating Chief Buthelezi, as a result, three Inkatha supporters died on the spot93.
By 1985, according to the alliance, Chief Buthelezi and Inkatha were increasingly threatened by the growing popularity of the UDF. Inkatha sought to consolidate its support, however, by claiming that it was primarily responsible for peace and calm that prevailed in KwaZulu and Natal. The myth about a peaceful and calm region was effectively shuttered by violence which erupted in Inanda as well as other Durban townships in August 1985. This conflict also demonstrated Inkatha's increasing reliance on vigilantes to attack UDF supporters and asserts its own hegemonic control over the residents of Durban townships.
However, the alliance alleges, the violence in Durban was sparked by the assassination of Mrs Victoria Mxenge, the widow of Mr Griffiths Mxenge - a lawyer who was murdered in 1981. What really tripped the scales to fullscale violence was the stoning of the Umlazi cinema, where more than 5 000 people were attending a memorial service of Mrs Mxenge. It was estimated that about 500 Inkatha impis armed with sticks and spears and coming from Lindelani, which was very popular for violence under the Inkatha warlord - Thomas Mandla Shabalala, attacked a cinema and 17 people were killed in that night, more than a hundred were injured. Violence continued in K waMashu and in other Durban townships for the rest of 1985 and in 1986. During this period, according to the
93 See Anthea Jefferrey 1997 : 49 - 50.
ANC alliance, Inkatha resorted increasingly to armed actions by impis and vigilantes to crush protest actions by UDF activists, and to attack and kill UDF supporters, destroy their homes and drive them from the townships.