A small civil war: political conflict in the Pietermaritzburg region in the 1980s and early 1990s 1 by Christopher Merrett DURING the single week from 25 to 31 March 1990 a small-scale war took place to the west of Pietermaritzburg. According to the Truth and Reconcili- ation Commission (TRC), 200 people died and 20 000 were displaced. They were mainly from Ashdown, Caluza, Mpumuza, Gezubuso, KwaShange and KwaMnyandu in the lower Vulindlela and Edendale areas. There are no figures for those who were injured or disabled.2 Twenty years later ruined, abandoned buildings were still to be found from what became known as the Seven Day War.3 At the same time, with superior media coverage, the battle for Beirut was taking place across the Green Line between Syrian forces and General Michel Auon’s Lebanese army: 300 people were killed and 1 200 injured.4 Prelude N THE lead up to the Seven Day peaceful are complex and much argued. War, 1 145 people had died in politi- They include Ical violence in the greater Pieterma- • socio-economic factors such as hous- ritzburg region over the previous three ing shortages and rent increases, bus years.5 The origins of this conflict in a fares and a growing private, largely region previously known as relatively unregulated minibus taxi industry; 19 Natalia 43 (2013), Christopher Merrett pp. 19 – 36 Natalia 43 (2013) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2013 A small civil war: political conflict in the Pietermaritzburg region in the 1980s and early 1990s • administrative change involving the its affiliates were radically-inclined transfer of Pietermaritzburg town- youth and community organisations ships and peri-urban areas from in the Edendale valley as well as a the municipality to the KwaZulu number of human rights organisations homeland and, from 1983 onwards, based in Pietermaritzburg. By 1983 the the establishment of black local au- political parameters within which fu- thorities; and ture conflict would take place had been • a schools crisis with demands for clearly demarcated. Its specific loca- student representative councils, free tion has been identified as the border textbooks and an end to corporal area between Natal and the KwaZulu punishment. bantustan where rapid, but highly con- 8 But the underlying reason for conflict trolled, urbanisation was taking place. was the crisis within the apartheid state In April 1980, Imbali and Ashdown after the Soweto Uprising of 1976. townships and the freehold area of The National Party government sought Slangspruit became part of the Kwa- reform and adaptation to perpetuate Zulu bantustan. The main focus of dis- the basic relationships within South content was township schools where African society. Consequent volatility boycotts and sporadic violence were 9 and uncertainty provided opportunity commonplace. Significantly, in Feb- for predominantly black, rival political ruary 1980 a branch of the Inkatha groupings. Youth Brigade had been established at The Edendale valley had traditional- Mehlokazulu High School in Imbali. ly been an area broadly sympathetic to In August a Sobantu policeman was the African National Congress (ANC). ambushed in an incident involving an But in March 1975 Inkatha, a largely AK47, presumably an operation con- cultural grouping in its original 1920s ducted by uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK); form, was revived under the leadership and in October youths were detained of Mangosuthu Buthelezi.6 It took on at the Lay Ecumenical Centre in Eden- 10 a significant role in the politics and dale for alleged ANC activity. In administration of the KwaZulu bantus- 1981, a vigilante group was founded in tan, but consistently resisted the even- Ashdown under Reverend M. Majola tual quasi-independence intended by and named Oqondo (straighteners). A the South African government. None- pattern of youth activism and unrest theless, it used bantustan resources countered by vigilantism had been es- for political mobilisation and in 1979 tablished. broke what had been cordial relations By early 1982, Oqondo was ac- with the ANC. Inkatha was Zulu tra- tive in Imbali and Slangspruit with ditionalist, a major conservative force support from local councillors and in black politics and it sided with the the South African Police (SAP). Ten- Pretoria government on certain issues sions heightened on Republic Day (31 such as opposition to sanctions.7 In May) and 43 students at the Federal 1983 a wide range of anti-apartheid or- Theological Seminary in Imbali were ganisations, reputed to number about arrested on charges of illegal gather- 600, many of which supported the ing. Further discontent was fuelled by Freedom Charter, established the Unit- Inkatha-aligned chiefs and indunas ex- ed Democratic Front (UDF). Amongst torting money over the crucial matter 20 Natalia 43 (2013) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2013 A small civil war: political conflict in the Pietermaritzburg region in the 1980s and early 1990s of attaching the KwaZulu homeland come, UDF supporters started moving stamp to pensions applications. But out of Sobantu fearing for their safety. serious violence was restricted to the During mid-1985 a partial State municipal township of Sobantu where of Emergency was declared in South Graham Radebe (aged 17) was shot Africa, but Natal was unaffected. In by police in September 1982. Unrest the Pietermaritzburg area there were over rent increases led to an attack on widespread school boycotts and at the offices of the Drakensberg Bantu Mehlokazulu High School police tear- Administration Board (DBAB) in Oc- gassed pupils. Most significantly the tober and the torching of the beerhall government’s vision of black local and attacks on firemen in November, government was directly challenged while the homes of councillors were by the election of 50 street representa- regularly stoned. In mid-August 1983 tives in Sobantu;12 and foundation of rent increases were suspended and re- the Imbali and Ashdown Civic Asso- placed by a system of earnings-related ciations. Opposition to the apartheid payments. state was also shown in more robust Bus fare increases in January 1983 ways in Imbali: by the petrol bombing had added to discontent over housing of the house of mayor Patrick Pakkies and schools. Government attempts to and that of Inkatha official Abdul Awe- establish township councils were met tha, both urban warlords.13 There was by boycotts. In Ashdown the council also an arson attack on a clinic and at- was rejected outright and in Imbali tacks on the beerhall. On Soweto Day, three contests in six wards attracted 16 June 1985 a demonstration at St just 248 votes. In Sobantu a popular Mark’s Church, Imbali was dispersed Committee of Twelve liaised with the by police using teargas and rubber bul- DBAB and unofficially with the mu- lets. Further into the Edendale valley nicipality. Then in September 1984 the stores and the beerhall in the area of Edendale Advisory Board collapsed Chief Mini’s homestead were attacked. leaving the Edendale Landowners’ In retaliation, on 24 August Inkatha Association as the sole representative officials Pakkies, Velaphi Ndlovu and body. Ben Jele led a march on the Federal In mid-1984 Zulu king Goodwill Theological Seminary (Fedsem) in Zwelithini, in an oblique attack on the Imbali giving the occupants warning UDF, accused white sympathisers of to leave.14 Amongst other activity Fed- the ANC of splitting the Zulu people.11 sem was sheltering Robert Duma of The nature of this red herring was im- the Imbali Civic Association. Fedsem mediately made evident in June 1984 was granted an injunction, the first of by the sentencing to 10 years’ impris- four.15 By September there were re- onment of Ben Dikobe Martins, leader ports of vigilantes searching for mem- of the D.C.O. Matiwane Youth League bers of the civic association, other in Edendale for ANC activity. When UDF-aligned organisations and the Minister of Co-operation and Devel- black consciousness-aligned Azanian opment Piet Koornhof visited Imbali People’s Organisation (Azapo). in August 1984, 1 500 youths protested At the beginning of 1986, the year and at least one was shot dead by po- in which a four-year national State of lice. In an ominous sign of events to Emergency (SoE) would be declared, 21 Natalia 43 (2013) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2013 A small civil war: political conflict in the Pietermaritzburg region in the 1980s and early 1990s 22 Natalia 43 (2013) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2013 A small civil war: political conflict in the Pietermaritzburg region in the 1980s and early 1990s the landscape of future conflict had community leaders and anti-apartheid been clearly mapped out, although at activists. However, in December 1986 this stage it was localised and personal, at Mpophomeni (near Howick), three and relatively few guns were involved. trade union shop stewards involved with On the one hand was a loose coalition the long-term BTR-Sarmcol strike and of anti-apartheid youth organisations a volunteer at the local co-operative and civic associations affiliated to were abducted after armed Inkatha the UDF. Allied with them to various members invaded the township. Three degrees were human rights and faith- of them were murdered in a rehearsal based organisations. The most impor- of violence to come.19 From early 1987 tant ally was the Congress of South Af- onwards the situation deteriorated rican Trade Unions (Cosatu), founded with the emergence of warlords whose in November 1985 with linkage be- names were attached to numerous tween the shop floor and community violent incidents that accounted for an struggles as one of its objectives.16 average of 14 deaths per month from Opposing them was the bantustan January to August. An exacerbating authority and its dominant political factor was a two-day stayaway in May, party, Inkatha, with a penchant for strongly supported by the bus drivers vigilantism and traditionalism that of the Transport and General Workers operated along patriarchal, authoritar- Union, against the whites-only general ian lines.