Mobilization, conflict and repression: the United Democratic Front and political struggles in the Pietermaritzburg region, 1983-1991.
Date
1996
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
In the eight years of its existence, from 1983 to 1991, the United Democratic Front had a
major impact on the pace and direction of political struggles in South Africa. The UDF was
a loose alliance of organizations, whose strength was determined by the nature of the
organizations affiliated to it. This thesis explores the nature of the problems faced by the
UDF in the Pietermaritzburg region, and how it sought to respond to them. Chapter one
-covers the period from 1976 to 1984. This chapter surveys the political context in which
the UDF was formed, beginning with the Soweto uprising of 1976, and continuing with the
growth of extra-parliamentary organizations in the late 1970s and early 1980s, leading up
to the formation of the UDF in 1983. This chapter ends with emergence of organized
extra-parliamentary activities in Pietermaritzburg in 1984. Chapter two assesses the period
between 1984 and mid-1986. This was the time when the UDF activists began to mobilize
in the region, and it was during this period that UDF structures were set up. This period
also witnessed growing tensions between youth and parents, and between UDF and
lnkatha supporters. The chapter ends when the state clamped down on extraparliamentary
activities by declaring a national state of emergency in June 1986. Chapter
three assesses the period between mid-1986 and the second half of 1989. This was the
period when the South African state and lnkatha came out in full force to suppress the
UDF. Through the use of emergency regulations, the state detained and restricted UDF
activists, and in February 1988 eventually banned organization. During this period, the
UDF and lnkatha supporters were engaged in violent clashes. These struggles took on the
proportion of a civil war in the region, particularly in 1987. However, political events took
another turn in the second half of 1989, when extra-parliamentary organizations resurfaced
and embarked on mass defiance campaigns. Extra-parliamentary organizations, organized
these campaigns under the mantle of the Mass Democratic Movement. Chapter four starts
by assessing the impact of the mass defiance campaigns and ends at the time when the
UDF was officially disbanded in August 1991. These last two years were dramatic for the
UDF, nationally and regionally. In Pietermaritzburg, immediately after a series of
successful mass demonstrations, UDF activists began a programme of restructuring the
Front. The process was short-lived because in February 1990, when the South African
government unbanned previously banned political organizations, including the UDF,
African National Congress, Pan Africanist Congress, and others, the UDF had to begin to
redefine its political role. Most UDF activists crossed over to the ANC, and in- 1991 the
leaders of the UDF decided to dissolve the organization. In the Pietermaritzburg region
the UDF disbanded more quickly than in other regions, largely because of the particular
problems that the Front had experienced in this region.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.