Civil Society, Political Violence, and Democratic Transitions: Business and the Peace Process in South Africa, 1990 to 1994

Abstract

On September 14, 1991, when the National Peace Accord was signed in Johannesburg, the cream of South Africa's political elite was there: future President Nelson Mandela, then President F. W. De Klerk, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and other luminaries, new and old. But amid the politicians stood a different kind of figure, looking slightly out of place: a chubby, balding, middle-aged businessman named John Hall. Yet to the surprise of no one present, Hall was chosen unanimously to head the National Peace Committee they had just created in a bid to end the political violence blazing across the country. Although this moment was a turning point in South Africa's transition to democracy, it has been almost forgotten. Indeed, despite the acres of print dedicated to democratization in South Africa, commentators have largely ignored a crucial factor in its success: business. Business helped South Africa's transition to democracy to succeed by spearheading the creation and running of institutions to curb political violence. Before those bodies were formed, the spread of local-level clashes in black communities, stoked by elements seeking to destabilize the transition, had all but halted the delicate negotiations for democratization begun after Mandela's release from prison in 1990. Business intervention in the transition, while facilitated by narrowing differences between black and white leaders in civil society, took shape in novel initiatives driven by self-interest, shifting loyalties, and deeply held values. At the grassroots, it helped to set up a framework which permitted communication, built trust, and survived flare-ups of conflict among the warring parties, leading to local pacts to end violence and the formation of new local elites transcending party and racial lines.