DEALING WITH THE ZULUS
Stephen Robinson on
a growing force in South African struggles
Cape Town IN THE past year South Africans have become almost immune to bad news, but the outbreak of violence in Natal struck a particularly depressing chord. Natal had previously escaped the current wave of concerted township violence. Unrest in the other areas could be rationalised — the industrial Transvaal, with its huge deposits of organised labour, has always been sus- ceptible to unexpected outbursts of unrest. In the Eastern Cape, which has borne the brunt of the trouble in the past ten months, there are particular local circumstances hinging on the badly depressed economy and the high unemployment rate.
But Natal was supposed to be different. It is the tolerant, amiable province. Some- how it feels the most civilised part of the country, aloof from main battlegrounds of black discontent. Natal is unmistakably English, and unless you go into a post office you might never hear Afrikaans spoken. It was to Natal that ex-Rhodesians flooded after independence because it is just like England, or rather how they believed England was when they left the, mother country.
When Dr Verwoerd marched out of the Commonwealth in 1961, there was dark talk in Natal of secession from South Africa. It is the only province not ruled by the National Party: 'Keep Natal free' is the slogan of the New Republic Party which rules the provincial council. And when they say free, they don't mean from the Zulus, but from the Nationalists. Natalians have always been wary of Afrikaners and Nationalist Party policies. Natal, they say, does not fit happily into the wider South African context. They call it the last outpost of the British Empire, and in many ways the colonial clichds, still hold good. On the surface at least, it is the land of statues of Queen Victoria, airmail subscription copies of the Daily Telegraph, and cosy relationships between proud Zulus and civilised white settlers.
For months the concerted township vio- lence was viewed from a distance, but suddenly mobs of heavily armed Zulu warriors were descending on cowering Indians, and it seemed that Natal had become just one more battleground. Yet the government's response was interesting. Indian residents complained bitterly about the lack of police protection in their townships. The state president said the situation was not serious enough to war- rant an extension of the state of emergency to Natal.
Coverage from the government- controlled television service of this year's unrest has been selective to say the least, but the Durban violence was given the full treatment. There were close-ups of weep- ing Indian women blaming the UDF for the arson, and wide pans of Zulu warriors rattling their spears. The intended message was clear — it just goes to show you how complicated the situation is in South Afri- ca, and how split the non-white opposition is.
Certainly elements of long established Afro-Asian hatred emerged in the carnage, but the overwhelming majority of the victims were black not Indian. The vio- lence was originally sparked off by the murder of Mrs Victoria Mxenge, a defence lawyer in the UDF treason trial in Pieter- maritzburg. There were dark murmurings that government agents were behind it.
But if the violence really was a resurg- ence of the old Zulu-Indian animosities which last surfaced with appalling consequ- ences in 1949, it would have spread like wildfire to the rest of the province. It did not. Events in Durban may prove how widespread and uncontrolled the violence has become, but the main component in this case was the power struggle between the United Democratic Front and Inkatha, the mass Zulu nationalism movement lead by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. The nominal leader of the nation's eight million Zulus has undoubted support from certain sections of Natal's black popula- tion. He claims a million members for Inkatha. His credentials as a descendant of the proud Zulu kings are impeccable. But his brand of tribal nationalism is repugnant to the main forces acting in South Africa's townships today. The United Democratic Front and the ANC both reject anything Which smacks of 'ethnicity'. Because he Was prepared to become chief minister of the (non-independent) Kwazulu Home- land, he is reviled by many non-Zulu blacks for selling out. The government has long been urged to strike some sort of deal — known as the Natal option — to create a separate politic- al structure for Natal and Kwazulu within a wider federal or confederal South Africa. Kwazulu is a curious government creation, a jigsaw of 44 pieces of land dotted incongruously throughout Natal. With the other homelands the government has pre- ferred to consolidate the pieces into some loosely unified and nominally independent national state. This would be logistically impossible in the case of Kwazulu, and besides, Buthelezi has consistently refused to countenance any such idea.
But the Natal option has been pushed with increasing urgency by leaders of orga- nised commerce and industry in recent Months. It is based on a report commis- sioned by Chief Buthelezi which recom- mended a parallel form of joint administra- tion between the Natal provincial govern- ment and Kwazulu. At the time the gov- ernment rejected it out of hand, but recently it has admitted it has taken it off the shelves to reconsider it. Supporters argue that it could provide the ideal dum- my run for a wider venture into a federal or confederal State. Polls suggest that white Natalians would certainly consider it so long as there were safeguards, although Indians might now view the prospect of Zulu rule with some trepidation. There are suggestions it could form part of P. W. Botha's much vaunted reform initiatives Which will be discussed this week at the National Party Congress in Durban.
Groups of Inkatha supporters now pat- rol the townships restoring the calm, with the knowledge and support of the police, all to the benefit of Buthelezi's prestige overseas and in government circles. He has proved he is a force to be taken seriously.
Mr Botha is under enormous pressure to talk to recognised black leaders. Relations between Mr Botha and Chief Buthelezi have been fraught for some time, but they certainly have more in common than any of the other leaders outside the homelands. So far the government has resisted the temptation of an outright ban on the UDF, fearing internal turmoil and international outrage. But if it is tempted to take on the UDF indirectly, Chief Buthelezi could well be their choice.
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