Gender, age and the politicisation of space during the time of political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

This article examines the way in which the modality of the political violence between Inkatha and the United Democratic Front politicised space in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The article demonstrates how place is actively produced through everyday practices. It shows how the spatiality of the violence shifted – from the body to multiple sites of everyday life such as the school and the household and finally to the neighbourhood. Residents were drawn into the violence differentially on the basis of their gender and age, rather than political beliefs and affiliations. Places were politicised in ways that linked their meaning to the political identity of those found in that space. By presenting a spatialised analysis of the political violence, and illustrating how the production of place articulated with the co-production of political identities, this article makes a novel contribution to the existing literature on political violence in KwaZulu-Natal.

Género, edad y la politización del espacio durante el tiempo de la violencia política en Zululandia, Sudáfrica

Este artículo analiza la forma en que la modalidad de la violencia política entre Inkatha y el Frente Democrático Unido politizó el espacio en Zululandia, Sudáfrica. El artículo demuestra cómo el lugar es activamente producido a través de las prácticas cotidianas. Muestra cómo la espacialidad de la violencia cambió – desde cuerpo hacia múltiples sitios de la vida cotidiana tales como la escuela y el hogar y, finalmente, al vecindario. Los y las residentes fueron llevados a la violencia en forma diferenciada sobre la base de su género y edad, más que por sus convicciones y afiliaciones políticas. Los lugares fueron politizados de maneras que vincularon sus significados a la identidad política de aquellos encontrados en ese espacio. Al presentar un análisis espacializado de la violencia política, e ilustrar cómo la producción de lugar se articulaba con la coproducción de identidades políticas, este artículo hace una nueva contribución a la literatura existente sobre la violencia política en Zululandia.

南非夸祖鲁—纳塔尔省政治暴力时期中的性别、年龄与空间政治化

本文检视英卡塔与联合民主阵线之间的政治暴力形式，如何政治化南非夸祖鲁—纳塔尔省空间的方式。本文论证每日生活实践如何积极地生产地方，并呈现暴力的空间性如何转移——从身体到学校和家户等每日生活中的多重场域，最后转移至社区邻里。居民根据性别与年龄，而非其政治信仰和社会联繫，被不等地捲入暴力之中。地方以将其意义连结至此地人们的政治认同的方式被政治化。透过呈现政治暴力的空间化分析，以及描绘地方生产如何与政治认同的共同生产相互接合，本文对夸祖鲁—纳塔尔省政治暴力的既有文献提出崭新的贡献。

Keywords::

• South Africa
• political violence
• gender
• place
• political identities

Palabras claves::

• Sudáfrica
• violencia política
• género
• lugar
• identidades políticas

关键词::

• 南非
• 政治暴力
• 性别
• 地方
• 政治认同

Acknowledgements

The University of Natal Research Fund and the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust provided funding for this research. Grateful thanks to those who assisted with the translation and transcription of interviews as well as those who agreed to be interviewed.

Notes

^1. Natal located on the east coast was one of the four provinces of apartheid South Africa. The homeland (self-governing territories created by the Nationalist Party government) of KwaZulu – home to the Zulu ethnic group – was located north of Natal, with the heartland across the uThukela River and smaller pieces within the province of Natal (Mpumalanga was one of those smaller pieces). After the first democratic elections in 1994, Natal and KwaZulu merged to become the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

^2. Inkatha Yenkululeko Yesizwe was launched in 1975 as a Zulu cultural movement, offering its supporters a particular kind of patriarchal, ethnic politics. Positioning itself as the internal wing of the ANC, it soon became mired in controversy breaking with the ANC in 1979. While it had many supporters in KwaZulu and Natal, particularly in rural areas, others saw it as a collaborationist organisation linked to the KwaZulu Homeland. Political conflict, often turning violent, between it and supporters of other organisations began in the early 1980s; it was not confined to Natal and KwaZulu but included townships in the Gauteng area. Inkatha is now a political party, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), participating at all levels in the South African government structures (see Hassim 1990; Maré and Hamilton 1987).

^3. Launched in August 1983, the UDF was constituted as a broad front thus allowing a range of organisations, including those that were non-political, for example, church organisations, to affiliate. Its affiliates were diverse with no common policy. They were bound simply by adherence to the struggle for a non-racial, unitary state and tactics of non-collaborationism (see Seekings 2000, 49–51).

^4. These were referred to as Units 1, 2, 3 and 4 (with Units 1 and 2 divided into north and south). At other times, residents called them A, B, C and D.

^5. KwaZulu was declared a self-governing homeland (Stage 1) in 1972. Greater status and more powers were granted in 1977 (see Maré and Hamilton 1987).

^6. Local slang for criminals.

^7. Streamlining is gang rape. What distinguishes this type of rape is that it is organised by the girl's boyfriend and carried out by his friends. According to Khumalo (2006, 108), ‘streamlining was a common practice, a form of “punishment”. It wasn't considered rape. Streamlining was about control. A man must control his woman. Girls could be streamlined for drinking, simply to teach them a lesson. And the girls never reported it’.

^8.Hlonipha means ‘respect’. Ukuhlonipha refers to the practice of granting respect either linguistically or performatively on the basis of age or status. Status does not only apply to social position but also to gender, all women were required to hlonipha all men (see Dlamini 1998, 483–485).

^9. Inkatha became concentrated in two areas, Unit 1 north and Unit 4.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Debby Bonnin

Debby Bonnin lectures in Industrial, Organisational and Labour Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. She has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Witwatersrand. Bonnin has published widely on gender, political identity and political violence. Her latest research is looking at the geography of design in home textiles.