Justice denied: political violence in Kwazulu‐Natal after 1994

Abstract

To unravel post-apartheid political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, three case studies are presented: the Shobashobane massacre (1995); the Richmond killings (which reached their height in 1997-98); and the Nongoma assassinations (1999-2000). Detailed consideration of the activities of paramilitary forces, the security forces, and the criminal justice system reveals that post-apartheid political violence is systemically related to the dynamics of the 'unofficial' war between Inkatha and the African National Congress. In this context, it is argued that a failure to confront this war in terms of asserting political authority or through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has worked to drive political violence and to push it into new forms, with lethal effect. POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN THE PROVINCE OF KWAZULU-NATAL (KZN), South Africa, has, according to some sources, taken as many as 20,000 lives since 1984, especially since September 1987, when open warfare broke out in the Pietermaritzburg region with a series of territorial battles between Inkatha and the United Democratic Front (UDF).1 In these battles, Inkatha received support from the apartheid state's security forces, whilst the UDF found succour in its relationship with the African National Congress (ANC) and its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MIK). More than half the number of fatalities occurred after 1990: that is, after the National Party had lifted the ban on the liberation movements, and committed itself to negotiated political change, and after the ANC had suspended its armed struggle. The three-month period preceding the first democratic elections in April 1994 was especially tense, with around 1,000 people killed. Since 1994, 2,000 people have been killed in political violence in KZN.2 In the post-apartheid era, KwaZulu-Natal has been marked by a divided system of political authority, with reflecting electoral support Professor Rupert Taylor is in the Department of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The interviews used in this article were commissioned by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and conducted in KwaZuluNatal over 1999-2000. The research was supported by the International Development Research Centre . 1. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report [hereafter TRC Report], Volumes 1-5, CD-ROM version (Jutastat, Cape Town, June 1999), Vol. 3, Chap. 3. :2. SAIRR, South Africa Survey 2000/2001 (South African Institute of Race Relations [SAIRR], Johannesburg, 2002), p. 89.