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The ANC's Dilemma: The Symbolic Politics of Three Witch-Hunts in the South African Lowveld, 1990–1995

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Isak A. Niehaus
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Abstract:

This essay investigates the symbolic politics of three witch-hunts in a chiefdom of the South African lowveld during the 1990s. In the last years of apartheid young men, known as Comrades, assumed the forefront of political struggles. Comrades embarked upon witch-hunting campaigns to banish evil and misfortune, and thereby to attain legitimacy as a political movement. Since the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, a situation of pluralistic political structures emerged. Branches of the ANC and ANC Women's League were launched, Civic Associations were established, and chiefship was gradually reconstituted. As adults assumed positions of political leadership, the influence of the Comrades diminished. Witch-hunts of the 1990s are multifaceted social dramas, which involve different modes of participation and bear a variety of different meanings for political audiences. As such they reveal changing relations of alliance and opposition between the different political structures. I argue that through time, growing schisms have developed between the ANC and the Comrades, who have continued to be the most vociferous participants in witch-hunting. Local ANC leaders have been unsuccessful in resolving the conflicting demands of villagers (who demand their assistance in the eradication of witchcraft) and those of their political superiors (who require that they oppose witch-hunting).

Résumé:

Résumé:

Cet essai s'interroge sur la politique symbolique de trois chasses au sorrier dans un royaume du lowveld sud africain dans les années 90. Pendant les dernières années de l'Apartheid, de jeunes gens, connus sous le nom de Camarades, assumaient l'avant-garde dans les luttes politiques. Ces camarades s'étaient embarqués dans des campagnes de chasse au sorrier pour éliminer le mal et ainsi, obtenir une certaine légitimité en tant que mouvement politique. Depuis la levée de l'interdiction de l'ANC, en 1990, une situation de pluralisme politique a vu le jour. Des branches de l'ANC et une ligue des femmes de l'ANC ont été créées, des associations civiques ont été établies, et la chefferie a été progressivement reconstituée. L'influence des camarades a diminué à la suite du contrôle des postes politiques par les adultes. Les chasses au sorcier des années 90 sont des drames sociaux à plusieurs facettes, avec différents modes de participation et différentes significations. Ainsi, ces chasses révèlent un changement des relations d'alliance et d'opposition entre les différentes structures politiques. Je soutiens qu'avec le temps, un fossé de plus en plus grand s'est creusé entre les Camarades qui ont continué d'être les participants les plus bruyants à la chasse au sorcier, et l'ANC. Les dirigeants locaux de l'ANC n'ont pas réussi à résoudre les exigences divergentes de villageois ( qui exigent leur participation à l'éradication de la sorcellerie) et ceux de leurs supérieurs(qui requièrent qu'ils s'opposent à cette chasse au sorcier.)

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , December 1998 , pp. 93 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1998

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