Zulus: potent force in S. Africa

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 12

Zulus: potent force in S. Africa

From ‘The Economist,’ London

The imposition of Pax Pretoriana on the southern third of Africa has changed the balance of opposition politics inside South Africa itself.

The African National Congress, which had been fighting apartheid with bombs, has been hard hit by South Africa’s agreements with Mozambique, Angola and other, black States in the area, which are now clamping down on A.N.C. bases in their territories.

With the A.N.C. in confusion, the spotlight turns to the other main centre of non-white opposition to the regime — a very different sort of opposition, because it believes in non-violent tactics.

Zululand, more properly called Kwa-Zulu (Zulu Country), takes up much of Natal. It has a king with the splendid name of Goodwill Zwelethini, who reigns but does not govern. Power lies with the Zulu Cabinet under Chief Buthelezi, who is himself of royal blood and has been described as the only real black politician in South Africa.

Chief Buthelezi has resisted all attempts by the South African Government to set up Kwa Zulu as another “independent” Bantustan, like those in the Transkei, Ciskei and other scattered, areas.

He would probably welcome a genuinely independent Kwa Zulu, but this is not on the cards; apart from its main central block, the other bits of Kwa Zulu are dotted around Natal in otherwise white

areas. It would be a kingdom of fragments. But Chief Buthelezi dismisses the mere Bantustans as corrupt mockeries, with casinos that pander to the vices of white South Africans. He maintains that his people are as South African as the whites of British or Dutch origin, and equally entitled to the same privileges, including the vote. In 1982 the South African Government, without consulting the Zulus, announced that the northernmost area of Kwa Zulu, bordering on Swaziland and Mozambique, was to be ceded to Swaziland, giving that country access to the Indian Ocean. The Government was presumably hoping to stop A.N.C. guerrillas moving through this area from Mozambique into South Africa.

It may also have had in mind the possibility of a compliant Swaziland offering base facilities at Kozi Bay to the Americans, who might have accepted the idea if it came from an independent black country rather than from South Africa. But it is hard to avoid the thought that South Africa was chiefly tempted by the idea of cutting Kwa Zulu down to size. The idea was fought by the Zulus, who won their case before the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein. Only partly deterred, the South African Government set up a commission to explore the matter further. Swaziland has put its

case to the commission; Kwa Zulu is about to submit its counterarguments. The organisation that Chief Buthelezi has created for his nonviolent championship of black rights is called Inkatha, which claims to have 750,000 members throughout South Africa. He himself is Inkatha’s president; its secretary is Oscar Dhlomo, a highly competent man who is also Kwa Zulu’s Minister of Education. Inkatha is strong in Soweto, the huge native suburb of Johannesburg. Each Inkatha cell is divided into three “brigades,” men, women and youth. Most of the members are Zulus but some dome, from other tribes — no mean feat, because although Zulus, Xhosas and Swazis speak much the same language, they have been at daggers drawn for centuries; and the Basuto and Sechuana speak different languages. Inkatha’s non-violence is anathema to the African National Congress. But the A.N.C., its links to the countries to the north largely cut, has no firm base in South Africa itself.

A newly formed body, the United Democratic Front, may try to provide cover for A.N.C. militants, but is unlikely to have the explosives and the weapons — or men willing to use them — for the sabotage of transformers, power lines and pumping stations to which the vast empty areas of South Africa stand wide open. The A.N.C. has, however, had one major disruptive success in Kwa Zulu itself. Last year celebrations were held in the capital, Ulundi, to mark the centenary of the reinstatement of Cetshwayo, the Zulu king who defeated the British resoundingly at the battle of Isandlwana in 1879 but later that year lost to a more efficient British force at Ulundi.

The defeated king was given part of his kingdom back in 1883. As part of the centenary celebrations, Inkatha wanted to hold a rally at the University of Zululand. The trouble started when it was claimed that Inkatha was trying to force all students to join. Chief Buthelezi and Mr Dhlomo ought to have known that there would be a militant minority of youngsters who were not in favour of Inkatha’s non-violence policy. Students hurled stones at Buthelezi; the police were called in; the protesters retreated to the upper floors of a campus dormitory; arrests were made, and there were four deaths and many injuries. An inquiry was conducted by the province of Natal. As a result, the Kwa Zulu government has made it plain to the university that there is no suggestion that all students must join Inkatha, but those in receipt of government bursaries

and intending to join government institutions (including teachers) will be expected to sign a pledge of loyalty to Kwa Zulu. So far about 90 per cent of such students have complied, but there is still some unrest in the medical school. Nature is also causing trouble for Kwa Zulu. Like the rest of South Africa, it has suffered three years of drought. On top of that, last January two cyclones coming out of the Mozambique channel caused appalling damage in Kwa Zulu, Swaziland, the eastern Transvaal and southern Mozambique. Hundreds of people were killed, bridges were swept away, dams overflowed and in many, areas the top soil was carried away to the sea. Ulundi was cut off from the outside world, except for the helicopters that managed the journey in gaps between the storms. The South African Army was commendably swift in rigging pontoon bridges to re-link the capital with the south, but these too were broken when the second cyclone roared.

The cyclones may have brought

disease in their wake. Three years ago cholera crept down from Tanzania through Mozambique into Kwa Zulu, and was fought off. Now the cyclones’ destruction of water supplies could lead to a new epidemic. The stagnant pools left by the downpour may also be breeding grounds for the anopheles mosquito, which carries malaria. Kwa Zulu is a black area of South Africa that is striving, without violence, for a multiracial society with equal rights for all. Chief Buthelezi believes in working within the system without joining it. South Africa’s Prime Minister, Mr P. W. Botha, has had a big foreign policy success with his black neighbours, after his domestic success in winning the referendum that gave limited powers to the Indian and mixed-race coloured communities.

To those who hope for a peaceful solution to South Africa’s problems, the next step should be a serious dialogue with the country’s black majority. Chief Buthelezi and the Zulus are the key. Copyright—The Economist.