Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:36:50.617Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Inkatha's young militants: reconsidering political violence in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2017

Timothy Gibbs
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

South Africa's township revolts have generated much excellent research on the central role played by rebellious, urban youth. This article explores a parallel set of intergenerational conflicts that opened up in the marginal rural districts of the Natal Midlands, which were exacerbated by apartheid's forced removals of labour tenants from commercial farming districts to crowded ‘Native Reserves’ in the 1970s. At this time of deepening poverty, elders worried about the rising incidence of juvenile petty crime, particularly amongst the teenagers who increasingly took itinerant, seasonal labour on the commercial farms. Some of these young migrants, unable to find steady factory work at a time of mounting unemployment, also played a leading role in the illicit, sometimes criminal networks of South Africa's growing popular economy. Finally, I show how some of these youths were mobilized by Inkatha during the war against the African National Congress in Johannesburg – often to the revulsion of older men who abhorred their socially harmful, thuggish violence, which spiralled uncontrollably along migrant routes. Thus the political violence was often known as the udlame: a brutal savagery that destroys households, communities and society.

Résumé

Les révoltes des townships en Afrique du Sud ont généré d'excellents travaux de recherche sur le rôle central joué par les jeunes rebelles urbains. Cet article explore un ensemble parallèle de conflits intergénérationnels survenus dans les districts ruraux marginaux des Natal Midlands, qui furent exacerbés sous l'apartheid par l'expulsion forcée des métayers des districts agricoles commerciaux vers des réserves appelées « Native Reserves » dans les années 1970. En cette période de pauvreté grandissante, les anciens s'inquiétaient de l'incidence croissante de la délinquance juvénile, notamment chez les adolescents de plus en plus nombreux à travailler comme saisonniers itinérants dans les fermes commerciales. Certains de ces jeunes migrants, faute de pouvoir trouver des emplois stables en usine en période de chômage croissant, ont également joué un rôle majeur dans les réseaux illicites, voire criminels, de l’économie populaire croissante d'Afrique du Sud. Enfin, l'auteur montre comment certains de ces jeunes ont été mobilisés par Inkatha pendant la guerre menée contre l'ANC (African National Congress) à Johannesburg, s'attirant souvent la répulsion des plus âgés qui abhorraient leur violence brutale, socialement nuisible, qui dégénérait en spirale incontrôlable le long des voies de migration. C'est ainsi que la violence politique fut souvent appelée udlame : une sauvagerie brutale destructrice des ménages, des communautés et de la société.

Type
Rebellious youth in South Africa
Information
Africa , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , May 2017 , pp. 362 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbink, J. and van Kessel, I. (eds) (2005) Vanguards of Vandals: youth politics and conflict in Africa. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. (2002) ‘Vigilantes, violence and the politics of public order in Kenya’, African Affairs 101 (405): 531–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ASS (1983) Child Labour in South Africa: a general overview. London: Anti-Slavery Society (ASS).Google Scholar
Bank, L. (1990) ‘The making of the Qwa Qwa “mafia”? Patronage and protection in the migrant taxi business’, African Studies 49 (1): 71–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bank, L. (2011) Home Spaces, Street Styles: contesting power and identity in a South African city. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Barrett, J. (2003) ‘Organising the informal economy: a case study of the taxi industry in South Africa’. SEED Working Paper 39. Geneva: International Labour Organization.Google Scholar
Beinartt, W. (1990) ‘Migrant workers and child labour in the Natal Sugar Estates, 1913–48’. Seminar paper. London: Institute of Commonwealth Studies.Google Scholar
Beinart, W. (1991) ‘The origins of the indlavini: male associations and migrant labour in the Transkei’, African Studies 50 (1&2): 103–28.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, , Dunstan and Associates (1992) ‘The story of a hostel project: a special report on Nguni hostel at Vosloorus’ . Johannesburg: Planact.Google Scholar
Bond, K. (1979) The Story of Mboma. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Bonner, P. (1987) ‘The Russians on the Reef, 1947–57: urbanisation, gang warfare and ethnic mobilisation’ in Bonner, P., Delius, P. and Posel, D. (eds), Apartheid's Genesis, 1935–62. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Bonner, P. and Ndima, V. (1999) ‘The roots of violence on the East Rand, 1980–1990’. Seminar paper. Johannesburg: Institute for Advanced Social Research, University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Bonner, P. and Nieftagodien, N. (2001) Kathorus: a history. Johannesburg: Longman.Google Scholar
Bonner, P. and Nieftagodien, N. (2008) Alexandra: a history. Johannesburg: Wits University Press.Google Scholar
Bosch, D., Budlender, D. and Tshabalala, S. (2002) ‘Toward a national child labour action programme for South Africa’. Discussion document. Pretoria: South African Department of Labour.Google Scholar
Bradford, H. (1987) A Taste of Freedom: the ICU in rural South Africa, 1924–30. London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, C. (1992) ‘Learning to kill? Masculinity, the family and violence in Natal’, Journal of Southern African Studies 18 (3): 614–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carton, B. (2000) Blood From Your Children: the colonial origins of generational conflict in South Africa. Charlottesville VA: University Press of Virginia.Google Scholar
Clarke, L. and Ngobese, J. (1975) Women Without Men: a study of 150 families in the Nqutu District of KwaZulu. Durban: Institute for Black Research.Google Scholar
Clegg, J. (1981) ‘ Ukubuyisa Isidumbu – “bringing back the body”: an examination of vengeance in the Msinga and Mpofana rural locations, 1882–1944’ in Bonner, P. (ed.), Working Papers in Southern African Studies. Volume 2. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Delius, P. (1996) A Lion Amongst the Cattle: reconstruction and resistance in the Northern Transvaal. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Denis, P., Ntsimane, R. and Cannell, T. (2010) Indians Versus Russians: an oral history of the political violence in Nxamalala, 1987–93. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.Google Scholar
Elder, G. (1995) ‘Apartheid, geography and gender: transforming South Africa's migrant worker hostels’. PhD thesis, Clark University.Google Scholar
Gibbs, T. (2014) ‘Becoming a “big man” in neo-liberal South Africa: masculinities in the minibus-taxi industry’, African Affairs 113 (452): 431–48.Google Scholar
Glaser, C. (2000) Bo-Tsotsi: the youth gangs of Soweto, 1935–1976. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Glaser, C. (2008) ‘Violent crime in South Africa: historical perspectives’, South African Historical Journal 60 (3): 334–52.Google Scholar
Gore, C. and Pratten, D. (2003) ‘The politics of plunder: the rhetoric of order and disorder in Southern Nigeria’, African Affairs 102 (407): 211–40.Google Scholar
Hartshorne, K. (1992) Crisis and Challenge: black education, 1910–1990. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hickel, J. (2015) Democracy as Death: the moral order of anti-liberal politics in South Africa. London: University of California Press.Google Scholar
James, D. (1983) The Road from Doornkop: a case study of removals and resistance. Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. (2015) ‘“Women were not supposed to fight”: the gendered uses of martial and moral Zuluness during uDlame, 1990–1994’ in Shetler, J. B. (ed.), Gendering Ethnicity in African Women's Lives. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Kynoch, G. (2005) We Are Fighting the World: a history of the Marashea gangs in South Africa, 1947–1999. Athens OH: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Kynoch, G. (2008) ‘Urban violence colonial Africa: a case for South African exceptionalism’, Journal of South African Studies 34 (3): 629–45.Google Scholar
Kynoch, G. (2013) ‘Reassessing transition violence: voices from South Africa's township wars, 1990–4’, African Affairs 112 (447): 283–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
la Hausse, P. (1990) ‘“The cows of Nongoloza”: youth, crime and amalaita gangs in Durban, 1900–36’, Journal of Southern African Studies 16 (1): 79–111.Google Scholar
Lindsay, L. and Miescher, S. (eds) (2003) Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Malan, R. (1990) My Traitor's Heart. London: Bodley Head.Google Scholar
Marks, M. (2001) Young Warriors: youth politics, identity and violence in South Africa. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.Google Scholar
Mathaba, J. (2000) ‘Cattle praises of the kwaMthethwa area of Empangeni, KwaZulu Natal, as a reflection of some socio-cultural norms and values of the area’. MA thesis, University of KwaZulu-Natal.Google Scholar
Mathis, S. (2013) ‘From warlords to freedom fighters: political violence and state formation in Umbumbulu, South Africa’, African Affairs 112 (448): 421–39.Google Scholar
McAllister, P. and Deliwe, D. (1994) ‘Youth in the Transkei: the demise of traditional youth associations and the developments of new forms of association and activity: 1975–1993’. Working Paper 64. Grahamstown: Institute for Social and Economic Research.Google Scholar
McClendon, T. (2002) Genders and Generations Apart: labour tenants and customary law in segregation-era South Africa, 1920s to 1940s. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Mchunu, M. (2007) ‘Cultural change, Zulu masculinity and intergenerational conflict in the context of civil war in Pietermaritzburg, 1987–1991’ in Shefer, T., Ratele, K., Strebel, A., Shabalala, N. and Buikema, R. (eds), From Boys to Men: constructions of masculinity on contemporary society. Lansdowne: UCT Press.Google Scholar
Mchunu, M. (2013) ‘A history of political violence in KwaShange, Vulindlela District and its effects on the memories of survivors’. PhD thesis, University of KwaZulu-Natal.Google Scholar
Meintjes, L. (2004) ‘Shoot the sergeant, shatter the mountain: the production of masculinity in Zulu ngoma song and dance in post-apartheid South Africa’, Ethnomusicology Forum 13 (2): 173–201.Google Scholar
Morrell, R. (2001) ‘The times of change: men and masculinity in Southern Africa’ in Morell, R. (ed.), Changing Men in Southern Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.Google Scholar
Mpanza, Z. and Nattrass, J. (1987) ‘Poverty, migration and unemployment in Dumisa: a rural area of KwaZulu’. Working Paper 10. Durban: Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Natal.Google Scholar
Murray, C. (1980) ‘Migrant labour and changing family structure in the rural periphery of South Africa’, Journal of South African Studies 6 (2): 139–56.Google Scholar
National Planning Commission (2011) Diagnostic Overview. Pretoria: National Planning Commission, Republic of South Africa. <http://www.gov.za/documents/national-planning-commission-diagnostic-overview>, accessed 22 January 2016.,+accessed+22+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Ndima, G. (1997) ‘“Ayizond’ Inkabi” (an ox perseveres): the changing lives of migrants from the Nqutu District of KwaZulu Natal to Germiston, 1950–1980s’. PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Ndlovu, D. (1994) ‘Trust in God and weapons’, South African Quarterly 1 (1): 1–24.Google Scholar
Niehaus, I. (2000) ‘Towards a dubious liberation: masculinity, sexuality and power in South African lowveld schools, 1953–1999’, Journal of Southern African Studies 26 (3): 387–407.Google Scholar
Nkosi-Thomas, L. G. and Randera, M. (2000) Final Report: commission of enquiry into the causes of taxi violence and related unresolved deaths in Gauteng Province. Johannesburg: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Nolte, I. (2004) ‘Identity and violence: the politics of youth in Ijebu-Remo, Nigeria’, Journal of Modern African Studies 42 (1): 61–89.Google Scholar
Ntsebeza, D. (2005) Committee of Inquiry into the Underlying Causes of the Instability and Conflict in the Minibus Taxi Industry in the Cape Town Metropolitan Area: report to the premier. Cape Town: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Peires, J. (1994) ‘Unsocial bandits: the stock thieves of Qumbu and their enemies’. Johannesburg: History Workshop, University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Peires, J. (2000) ‘Traditional leaders in purgatory: local government in Tsholo, Qumbu and Port St Johns, 1990–2000’, African Studies 59 (1): 97–114.Google Scholar
Peskin, M. and Spiegel, A. (1976) Migrant Labour Project: urban hostels in the Johannesburg area. A preliminary study. Grahamstown: Institute for Social and Economic Research.Google Scholar
Platzky, L. and Walker, C. (1985) The Surplus People: forced removals in South Africa. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Potts, D. (2010) Circular Migration in Zimbabwe and Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. Woodbridge: James Currey.Google Scholar
Preston-Whyte, E. and Nene, S. (1991) ‘Black women and the rural informal sector’ in Preston-Whyte, E. and Rogerson, C. (eds), South Africa's Informal Economy. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Richards, P. (1998) Fighting for the Rainforest: war, youth and resources in Sierra Leone. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Seekings, J. (1993) Heroes or Villains. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Seekings, J. (2006) ‘Beyond heroes and villains: the rediscovery of the ordinary in the study of childhood and adolescence in South Africa’, Social Dynamics 32 (1): 1–20.Google Scholar
Segal, L. (1992) ‘The human face of violence: hostel dwellers speak’, Journal of Southern African Studies 18 (1): 190–231.Google Scholar
Sitas, A. (1983) ‘African worker responses on the East Rand to changes in the metal industry, 1960–1980’. PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Sithole, J. (1998) ‘Land, officials, chiefs and commoners in the Izimpi Zemibango in the Umlazi location of the Pinetown District in the context of Natal's changing political economy, 1920–1936’. MA thesis, University of Natal.Google Scholar
Smith, N. (2015) ‘Historical romanticism: how intimacy drove popular justice in South Africa's history’. Politics and Protest Workshop Paper. New York NY: City University.Google Scholar
Spiegel, A. (1987) ‘Dispersing dependants: a response to the exigencies of labour migration in rural Transkei’ in Eades, J. (ed.), Migrants, Workers and the Social Order. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Stewart, P. (1981) ‘A worker has a human face: Mahlabatini, Vosloorus hostel and an East Rand foundry: the experiences of a migrant worker’. BA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Streek, B. and Wicksteed, R. (1981) Render unto Kaiser: a Transkei dossier. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Todes, A. (2001) ‘South African urbanisation dynamics and the normalisation thesis’, Urban Forum 12 (1): 1–26.Google Scholar
van der Waal, C. S. (1996) ‘Rural children and residential instability in the Northern Province of South Africa’, Social Dynamics 22 (1): 31–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Onselen, C. (1982) Studies in the Economic History of the Witwatersrand. Volumes 1 & 2. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Waetjen, T. (2006) Workers and Warriors: masculinity and the struggle for the nation in South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC Press.Google Scholar
Waller, R. (2006) ‘Rebellious youth in colonial Africa’, Journal of African History 47 (1): 77–92.Google Scholar
Xeketwane, B. M. (1991) ‘The war on the Reef: the political violence on the Reef's black townships since July 1990’. BA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Xeketwane, B. M. (1993) ‘The relation between hostels and the political violence on the Reef from July 1990 to December 1993: a case study of Merafe and Meadowslands hostels in Soweto’. MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Xulu, N. (2012) ‘Changing migrant spaces and livelihoods: hostels as community residential units, KwaMashu, KwaZulu Natal’. PhD thesis, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar