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

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 theudlame: a brutal savagery that destroys households, communities and society.

Violence, Autochthony, and Identity Politics in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa): A Processual Perspective on Local Political Dynamics

“…In the speeches held at the funerals mentioned at the beginning of this article, the aspect of political struggle becomes clear from the frequent references to "infighting" and "internal divisions" within the Tripartite Alliance. Gibbs (2017), however, points out that udlame had various sources, and he shows that intergenerational conflicts structured violent action in rural areas of the Natal Midlands (see also Carton 2000). Violent conflict spread along migrant routes and "was entwined with and exacerbated by patterns of conflict associated with the criminality of uncontrollable young migrants" (Gibbs 2017:378).…”

“…The period of violent conflict which began in the early 1980s is called udlame in isiZulu, which may be translated as “the use of savagery in achieving aims” (Kelly 2012:xiiiff). According to Timothy Gibbs, udlame “conveys social chaos: a violence that ‘initiates a spiral of revenge attacks’” (Gibbs 2017:377; quoted from Peires 2000:99). “Political violence” is the most commonly used expression in the academic literature and media reports, but a closer look at the main characteristics of this period of violent conflict reveals that we could also categorize it as a typical “small war” (Klute 2013).…”

“…Gibbs (2017), however, points out that udlame had various sources, and he shows that intergenerational conflicts structured violent action in rural areas of the Natal Midlands (see also Carton 2000). Violent conflict spread along migrant routes and “was entwined with and exacerbated by patterns of conflict associated with the criminality of uncontrollable young migrants” (Gibbs 2017:378). Thus, “patterns of political violence were often associated with the juvenile criminality of migrant gangs.…”

“…. that made the udlame so brutal” (Gibbs 2017:381). This assessment highlights at least one crucial aspect of violent conflict, namely, that the boundaries between politics, economics, crime, and private matters are usually blurred.…”

“…More than one hundred local politicians were murdered between 2003 and 2013, with more than half killed between January 2011 and September 2012. As a result, there is renewed interest in documenting and theorizing violent conflict (see Gibbs 2017; Hickel 2015; Jarstad & Höglund 2015; Kelly 2018; Krämer 2015; Mathis 2013; Schuld 2013; Smith 2019; van Baalen & Höglund 2017).…”